Rumours ran riot in hunt for terror scoops

America's darkest hour since Pearl Harbor was a test for the news media. ALAN PERROTT on the rumours, false leads and downright hoaxes.

When the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center collapsed before a worldwide television audience, almost anything suddenly seemed possible.

The terrorist attacks caused an instant media frenzy, but in the rush to get the news first the usual journalistic checks also collapsed and false rumours, pranks and misinformation became facts fit for broadcast by radio, television, news agencies and the internet.

Even the Herald was not immune.

False leads were rampant as reporters struggled to process the scattered reports flooding in.

There were claims of up to eight hijacked aircraft searching for targets, and within hours of the first crash ABC anchorman Peter Jennings was reading a report of a car bomb outside the State Department in Washington. The story was retracted within half an hour, but the damage was done.

Further bogus claims quickly followed, sending news crews on wildgoose chases - there was a bomb at the Capitol, a bomb at the Old Executive Office Building, and the USA Today building was in flames.

By 6 pm American time, nine hours after the attacks, CNN was showing videophone pictures of explosions in the Afghan capital, Kabul, accompanied by suggestions and denials that it was a swift act of revenge using cruise missiles.

It took 30 minutes to become clear that the bangs were nothing more than the ongoing chaos of Afghanistan's civil war.

False news trails finally raised such concern that on Friday New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appealed for media calm in an effort to stop the rumours that were creating insecurity and false hopes and damaging rescue efforts.

In one widely covered incident that day, an unidentified man stared down the barrel of a television camera and brazenly told the world he had had a cellphone conversation with his brother "Luis", who was trapped in the rubble of one of the towers.

The man said he had handed his cellphone to police, who then used satellite signals to get a fix on his brother's position.

He ended the live interview and disappeared when his phone rang again, saying it was the New York police: "Excuse me, I have to go. They are pulling out my brother."

It was all lies, but they were eagerly lapped up.

That night a woman was arrested after she claimed to have been in cellphone contact with 10 people also buried in rubble.

She approached rescue workers wearing a medical gown and badge and claimed her husband was a Port Authority police officer who was trapped in an air pocket with nine others.

Rescuers began furiously digging in the area she indicated as officials quietly checked her name and badge number.

Both were false and she was arrested for reckless endangerment and making false reports.

New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik is angry about such actions, including people posing as volunteers to loot abandoned shops and others claiming to be raising money for victims.

"This is extremely dangerous," he said. "There are firefighters and cops on those lines with brothers, family members, partners who they are looking for. They are very emotional."

He has warned that anyone found near the disaster area without permission will be arrested on the spot.

On the same day, there were two other incorrect but widely reported claims: the FBI had managed to prevent two other attacks and five firefighters had been dug out alive from the New York rubble.

The FBI story held that five people had been arrested by agents wearing combat gear at LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports. The five were reportedly carrying fake pilot's licences and box cutters with paper handles - the same weapons apparently employed by the hijackers.

The local television reporter who broadcast the story later blamed the mistake on the pressure to get an exclusive during the biggest news event since the Second World War.

"I woke up this morning very upset," she told the Boston Globe. "I cried about it. I didn't have confirmation. Another reporter got it from a source with the New York City police. I didn't want to go with it, but my superiors told me to go ahead with it."

The reporter, who withheld her name for fear of retribution from her editors, said the combination of stress, lack of sleep, and competition meant journalists were cutting corners.

It is easy to see how seductive such stories become.

The American media is totally mobilised, with most television channels providing round-the-clock coverage and in desperate need of a continuing supply of new stories and new angles.

Sixty million viewers tuned in to the four major networks, ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, on Wednesday. ABC alone has 1000 staff covering the story.

Unfortunately, even as reporters struggle to sort facts from fiction, there is no shortage of people who see such tragedy as an opportunity to take advantage of America's growing fear and create a story of their own.

Reports of bombs have been rampant nationwide.

There were about 100 alerts at the Empire State Building, which is once again New York's tallest building, in the four days after the attack on the towers.

Other false reports closed shops and New York's Grand Central Station. A telephoned bomb threat halted rescue efforts at the Pentagon in Washington for two hours, and hoax calls continue to empty Government buildings, offices and schools across America.

Miami Beach psychologist Frances Berman said such hoaxes were typically the work of people excited by having the power to make others respond.

"It's someone who enjoys seeing people suffer, and it's not that uncommon. There are a tremendous amount of people with antisocial personalities."

Professor Ken Killebrew, a veteran broadcaster now at the University of South Florida, has called on all journalists to exercise extreme caution.

He said the destructive fingerpointing at various Middle Eastern groups after the Oklahoma bombing, which was carried out by disaffected Americans, should remain as a warning to all.

On the Poynter Institute website, he warned reporters to stay away from the feeding frenzy and stick to the facts.

"There will be those who will use their political positions to further their political goals. Be mindful of their motives, and report them accordingly."

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