NCJ Number
86144
Date Published
1982
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Television coverage of the Iranian hostagetaking dramatized a violation of international law, and in many instances was manipulated by the hostagetakers on occasions when the media violated its own guidelines for professional conduct.
Abstract
The Iranian hostagetaking was dramatized by the media in its daily reporting during the event, and it raises the question of whether event-oriented sensationalism is inextricably linked with mundane commercialism. The captors used the media as a propaganda vehicle, and the propaganda sold newspapers and increased television ratings. In April 1977, CBS News issued internal guidelines for the coverage of terrorist incidents. Yet throughout the Iranian captivity, these guidelines were ignored to a far greater extent than they were observed. All three television networks violated professional, ethical considerations in a competitive quest for audiences; for example, despite network policies prohibiting nonspontaneous interviews, all the networks jumped at the chance to broadcast journalists' controlled conversations with the Ayatollah, thus becoming a platform for his propaganda ploy. Further, NBC News broadcast an interview between a hostage and his captors that included a 5-minute propaganda statement by the captor. If television and the press are unwilling or unable, given the competitive dynamic operating among media agencies, to adopt meaningful professional standards and to adhere to reasonable voluntary guidelines in the coverage of terrorist violence and the motives of its perpetrators, then it is conceivable that at some future date assertions of national interest may take priority over the public's right to be informed. Ninety-one footnotes are listed.