Not Publishing the Unabomber's Manifesto Would Produce Harmful Consequences (From Urban Terrorism, P 121-123, 1996, A E Sadler and Paul A Winters, eds. -- See NCJ-167808)

• NCJ Number: 167828
• Author(s): J Leo
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 3 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The Unabomber has declared that he will kill more people if newspapers do not publish his manifesto; this possibility outweighs reasons -- including journalistic principles or fear of setting a bad precedent -- for not printing the document.

Abstract

Virtually the whole journalistic establishment seems to be opposed to publishing the full text of the Unabomber's manuscript, but nobody complained about excerpts published the first week in August 1995. This suggests that the real objection is based on the length of the text, not on principle. Critics of publication of the full text argue that giving in to the bomber's threat to kill more people if the manuscript is not published will compromise the press and glorify a man who has killed three people and wounded 23 others. This is a concern, but this case is unfolding much like a kidnapping, where the kidnapper demands something to keep the victim alive. Under these conditions, the rational response is usually to meet the demands, avoid the murder, and try to capture the criminal after the threat of death has passed. Publication of the manifesto is not likely to encourage a rash of kidnappers, bombers, and hijackers demanding to have their seven pages in leading newspapers. Literary terrorists are not common; killers who type 35,000-word manifestos and force them on leading newspapers are even rarer.