Editors told to report threats carefully

Editors told to report threats carefully

	Published : Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told newspaper editors Thursday they should use caution and context in reporting about threats or emergencies.

'We owe you information that's accurate,' he said, 'and you need to resist the temptation to just get something fast.'

Chertoff said it's the core function of the media to convey to individuals the information they need to save their lives and their families' lives.

He invited the media to continue to participate in a series of dialogues and exercises his department has been conducting on how best to communicate information during a crisis.

Chertoff pointed out that the department receives 'a lot of threat information, every single morning,' but that it varies greatly in terms of specificity and credibility.

Even a threat of limited credibility still has to be run down and investigated, Chertoff said, but it shouldn't become public during that stage. If threat information is made public too soon, he warned, there is a danger the public will become either desensitized in a 'cry wolf syndrome,' or over-sensitized, in a 'constant state of hyper-anxiety.'

'And perhaps,' he added, 'we would be accused of deliberately fostering that for political purposes.'

Sometimes, he said, when information is shared with state and local officials, department officials are aware that have ry likely this information is going to get out.' Then the issue is one of context, and he urged editors to use good judgment.

Chertoff mentioned several instances in the recent past in which information 'got spiked up' and overplayed on cable TV networks. One was a report about six months ago that an Internet bulletin board had called for a so-called 'denial of service' cyber attack on the U.S. banking and financial sector. Chertoff said it took a 'fair amount of effort to put it back into perspective.'

Another instance was a threat to NFL football stadiums posted on a message board last October. Chertoff said it had been treated by one cable network 'as if it was a second September 11.'

Much more is at stake, he warned, in reporting on actual emergencies, because people immediately want to know what they should do to protect themselves.

In this regard, Chertoff warned the editors against over-reliance on dubious experts.

'It's been my observation that you can get an expert to tell you anything you want to hear,' he said, adding: 'We owe you clarity about who's an authoritative source.'

Asked about the lessons he learned from Hurricane Katrina, Chertoff said 'we have to be very clear.'

'I learned that the media if they get information wrong can have a real operational impact.'