Comments on: Tunnel terror

By: Evan

Evan — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 03:52:35 +0000

Mr. Jarvis,

I am preparing a casenote on the possibility of the tunnels being targets of terrorist attacks. I wondered if you could suggest any specific articles, etc. I should look to as research. I am writing this in conjunction with my “Terrorism and the Law” class at Emory Law School. I would appreciate anything you could point me to that is of interest. I may use the tunnels as an example to write about the line between newsworthiness and giving too much information and how that interacts with both 1st Amendment freedom of speech and National Security. Thanks so much!

Evan

By: PTCruiser

PTCruiser — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 21:28:39 +0000

The truth is that terrorists are probably not as interested in blowing up a PATH tunnel as much as people whose job it is to think about things that people might want to blow up think they are. Folks who use the PATH trains should find other things to worry about.

By: bittorrent

bittorrent — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 23:02:30 +0000

Some months ago we had a fire close to where I live in the UK. In reporting it, none of the newspapers or TV channels mentioned the background/history to the place where it happened. However one fairly well-known website did go into that.

It is no secret, it fact there are websites about it, but not well-known. I wondered if the media were asked not to give too many details or maybe they were told not to? The UK Government has the means to silence the media on a particular subject by issuing a notice. The media can’t even report that a notice has been issued.

If it was terror-related then should the public have been told? Or is it better that a possibly-vulnerable location gets no publicity?

By: Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:37:30 +0000

Jimmy, no, but the Times acknowledges there is a line past which you don’t want to go to inform the enemy. The question is, where is that line? I want pressure put on government to take action but I also don’t want to see too much revealed, for it could give not just terrorists but idiots inspiration to try something. I’m speaking here more as a PATH rider than as a journalist, by the way.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 17:06:19 +0000

So, what’s the Times supposed to do, not write stories like this. I mean, does anyone with half a brain believe the Times wrote this story just so terrorists would get new ideas for attacking us? Come on, as if terrorists don’t already know our weakest points! Maybe the survivors of September 11 should sue writers Larry Bond and Tom Clancy, both of whom wrote novels detailing how terrorists could use plane as weapons! The Times is not the “villain” here. The real villain here is the local, state, and federal governments who five years after September 11, 2001 have done next to nothing to strengthen our weak points.

By: mturro

mturro — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:20:13 +0000

As an everyday PATH rider this report should probably put me on edge… but for some reason it doesn’t. I guess after five years of waiting for something to happen the idea just loses it’s reality. Drowning in a tunnel, being nuked by a suitcase bomb, taking shrapnel in a bus explosion… these all have the distinct quality of fantasy attached to them. All of these disaster scenarios are quickly screened and filed into the corner of the mind right next to Hollywood creations and fairy tales. Hopefully they’ll stay there.

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:52:18 +0000

Yes, I’m sure that’s what the op-ed page staff hopes for every morning over coffee and danish. Come ON! That is nonsense.

By: echy

echy — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:09:18 +0000

The Times would love to see one of the tunnels blown up. Then they could point to Bush and his Administration and say “I told you so.”