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CJRColumbia Journalism Review

May/June 1993 | Contents

Chronicle

SOUND BITE

"I wish I could tell you that I am this macho reporter, that I am going to be tough. In reality, I am . . . scared, scared of the unknown."

Reporter Tim Roche, now of the St. Petersburg Times, as he entered Florida's Martin County Jail in March for refusing to reveal a source on a story he wrote for The Stuart News.

"On June 2nd, for example, this was the day of the California primaries, so the broadcast was from the eve of the primary; it was the day that President Bush came up with an ambitious forest conservation plan . . .; it was the day that the defense department analysts came out with a very serious criticism of Star Wars. The top story on Channel One was 60 seconds on the invention of a super light bulb that would burn hundreds of hours longer than a normal light bulb. Philips [Industries, which owns 17 percent of the company that runs Channel One] makes super light bulbs.

Johns Hopkins professor Mark Crispin Miller, in a forum sponsored by the Alfred U. Dupont Center for Broadcast Journalism that included Channel One founder Chris Whittle.

"A mortar round is fired somewhere near the Oslobodjenje office, but the reporters barely take notice. . . . They insist they are no braver than the average person in Sarajevo who goes out every day to work or gather water. And the Oslobodjenje wartime aims are modest -- not to defend or criticize the government, nor even to inspire the people of Sarajevo. Just to be a better newspaper."

From a Tom Gjelten piece on NPR's Morning Edition.