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1993-03-07
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03/06/1993
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (UPI) -- A national organization of journalists
announced Saturday it has formed a task force to examine press
coverage of the Waco, Texas, shootout and standoff amid new
questions about press performance.
The Society of Professional Journalists named Martin L. "Red"
Gibson, professor of journalism at the University of Texas-Austin,
to head the panel that includes six other journalists, educators and
an ethics specialist.
Georgiana Vines, president of the 16,000-member group, said the
organization had been asked to examine whether the news media in
Texas has done its job in covering the story.
"The questions raised by the media performance in Texas come on
the heels of NBC apologizing for rigging a General Motors pickup
truck with incendiary devices and USA Today acknowledging its use of
a photograph of Los Angeles gang members brandishing guns was
misleading," Vines said.
Vines, who announced the creation of the task force at a regional
meeting of the SPJ this weekend in Knoxville, said the panel will
confine its work to the Waco coverage.
Vines said the task force will begin its examination without any
preconceptions about how well, or how badly, the press did its job
in covering the shootout and standoff involving a heavily armed
religious cult and federal, state and local authorities. No deadline
was set for completion of the group's work.
"It seems journalism ethics is on the line," Vines said.
"Journalists have to be able to do their jobs and questions are also
being raised about whether they have been able to cover the story to
the public's benefit within limitation set by law enforcement
officials."
Gibson, a former reporter and copy editor for newspapers in
Houston, Chicago and New York City, has taught journalism at Austin
since 1969.
Other members of the task force are: Phil Record, associate
editor and ombudsman for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram; Sara Stone,
associate professor of journalism at Baylor University in Waco; Lori
Reingold, news producer of KTRK-TV, Houston; Dan Bolton, managing
editor of joint ventures for the Ventura County newspapers in
California and chairman of SPJ's Ethics Committee; Phil Robbins,
director of journalism, George Washington University in Washington,
D.C., and Robert Steele, director of ethics programs, The Poynter
Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla. All are members of the Society of
professional Journalists.