Reference: Hindman, E. B. (1999). Divergence of Duty: Differences in Legal and Ethical Responsibilities. Journal of mass Media Ethics, Vol. 14 Issue 4, p.213.18p
Theme: When the media covered the news story about a shootout between the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and a religious cult they overlooked some ethical issues.
Summary:
Michael Newland
· Shots fired when the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) tried to arrest the leader of a religious cult in Waco, Texas.
· The religious groups’ name was known as the Branch Davidians.
· The shootout/standoff left four federal agents and a number of Davidians dead, with several more wounded.
· Standoff lasted 51 days which ended with a fire that killed more than 75 Davidians.
· In 1992 the ATF started to investigate the Davidian’s possession of weapons and potential gun law violations. The ATF were planning to arrest the cult leader on gun charges.
· At the same time, the WACO Tribune-Harold newspaper also began to investigate the cult. The newspaper was focusing on child sexual abuse allegations and concerns that authorities were doing nothing about it.
· The ATF asked the newspaper to delay the series but the editor declined to delay their reports. The ATF also stated they planned to make an arrest but did not say when.
· Since the ATF would not give information about the arrest the newspaper refused to delay their reports.
· The newspaper found out when the ATF planned to raid the cult. The ATF changed the raid date but the newspaper found out again and put out a story called “The Sinful Messiah.”
· As the ATF began preparing for the raid on the cult that same newspaper also appeared on scene.
· Allegedly one of the newspaper photographers informed a cult member that the ATF was planning to raid.
· An undercover ATF agent found out that the cult new about the raid. The ATF decided to continue on anyways.
· After the shootout several ATF agents and the victims’ families filed a negligence lawsuit against members of the media including the Tribune-Herald the newspaper agency that refused to stop their reports about the cult and the ATF.
· The judge over the trial stated, “In this case, the balancing of factors clearly establishes that the media defendants owed a duty to the Plaintiffs not to warn the Davidians, either intentionally or negligently, of the impending raid.”
· The case was settled before trial, so whether media were legally negligent will never be known.
Application to the lesson topic: The media played a huge role in the shootout between the ATF and the religious cult. The media has a right to inform the public about what is going on and they should but they took it a little too far this time. The ATF asked the newspaper several times to stop their reports but they refused too. If it weren’t for the newspaper the cult would not have found out about the raid and many lives could have been saved. This goes to show that a good relationship between the media and emergency services is vital. Technically the newspaper didn’t do anything illegal but it was not ethical for them to release so much information about the raid.
Application to emergency services: The media is always looking for a breaking news story. Often this story comes from emergencies involving police work. In this case the media was all over the religious cult and how they thought nothing was being done about it. The ATF was working on it but they didn’t want the media to know too much information about it. If the ATF had been a little more open to the newspaper then they might have been more cooperative. Again this goes to show how important the relationship between the media and emergency services is important.
