<p>Sure. Hoover’s files on political enemies were (in)famous. But he’s been dead for 35 years. Supposedly the FBI reformed long ago. But even if they haven’t, it’s hard to believe that Richard Jewell was on any kind of political enemies list prior to the '96 bombing. He was just some small fry that they fed to the press for no legitimate reason that I can see. Perhaps out of sheer incompetence. Perhaps out of spite because they thought he was guilty and didn’t want to be bothered with that pesky Due Process stuff and preferred to prompt the press to do their smear work for them. </p>
<p>But as bad and complicit as the press is, at least some journalists have done some public soul-searching over their shortcomings in this case. I haven’t seen where the FBI has come clean. They just quietly admitted that Jewel didn’t do it and slunk away.</p>
<p>I think we are agreeing on these issues, coureur. The media admits that it jumped on the story without checking its sources more thoroughly. What station wouldn’t have wanted to have the “scoop” on this international news? I agree that the FBI was not acting in good faith to leak its “person of interest” to the media. But the media spread it like wildfire. One provided the kindling wood- the other provided the match.</p>
<p>The most egregious case of the FBI hounding someone (with the collusion of the press) was the lovely actress, Jean Seberg. She had married French novelist Romain Gary and was pregnant. She was also a civil rights supporter and had entertained Black Panthers at benefits at her home. The FBI spread rumors that the child she was carrying was fathered by a Black Panther. They hounded her with this until she miscarried the child. She put the fetus in an open casket at the funeral to show that the allegations of the FBI were false. She later committed suicide, as did her husband, leaving their son parentless.</p>
<p>Cases like this are nothing new.</p>
<p>Back in the day I was excited to discover I had an FBI file. I am glad to say I have had no difficulty with employment etc. No one seems to know. My university was quite the activist hotbed; I think we all had files although my actions were incredibly innocent (I was 17) because our non-violent group was “infiltrated.” This seems almost laughable if it were not so scary. More Austin Powers than James Bond. The case under discussion, however, is not funny.</p>
<p>Just adding a bit more info about the olympic bombing-- from up close and personal. I was in the olympic park the day before the bombing. I have great pictures of my kids in front of “our brick” (the one with our name on it in the park, there as a result of a donation) and of the bands on the stage. Great times. Great memories, quickly tainted. My (then) receptionist’s aunt was the woman killed in the park that night. This is personal to me. I also remember the media not liking how they were treated in Atlanta. They didn’t think they were being catered to enough, didn’t like the transportation arrangements or their staging area at the Inforum downtown. They indicated that because of these issues, they were not going to be terribly nice to the city in their reports. How petty. This “attitude” preceeded the bombing. So, I fault the media as much as the FBI. Both were reprehensible.</p>
<p>Thanks, mythmom. It bugged me that the media took such a “high and mighty” attitude. They knew they could paint a positive or negative picture of the city, and kinda threw that around, in the faces of some of the local olympic organizers. And then the bombing happened… I guess their plan kinda blew up in their faces, so to speak.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, the organizational shortcomings of the '96 Atlanta Olympics were not merely an invention of the press. CC is not my only on-line community. I also am active among the track and field fans. And there are a lot of T&F fans there who attend every Olympic Games (I have attended several myself but not Atlanta), and they pretty much all agree that thanks to the bus and other transportation woes '96 was perhaps their worst Olympic experience. And for some reason there were also complaints about the turning of the Olympic park into a huge flea market of mom & pop merchants. Not sure exactly what the problem with that was other than perhaps the perception that the place was being run or sponsored by small-time amateurs instead of pros.</p>
<p>No one seems to blame the citizens of Atlanta, who tried very hard. There just seems to be an opinion that the organizers were in over their heads and made a lot of mistakes. The bombing tragedy was then of course the straw that broke the camel’s back and turned the overall experience into a downer. I’m sure that the press overplayed the problems and put whatever “spin” on it that they thought would sell. But the complaints among the Olympic regulars are real and not made up by the press.</p>
<p>Not disagreeing that there were better ways to do things, but the press’ attitude during the '96 Olympics was disgusting, and it began even before the Opening Ceremonies. BTW, the park had no local vendors in it. The vendors were on surrounding streets. And, perhaps for some the overall experience was a “downer”, but not for all.</p>