The media and vigilantes

A family in California is now a target after a television news personality announced that the family's home was housing Islamic terrorists. It wasn't. The news man had announced the address, resulting in vandalism and threats at the home. An Associated Press report from the Seattle Times:

Family fearful after Fox News airs mistake

By The Associated Press

LA HABRA, Calif. — A couple whose home was wrongly identified on national television as belonging to an Islamic radical has faced harassment, and police are providing protection.

Since the report aired on Fox News on Aug. 7, people have shouted profanities at Randy and Ronnell Vorick and spray-painted "terrorist" (spelling it "terrist") on their property.

"I'm scared to go to work and leave my kids home," Randy Vorick said. "I call them every 30 minutes to make sure they're OK."

John Loftus, a former federal prosecutor who appears on Fox News' "Inside Scoop with John Loftus," gave out the address during the broadcast. He said the home belonged to Iyad Hilal, whose group, Loftus said, has ties to those responsible for the July 7 bombings in London. But Hilal moved out of the house about three years ago.

The couple sought a public apology and correction.

"John Loftus has been reprimanded for his careless error, and we sincerely apologize to the family," Fox spokeswoman Irena Brigantes said.

Loftus told the Los Angeles Times last week that "mistakes happen. ... That was the best information we had at the time."

Fox News has also been known to whip up support for other vigilante-type issues, including the self-appointed protectors at the border known as the Minutemen. CNN's Lou Dobbs is just as bad.

Fox says in the story above that "mistakes happen." But why is a news agency reporting the spcific address of suspected criminals, even if the information was accurate? The news media also have a responsibility to know the effects of their actions, and it is a pretty easy assumption that reporting where terorists live will lead to at least a few crackpot idiots stopping by to "take matters into their own hands" in an Old West-style of vigilante justice. Heck, their model for such actions is the current executive administration -- it's the favored language of President Bush ("Bring it on," "Dead or alive," "With us or with the terrorists") and a policy of intervention is now United States foreign policy.

So when a home is targeted, should be be surprised that locals decided to handle it? No. But our news media should also not be reporting such items, at least until law enforecement officials have what they need or unless there is an imminent danger to the public. In the latteer case, perhaps a meth lab in the neighborhood or something, the announcement might be justified.

To the Fox News on-air personalities and all their brethren: Dial it down a bit, would you? It's not working.

-- Issaquah, Wash.