Getting into the Story

By James Kelly.

Within hours after the hijacking of TWA Flight 847, ABC Correspondent Charles Glass received an urgent call from his network: Would he leave London immediately for Beirut? Glass, who was stationed in Beirut last year, quickly boarded a chartered jet and arrived there Saturday morning. On Monday, while filming in the city's teeming Shi'ite slums, he was suddenly caught in a storm of bullets. Only by surrendering his tape was Glass permitted to drive away. Two days later, however, came the scoop of the week: after persistent requests from ABC, Amal Leader Nabih Berri arranged for Glass to interview the crew still aboard the TWA jet.

Glass's experiences underscored the difficulties -- and opportunities -- in covering the most dramatic international crisis since the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Beirut ranks among the most hazardous assignments in the world, a bloody, berserk place where journalists often are kidnaping targets. Reliable information is elusive and often impossible to confirm. Even the most enterprising correspondents last week had to depend for news on the cooperation of those holding the hostages. Yet in their eager pursuit of the story, reporters risked being exploited by Amal. What began as a frenzied hijacking threatened to become a prolonged publicity showcase controlled by terrorists.

The danger of unrestrained journalistic zeal was evident at the hostages' press conference. Photographers surged around the prisoners, shutters clicking madly, while other cameramen jumped up on the table for a better angle. Angered by the chaos, an Amal spokesman abruptly ended the proceedings, which only triggered more shouting and shoving. Militiamen pounced on photographers and reporters, smashing cameras and seizing tape recorders. Fifteen minutes later, after the journalists promised to maintain calm, the session was resumed. In another incident, a Lebanese Shi'ite driver working for Newsweek reached the plane by passing himself off as a relative of the hijackers'. As the driver returned to the terminal, Amal militiamen discovered the ruse and angrily fired bullets over the heads of about 40 journalists.

Most news organizations withdrew their personnel from Beirut in March, after Associated Press Correspondent Terry Anderson was kidnaped. He is still missing. Last week, however, more than 100 Western correspondents poured into the Lebanese capital. The U.S. networks faced a special problem: because Beirut's satellite ground station was destroyed long ago, no live pictures could be transmitted. Instead, film had to be driven nearly 100 miles to Damascus on a road studded with checkpoints set up by warring militias. Drivers were shot at; tape was seized. CBS got its footage there only by sending several messengers, each carrying one copy, to the Syrian capital.

The lack of live pictures only heightened the competition among the networks back home. CBS's Dan Rather, ABC's Peter Jennings and NBC's Roger Mudd put in 18-hour days manning not only the evening news shows but dozens of special bulletins during the week. (Tom Brokaw, NBC's regular anchor, was on vacation in Africa.) The story seemed tailor-made for Jennings, whose insightful commentary capitalized on his stint as ABC's chief Middle East correspondent from 1969 to 1975. Jennings' linguistic skills also came in handy. When a French-speaking operator attempted to cut off an on-air telephone conversation between the anchor and a correspondent in Algiers, Jennings negotiated a reprieve in flawless French.

The exhaustive coverage raised broader questions about the appropriate role of journalists in such a crisis. Pentagon Spokesman Michael Burch charged that news organizations were abetting the terrorists by reporting U.S. military movements, including the deployment of the Delta Force antiterrorist unit. Burch was especially angry at NBC and ABC, which reported within hours after the hijacking that Delta Force had departed the U.S.; NBC added that it was headed for the Mediterranean. "It may have been one of the reasons for the erratic movements of the TWA hijackers (between Beirut and Algiers)," said Burch. CBS, A.P. and U.P.I. refrained from carrying the news until it had been widely reported. "We released the information when we were confident it would not encourage the hijackers to harm the hostages," said Joan Richman, a CBS News vice president.

Other officials claimed that the coverage fanned the crisis atmosphere and gave the terrorists the publicity they craved. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called the hostages' press conference a "humiliation" for the U.S. and suggested that journalists should not allow the captors such a forum. "If the terrorists did not see in this a means of getting their message across, there would be fewer dog-and-pony shows like this," said Kissinger.

Most journalists are acutely aware of the perils of playing into the terrorists' hands and hyping the story. Many news organizations, including TIME, last week withheld information voluntarily or at the request of Government agencies. According to an ABC insider, the network had planned to label its coverage "America Held Hostage," echoing the network's tag line for the Iranian crisis. But when staffers protested, the idea was dropped. Though Amal leaders have displayed the same eagerness to talk with reporters that Iranian President Abolhassan Banisadr did five years ago, there is a crucial difference: Berri, unlike Banisadr, is also speaking with U.S. diplomats.

Since terrorist acts are committed to capture headlines, there is always the hazard that events will be overdramatized. "On the one hand, we do not want to inflame emotions," says Rather. "But on the other hand, we do not want to dilute the hard reality." Aside from reassuring relatives and other Americans about the condition of the hostages, last week's coverage shed light for Washington on who was holding the 40 captives. One person in particular picked up some details: asked about whether the three-member TWA crew was still on the plane, Ronald Reagan said yes, he had seen it on TV.

With reporting by John Borrell/Beirut and Lawrence Mondi/New York, with other bureaus