"City officials took it seriously and went through the tunnel with dogs," said Overton.
WAVY did cut-ins on the story throughout the morning.
"Ordinarily, we would not do that for a bomb threat. But, when a whole city is shut down
and people are asking why, you must tell them," Overton argued.
Cassidy said, "I am normally not big on reporting bomb threats, because I think it only
encourages them. However, once the public is inconvenienced that way, you have to
report that."
Other bomb scares closed an elementary school for a few hours and resulted in workers
having to leave an industrial complex while it was searched.
"The age old question is if it only inconveniences a small number of people, do you
report those or not? If you do report it, do you encourage others to call their school the
next morning and get it shut down? The incidents which clearly impact the public, we
are going to report. But, the ones which don't are a different sort of call," said Cassidy.
WTKR executives chose not to report any of the bomb threats on the day after the
incident at the chemical tanks. And, they reported on the tunnel being closed by
running a crawl advising viewers of the closure and the fact drivers would need to find
alternative routes. In their noon show, they went live with a report on the fact the tunnel
was open again to traffic.
"Any jackass with a telephone can call and make a bomb threat," said News Director
Jay Mitchell. He stressed that was what he wanted to avoid promoting.
He rolled news crews on the bomb threats, but didn't air anything unless a device was
found.
"We are in a sensitive area and people must be aware we could have some kind of
terrorist activity here. But, at the same time, we can't just leap on everything and assume
that it is terrorist activity," he cautioned. Mitchell said they decided what to air on a case-
by-case basis.
"You must be very careful when you are dealing with anything which may be a terrorist
activity," he said. The station leaned to caution. They waited until they knew what they
were dealing with before they aired something.
"It is much easier to roll on something and to call them back. I would much rather
commit that, than not commit and then 40 minutes later trying to catch up. We will roll
regardless. You must be able to play with all your people. You must be able to move
them around the board," he added.
Was it terrorism?
"We don't have any indication it is a terrorist threat," said Overton. He stressed the
police weren't saying it was and neither was the FBI.
"It is just as likely it was a disgruntled employee or a prankster," he added.
Whether it had any connection to the Persian Gulf, they didn't know.
