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Popular Culture Review
died in this bombing, were used to create a feeling that the bombers were evil. One
unidentified woman said, “I think killing children is absolutely abominable
.. .nothing can justify that” (CBS 1995b). Tom Brokaw, the NBC anchor on April
21, stated “what is so haunting about this tragedy, what is so difficult to comprehend,
is the madness of the act first, then the children” (NBC 1995c). The madness
characterization was reinforced by repeated images of rescue workers frantically
trying to find anyone left alive. On the fourth day after the bombing, reporter
Roger O’Neil described the heavy emotional burden this effort places on rescue
workers and noted that one rescuer told him that “when they break through to
where the children are, we’re still praying to see a little hand reach out to us”
(NBC 1995e).
Concern for the children ran deep and many interviewees felt like the
unidentified woman who told ABC that she “hked to think the women who passed
on are watching over the little children so their mothers won’t have to worry about
them” (ABC 1995e). The message such comments communicated was that the
bombing was an evil attack on defenseless children, those who committed this act
were hkewise evil, and something must be done about this.
After the initial shock, the questions became, who were the bombers and why
did they do this evil act? Who they were was a question that was comphcated by
the changing nature of the threat and the mounting evidence that contradicted the
early assertions made by many “experts” in the media. In the early days of the
investigation, Muslim extremists were the first to emerge as suspects. This category
developed into one that included immigrants in general. As details of McVeigh’s
background emerged, the blame shifted toward the mihtias and other extremist
groups.
On April 19, Connie Chung, a CBS anchor, told the nation the attack came
without warning and “a U.S. Government source — told CBS News that it has
Middle East terrorism written all over it” (CBS 1995a). Steve Emerson, the producer
of a controversial Public Broadcast System documentary on terrorism, was
interviewed and stated that Oklahoma City is “probably considered one of the
largest centers of Islamic radical activity outside of the Middle East” (CBS 1995a).
Using scenes from the documentary as a backdrop for his comments, CBS reporter
Anthony Mason said this “scene is a convention of Mushms in 1992 sponsored by
the Islamic Association of Palestine.. .this meeting in Oklahoma City was attended
by members of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Mushm Brotherhood” (CBS 1995a).
These presentations helped fuel pubhc perceptions that the evil other was different,
non-Christian, irrational, and violent.
A more generalized fear of outsiders was also present in the comments. Mike
Boettcher, a native Oklahoman and NBC reporter, described this fear when he
noted that at “the High Noon Cafe, a showdown with lax immigration policies was