Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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TV execs discuss election coverage by Jim Abrams Associated Press WASHINGTON-The nation’s top television executives told Congress a national uniform poll-closing timeiwould eliminate the issue of networks announcing winners in some states before polls in other states are closed. In an eight-hour hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the network presidents Wednesday also pledged to wait until all the polls in a state are closed before declaring a winner in that state and to take other steps to prevent a recurrence of events that led to the premature — and incorrect — declarations of the Florida presidential race. Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., called the hearing to study why the networks gave Florida to A1 Gore on the evening of Nov. 7, retracted that decision several hours later and then, around 2 a.m. EST on Nov. 8, declared Geoige W. Bush the winner in Florida and the president elect, even though the Florida vote was heading toward a virtual tie. Tauzin and other Republicans aigued that the first mistake in declaring Gore in Florida, while unintentional, might have discouraged voters in Wfestem states from voting, particularly Republicans who thought Gore was heading for victory nationwide. Those testifying—from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox, The Associated Press and Voter News Service — denied any political bias in their reporting. Several said that while there is no real evidence that Western state voters are swayed by reports on winners in the East, a uniform national closing time would end the perception that this might be true. Tauzin and Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., have introduced a bill under which all polls in the nation would close at the same time. There was wide support for the bill from others on the committee. David Westin, president of ABC News, said he hoped to see a time when the nation “has a system of voting that is so reliable and so instantaneous” that the networks could simply report the actual results rather than analyze exit polls. The television executives said although they were embarrassed by what CBS News President Andrew Heyward called “our Florida flip-flops,” it was their responsibility, and not the job of Congress, to fix the problems. Associated Press President and Chief Executive Louis D. Boccardi said he was concerned the congressional inquiry was inconsistent with Fust Amendment val ues. “We agree that there were serious shortcomings — call them terrible mistakes — I do,” he said. “But fixing them is a job for the nation’s editors, not for its legislators.” Fox News Network Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes said he was “deeply disappointed” that the issue was being handled as an investigative matter and that “this committee views its role as ad versarial, requiring us to take an oath as if we have something to hide. We do not.” Tauzin said he had no intention of infringing on Fust Amendment rights. “I will fight to the death to protect your right to do it wrong if you want to continue to do it wrong.” All the networks conducted reviews of the mistakes in Florida, and generally agreed that Voter News Service, a consortium they formed to provide exit polls and vote tabulations, had given them faulty data leading to the Gore call. Other problems, including an inaccurate vote count issued by one Florida county, led to the networks, but College Press Exchange Roger Ailes of FOX News, left, and Tom Johnson of CNN talk before the start of Wednesday's Congressional hearings about television election coverage in Washington D.C. not the AP, giving the state to Bush later in the night. The networks said they would put more resources into VNS to improve its accuracy, pay closer attention to absentee ballots, develop second sources to verify data, isolate decision makers from the competitive pressures of other networks and avoid using exit polls alone to call close elections. Democrats on the panel urged the GOP majority to go beyond the media mistakes and concentrate on the larger issue of revising an election system they say disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of minorities and other Americans, _' . ' i World Briefs ■ Source: federal prosecutor opens investigation on presidential pardon NEW YORK (AP) - A federal prosecutor has cranked up the heat on former President Clinton, launching a criminal investigation to determine whether money played a role in the last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White’s probe is expected to examine bank and telephone records and other docu ments for evidence of illegal conduct, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation. “She is trying to determine if there was a transfer of money to buy the pardon,” the source told The Associat ed Press on Wednesday, speaking only on condition of anonymity. The move comes after Senate and House committees launched similar probes of the Rich pardon, one of 141 granted by Clinton on Jan. 20, his final day in office. ■ China warns against censure effort at U.N. Human Rights Commission BEIJING (AP) — Calling for dia logue instead of confrontation, China on Thursday began its annual effort to fight off attempts to criticize its human rights record at an upcoming United Nations meeting. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said Western efforts to cen sure China at the U.N. Human Rights Commission had disrupted and “seri ously poisoned the atmosphere” at previous commission meetings. “This has met with strong opposi tion from the wide majority of devel oping countries, China included. It is natural that it ended in failure,” Zhu said at a regular press briefing. The U.S. government is still de bating whether to back a resolution to censure China at the annual meeting next month of the U.N. rights commis sion in Switzerland. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of 11 U.S. senators urged President Bush to sponsor such a resolution. ■ El Salvador asks for aid after second deadly earthquake SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — With hospitals running out of beds, blood and medicine, officials ap pealed for international help for thou sands of victims from Salvador’s sec ond deadly earthquake in a month. Resources and hope were dwin dling Wednesday, and landslide-cov ered highways blocked rescue workers from reaching stricken communities. Medical centers throughout the country — already overwhelmed by the thousands injured in last month’s deadly quake — couldn’t handle the additional victims from Tuesday’s 6.6 magnitude temblor.. The National Emergency Commit tee put the death toll at 274, with 2,432 injured, 13,545 houses de stroyed and nearly 123,000 people suf fering property damage. ■ Man declared unfit for trial in samurai sword attack BRISTOL, England (AP) - A man accused of attacking a lawmaker with a samurai sword and stabbing an aide to death was declared unfit to stand trial by a British jury Thursday. Jurors at Bristol Crown Court agreed with psychiatrists that Robert Ashman suffered from paranoid delu sions and would be unable to compre hend court proceedings. Ashman, 50, is charged with killing Liberal Democratic Party worker Andrew Pennington and wounding lawmaker Nigel Jones in the attack at Jones’ constituency office in Cheltenham, western England, on Jan. 28,2000. Expert witnesses said Ashman, who had experienced years of personal and employment problems, suffered from paranoid psychosis. Ashman, who remains in custody, will face a judicial inquiry, known as a “trial of fact,” be fore a new jury to determine what happened during the alleged incident. Powell expresses opposition to spate of‘targeted killings’ College Press Exchange Israelis inspect the wreckage of a public bus that was driven into a crowd of Israeli soldiers and commuters by a Palestinian driver at a bus stop in Azur, Israel. by Barry Schweid Associated Press WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Colin Powell has informed Yasser Arafat he is opposed to “targeted killings” of Palestinians, a strategy employed by Israel as part of its counterterrorism policy. Powell advised the Palestinian leader of his position Wednesday after a Palestinian driver, who friends said was distraught over Arab casualties in the weeks of Middle East violence, rammed his bus into a packed bus stop near Tel Aviv and killed seven Israeli soldiers and a civilian. It was the deadliest attack by a Palestinian in four years. During a 15-minute telephone call, Powell also urged Arafat to try to curb the violence. Similar appeals are being made to Israel. Arafat told Powell he had condemned “the killings and the violence and the bus attack that took place today,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington and one of three emissaries sent here by Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon, said Thursday that, overall, “we found a great deal of understanding for our positions with the new administration.” Clearly in disagreement over targeting terrorism suspects, Shoval said Israel was at war with terrorism and “war is hell.” He said the threat to Israel is the result of a “strategic decision” by Arafat. “He is the leader and die symbol,” Shoval said. “We still believe he has the authority that is necessary” to halt the violence. “There must be an end to violence, not a reduction,” the former ambassador said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a private think-tank. Otherwise, he said, Israel wouldn’t negotiate with the Palestinians. On Wednesday, Shoval said Israel would choose its methods of retaliating to terrorism. Responding to Palestinian condemnation of “political assassinations,” Shoval told reporters that “assassination isn’t the right word when you fight terrorism.” Later, Mark Regev, the Israeli Embassy spokesman, said his government finds it preferable to respond to terrorism by targeting a known terrorist instead of exacting “collective punishment” in which innocent people could be harmed. Israel has killed several suspected militants in recent months. On Tuesday, two helicopter gunships struck at Massoud Ayyad, 54, an officer in Arafat’s elite Force 17 bodyguard unit, as he drove on the outskirts of a Palestinian refugee camp on the Gaza Strip. Ayyad died as a missile blew his car apart, shattering windows up and down the street. Prime Minister Ehud Barak con gratulated the army for killing him. On a visit to Turkey, Arafat said, based on available information about the bus incident outside Tel Aviv, “It was a road accident.” However, the Palestinian leader said, “Whatever the cause, of course we are against the killing of people in whatever capacity.” “We are against all acts of violence, the military escalation and all acts of ter rorism,” he said. Military says kidnappers agreed to take ransom ■ Agreement came hours before deadline by Gonzalo Solano Associated Press QUITO, Ecuador—Freedom appeared near for seven kidnapped foreigners who have endured four months of captivity in Ecuador’s jun gle and the brutal execution of a U.S. hostage. The head of Ecuador’s military, Vice Adm. Miguel Saona, announced Wednesday that the kidnappers had agreed to an unspecified ransom hours before a deadline to kill another captive. “The criminal group said it would not execute anyone else, and I understand they have reached some economic arrangement,” Saona said. The mother of one U.S. hostage told TheOregonian newspaper that her son’s employer was arranging a meeting with a crisis management expert to help her prepare for her son’s homecoming. Neither the employers nor embassies of the seven hostages — four Americans, a Chilean, an Argentine and a New Zealander — would confirm or deny the reports of their possible release. Ten foreign oil workers were kidnapped in October in the El Coca jungle region, some 150 miles east of Quito. Two Frenchmen later escaped. The body of kidnap victim Ronald Sander, 54, of Sunrise Beach, Mo., was found in the jungle Jan. 31. He had been shot five times in the back and was covered in a white sheet scrawled with the words in Spanish: “I am a gringo. For nonpayment of ransom. HP company.” Sander was a technician with Tulsa, Okla.-based Helmerich & Payne Inc. Unconfirmed media reports said the kidnappers had warned they would kill another hostage if ransom wasn’t paid by Feb. 15. The American captives have been identified as David Bradley of Casper, Wyo., an oil field platform foreman for Helmerich & Payne; and Arnold Alford, Steve Derry and Jason Weber, all employees of the Oregon-based helicopter company Erickson Air-Crane Co. and residents of Gold Hill, Ore. Bradley’s mother, Jimmie Gimmeson, told The Oregonian her son’s employer was arranging to help her prepare for her son’s return. “They want to prepare us for the re-entry process so that when David comes home, we can do the right things,” she said. “We don’t know what conditions the guys are in.” Helmerich & Payne said in a written statement: “Based on recent events, the company has greater optimism regarding the safe return of our co-worker, David Bradley, and the other hostages presently held captive.” Sources close to the investigation said the kidnappers had been refusing to bucfge from an initial demand of $80 million. Authorities believe the kidnappers number about 25 and are members of the same criminal gang that held seven Canadians and an American for ransom for 100 days in late 1999. Alberta-based United Pipeline Systems has never confirmed reports that it paid $3.5 million for the release of its employees. Oil industry and military sources have said the kidnappers were believed responsible for deadly dynamite attacks in December against Ecuador’s main oil pipeline. Serbia, Montenegro to extradite suspects to U.N. war crimes court BY Katarina Kratovac Associated Press BELGRADE, Yugoslavia — Serbia pledged Thursday to expel or extradite non-Yugoslavs sought by the U.N. war crimes tribunal, meaning the Yugoslav republic might no longer be a haven for suspects from Bosnia and Croatia. The policy change by Serbia will have no impact on the status of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic — top Serb and Yugoslav leaders insist he must stand trial at home, at least initially, for corruption and crimes related to atrocities in Kosovo. Without mentioning Milosevic, Serb Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic said Thursday that investigations against Yugoslav citizens suspected of war crimes would be launched “in a matter of days.” The policy change came as chief U.N. prosecutor Carla Del Ponte met with leadership in Montenegro, the smaller republic remaining in the Yugoslav federation with Serbia. Montenegro repeated an earlier promise to cooperate with the tribunal. ‘We refuse to be an asylum for war criminals, to have people who killed others, women and children, walk our streets safely.’ Zoran Djindjic Serb Prime Minister Besides Milosevic and some of his cronies, several other top war crimes suspects are thought to live in Serbia — including Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general under indictment for alleged atrocities during the Bosnian war. The nationality of such suspects is unclear. If they didn’t reapply for Yugoslav citizenship after Croatia and Bosnia declared independence in the early 1990s, the Serb decision strips them of what has been a life of relative safety. “We refuse to be an asylum for war criminals, to have people who killed others, women and children, walk our streets safely,” Djindjic said. Djindjic added that his government would push a law through parliament providing for unspecified cooperation with U.N. court in The Hague. “This is a package of actions that should satisfy — at least by March 31 — all well-meaning parties in the international community,” he said. That was the deadline set by the United States, which urged Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to cooperate with the tribunal or risk losing $100 million in financial aid. In Podgorica, the Montenegrin capital, Del Ponte praised the “excellent cooperation” of Montenegrin authorities. She urged the leadership of Serbia, Milosevic’s home republic, to deliver him for trial before the U.N. court. Del Ponte handed several indictments and arrest warrants to Montenegrin officials and demanded the extradition of any war crimes suspects who might show up in Montenegro.