NBC's Hunt on War Criminals:Sensationalism or Journalism

By Kate Sheehy
© 2008 Associated Press (Photo: Rob Carr)


The New York Times reports that NBC’s new series, which focuses on hunting down war foreign war criminals living in the U.S., is being questioned for violation of individual privacy. Working with a Rwandan government official, NBC brought accusations against a visiting professor from Goucher College in Maryland. Leopold Munyakazi has been suspended while the college investigates charges against him for genocide in Rwanda. The college president Sanford J. Ungar says that a producer from NBC sent him a letter outlining these charges last December.

The article in the New York Times refers to very similiar criticism of NBC over their investigative program, “To Catch a Predator." They went about trapping sex predators, exposing them on television before they had the opportunity to defend themselves. This resulted in the suicide of one of the accused.

Munyakazi denies the charges, according to the Times, saying that he actually saved people during the conflict. NBC’s actions have alarmed many federal and public organizations. The department of Homeland Security told the New York Times this could hurt their own investigations and ability to prosecute war criminals. The Human Rights Watch commented that they are concerned over the ethical tactics of the program.

“I was worried that a journalist was making false accusations, due to some extent to his close collaboration with the Rwandan government,” Executive Director Kenneth Roth said.

The Poynter Institute, a school for professional journalists, has raised issue with NBC’s journalistic integrity in working closely with a government entity. The institute told the Times that their issue addresses a journalist’s duty to work independently.

“Because it’s really important that our audience view us as independent — not carrying water for someone else,” ethics group leader for the Poynter Institute, Kelly McBride said.

Even Goucher College’s president, a former host for NPR, voiced concern to the New York Times about the ethics of the NBC producer and crew. He questions the strategy of the NBC producer’s way of getting information about Munyakazi. He says the station should have gone through the proper government officials here in the U.S., instead of working directly with the Rwandan government.

· What issues could be brought up under FCC regulations that this type of programming does not serve the public interest? That it does?
· Was it acceptable for the media to come onto the college campus and make accusations against Munyakazi in his place of employment? How may this violate the Freedom of Information Act?
· How may a gov. agency argue that a restraining order is necessary to protect national security? What test could be applied to prove or disprove that this reporting could cause danger to the public?