Reporting the wrong story

If you live anywhere near the Dallas area and you own a television or radio you already know that a fellow by the name of Hosam Smadi attempted to blow up a building in Dallas yesterday. The news reporters have gone in to great detail about Smadi- where he lived, where he worked, his illegal immigrant status. His picture has been plastered all over every news cast, along with pictures of the building he tried to blow up. Newscasters have interviewed workers in that building asking them how scared they were (not how they felt, not what their thoughts were on the subject, but how scared they were when the found out) and clever little step-by-step graphics have been made to detail every minute action: First he got in the truck, (insert graphic here) then he drove the truck down to the third-level parking garage, (insert graphic here) then he walked back up to the first level, (insert graphic here) then he got into another car, (insert graphic here) then he rode several blocks away from the building, then he pressed a button on a cell phone to detonate the bomb (insert graphic here).

Here’s the problem with all of this- they’re reporting the wrong story. The story here is not the Smadi wanted to blow up a building. The story is that the FBI foiled the plot and Smadi is right now sitting in jail. The truck he drove into the building? The FBI gave it to him. The bomb in the back of that truck? A dummy bomb made by the FBI. The cell phone he used to detonate the bomb? It was a speed-dial to the FBI. The FBI did a fantastic job here, and that’s being completely overshadowed here by the media hype. They found this guy in little, bitty Italy, Texas, hooked up with him, found out what he was planning to do and interjected themselves into the process. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people aren’t dead today because of the FBI. Why isn’t that the story? Why do we need interviews of the residents of Italy who tell us what a fun, friendly, unassuming guy Smadi was? Why aren’t there reporters lined up outside FBI headquarters in Dallas looking for official statements and handing out accolades?

So, to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation I say “Thank you!” You did your job quietly and effectively. You deprived the “news” people of a real story and forced them to make a rock star out of a low-life. Great work!