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Written by: Jessica Snyder
Published: 10/19/2005 Bloggers and Local TV Speculate about Oklahoma Student’s Suicide
When a junior at the University of Oklahoma blew himself up outside a packed football stadium, the news coverage was minimal. Bloggers and local news agencies, however, took up the research into the young man’s background, and concluded – quite falsely, according to the FBI and his family– that the details pointed to Islamic terrorism.
According to the Wall Street Journal, several facts led them to these speculations: Joel Hinrichs III had a Pakistani roommate, their apartment was one block away from the only mosque in Norman and he had a scraggly beard. The mosque near them was the same mosque attended by Zacarias Moussaoui, who pleaded guilty to helping plan the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Local CBS affiliate News 9 KWTZ aired a three-minute segment called “Blog Spot,” spreading the bloggers’ theories on the suicide, and KWTZ correspondent Tamara Pratt reported that Hinrichs had spent “much of his time at the Norman mosque” and had bought an airline ticket to Algeria. Brian Eckert, News 9’s managing editor, stands by Ms. Pratt’s report.
None of these claims are true. Hinrichs’ parents and the FBI say that he was seeking counseling for depression, and that he had worn an “Abe Lincoln” beard since high school. While most news reports have been reliable, there has been a “feeding frenzy of false rumors” on blogs and in some local TV stations, according to David L. Boren, president of the University of Oklahoma and former senator and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
In a letter to students and staff, Mr. Boren added that investigators had found “no evidence of a conspiracy involving others which creates an ongoing threat to our OU community.”
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