Imagine you are Barbara Jewell. Write a letter to the Atlanta Journal, the newspaper the first named your son as a suspect in the Olympic bombing.
To the Editor:
sensationalist reporting is harmful to all people involved and has no place in our society. Richard would never be comfortable if he didn't tell anyone about the bomb. I think he might well be remorseful forever if he had done that. But I wonder how you could have interpret his action, from one which is heroic to one which is suspicions..!! This is very irresponsible behavior. And this upshot has changed our live forever..!
Our life has completely destroyed by the media. I don't think any of you can even imagine what our lives are like .. you have taken all privacy from us, so now my son has no real life. He is a prisoner in our home.He can't work , he can't have any type of normal life. What's more, he couldn't visit his friend who on his deathbed..! He can only sit and wait for this nightmare to end. I'm a hundred percent sure my son Richard is not a murderer, and all our friends know that. However, because he is avictim peeping tom journalists he lives a life which wores than that of a murderer’s.
It is the most difficult life for people to live and they have been convicted in the court of public opinion and there is no peace. I'm not just saddened and hurt by the ordeal, but also I'm very angry. As a result of the media' s tolerance for irresponsible reporting, my family and I are a few more victims of sensationalism at its worst. On behalf of all victims of sensationalism, we demand a formal apology..
Barbara Jewell