Edition: U.S. / Global

Once Accused, Now the Accuser; Ex-Bomb Suspect's Suit Challenges an Atlanta Newsroom

Published: February 8, 1999

On July 31, 1996, Anita Harkins, a copy editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, was reading a column destined for the next day's newspaper when a colleague heard her exclaim, ''They can't do it this way.''

A day before, The Journal-Constitution had reported that Richard Jewell, a 33-year-old security guard, was ''the focus of'' the Federal investigation into the bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games. Mr. Jewell was not charged with anything, but the piece Ms. Harkins was reading drew parallels between his situation and that of Wayne Williams, a convicted murderer of Atlanta children.

The column, by Dave Kindred, said: ''Like this one, he became famous in the aftermath of murder. His name was Wayne Williams. This one is Richard Jewell.''

Ms. Harkins went to the editor in charge to raise doubts about the article. The response, Ms. Harkins said in a sworn statement, was ''something along the lines of, 'Well, it is a Dave Kindred column,' '' an apparent reference to the leeway columnists are often allowed. Besides, she recalled, the editor complained that ''they were having color problems'' with the front page -- the kind of production headaches that can delay an edition.

Those moments and many others are captured in the sworn statements of two dozen journalists who were questioned by the lawyers handling the libel suit that Mr. Jewell filed against The Journal-Constitution after he was cleared.

The case is months away from trial, if it ever gets there. But the evidence assembled offers a glimpse of the workings of a newsroom. Most of all, it shows how news coverage, started in a particular direction, can become a journalistic juggernaut, hard to turn, harder to reverse. From the moment on Monday, July 29, when the local police reporter, Kathy Scruggs, told her editors that Mr. Jewell had become a leading suspect, the paper's coverage tended to bolster the theory that the security guard had the motive and the opportunity to set off the bomb and cast himself as a hero.

Most of those involved in the newspaper's coverage decline to discuss the case. But the newspaper, through the legal pleadings of its lawyer, Peter C. Canfield, offers an impassioned defense of the accuracy of its reporting. Since accurate reports cannot be deemed libelous, the newspaper, which is owned by Cox Enterprises Inc., has asked the presiding judge to dismiss the suit.

Mr. Jewell's lawyer, L. Lin Wood, contends that the journalists did not simply report these suspicions but embellished and enlarged on them -- for example, by juxtaposing Mr. Jewell's name with that of Mr. Williams.

Mr. Wood's task in proving libel is not simple. He must show that the newspaper negligently or maliciously printed false statements about Mr. Jewell, even though a Justice Department review confirms that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents once considered Mr. Jewell the prime suspect and parallels some of the newspaper's reporting.

Whatever the eventual outcome, what emerges from the evidence gathered so far is that in the first days after Mr. Jewell was named, The Journal-Constitution gave prominence to reporting that supported the F.B.I.'s view. Contradictory material got perfunctory attention -- with a few exceptions. The newspaper was among the first to disclose that it would have been nearly impossible for Mr. Jewell to have made the 911 call warning of the blast, information that undercut the theory of his involvement. But that came a week after other news organizations reported that investigators' interest in Mr. Jewell was waning.

Over all, the evidence makes it clear how tempting it is for journalists covering a highly visible investigation to adopt the investigators' theories as their own.

After the Bombing, A Hero Is Cast

The explosion in Centennial Olympic Park, at 1:20 A.M., Saturday, July 27, caused 2 deaths and injured 111 people. There were fears that those responsible could strike again. The coverage was intense: reporters from around the world were on The Journal-Constitution's home turf, looking for facts amid the speculation. Journal-Constitution reporters followed a dozen threads in the first 48 hours, checking whether authorities had fumbled the 911 warning call and writing about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

One of these was Mr. Jewell, a security guard working for AT&T, who discovered the backpack and helped clear the area. It was the coverage casting Mr. Jewell, then 33, as a hero, that began his troubles. He agreed to an interview with CNN, which had been arranged by AT&T. As Mr. Jewell recalled in a recent interview, he arrived late and out of breath. Seated alone in a dark studio, he didn't know where to look.

The Saturday evening interview was seen by W. Ray Cleere, the president of Piedmont College in northern Georgia, where Mr. Jewell had been a campus security officer a few weeks before. He was struck by Mr. Jewell's nervousness. Sunday, Mr. Cleere called the F.B.I. and expressed concern about Mr. Jewell.

After F.B.I. agents heard Dr. Cleere's suspicions, according to a Justice Department summary of the events, ''The F.B.I. recalled that a spate of fires in Southern California had recently been linked to a volunteer firefighter who apparently had set the fires so he could extinguish them and become a hero.''

The idea that Mr. Jewell might have set off the bomb to make himself a hero began to form Sunday, according to the Justice report, as agents learned in telephone interviews that he had had a problematic history as a law enforcement officer.

On Monday, an agent was told by acquaintances of Mr. Jewell that the security guard had said he wanted to be ''in the middle'' of any big event at the Olympics, and that he had access to a ''bomb making cookbook'' -- assertions that were never substantiated.

As that agent was headed back to Atlanta, Ms. Scruggs, who covered the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Atlanta Police Department for The Journal-Constitution, went to meet someone who told her of the F.B.I.'s suspicions. Ms. Scruggs agreed not to disclose the information unless the newspaper learned it elsewhere, according to an account she gave to her colleague, Carrie Teegardin, who was preparing an article on the newspaper's coverage.

After the meeting, Ms. Scruggs called her editors, then filled in a colleague, Maria Fernandez, who was sent to Piedmont College to do more reporting. Ms. Fernandez's notes from that conversation, revealed during her deposition, reflect the raw information on which the early news judgments were based.

''Police chief of college, president of college, thought he looked nervous,'' the notes read. ''Chasing people off campus, bad reports. He left May 21st. Habersham County Sheriff's department. Wrecked four cars. Crazy chases, lots of guns in cars. He hopes he is in the middle of it. Wants to marry people on a first date.''

These details circulated among reporters and editors involved in the coverage. Later reporting showed half these statements were substantially true; half were gossip that was never printed. As an officer, Mr. Jewell had damaged police cruisers and attracted civilian complaints. There was no evidence that he had ''lots'' of guns in his cars or was overeager romantically.

Tuesday morning, Ms. Scruggs got another tip. A source told her that ''everybody'' in the Atlanta Police Department was discussing ''the security guard.'' Ms. Scruggs told her editors it was time to publish.

The identities of the sources have been protected by the newspaper. But Mr. Jewell's lawyer, Mr. Wood, contends that his inability to find out who said what about Mr. Jewell cripples his case. He has asked the judge to compel the newspaper to reveal its sources.

Suspicion Shifts To Richard Jewell

After she got to the office Tuesday, Ms. Scruggs wrote a version of her article with Ron Martz, who covered Federal law enforcement agencies, looking over her shoulder, according to several depositions. Burt Roughton Jr., who oversaw the nonsports Olympic coverage, edited the article, inserting a sentence saying Mr. Jewell ''also has approached newspapers, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, seeking publicity for his actions.''

As Mr. Roughton explained in his deposition, ''There was a general impression at the time that he was making the media rounds.'' Mr. Jewell had talked to CNN, USA Today, The Journal-Constitution and the NBC ''Today'' Show, but has said he was doing so at the wish of his superiors at AT&T, for whom he worked as a security guard.

The article's second paragraph said, ''Richard Jewell, 33, a former law enforcement officer, fits the profile of the lone bomber. This profile generally includes a frustrated white man who is a former police officer, member of the military or police 'wannabe' who seeks to become a hero.'' No source is cited for the assertion that Mr. Jewell fit the profile of the lone bomber.

After the article was edited, however, Mr. Martz called a Federal source, read it over the phone and was told the source had no problem with it. Soon after, in an updated edition late in the afternoon, it was in print, under a six-column headline.

It is common for journalists to get reaction from an individual before unflattering information about that person is printed. But there is no evidence that anyone ever told Mr. Jewell what the newspaper was about to print so that he could respond. One reporter said in a deposition that his phone calls to Mr. Jewell went unanswered.

The editors did have had someone outside Mr. Jewell's apartment -- a summer intern, Christina Headrick. Rochelle Bozman, the editor responsible for the Jewell reporting, told her to knock on Mr. Jewell's door shortly before 2 P.M. According to Ms. Headrick's deposition, when she did so, he refused to open it or to speak to her. She said she did not tell him he was a suspect.

Mr. Canfield, the lawyer for the paper, argues that Mr. Jewell gave Ms. Headrick little or no chance to tell him of the impending article and that it is unlikely he would have contradicted his earlier accounts of his activities.

Headlines Assign A Motive to Bomber

The presses rolled around 4 P.M. The Journal-Constitution's editors, proud of the staff's work, alerted The Associated Press and CNN. These organizations alerted the world.

Within an hour, television wires sprouted like kudzu outside Mr. Jewell's apartment. His brief denial was the top news in Wednesday's early editions, under the headline '' 'Hero' Denies Planting Bomb.''

Wednesday's issue also carried five articles related to Mr. Jewell. The headlines read: ''Change of Fortune,'' ''Security Guard Had Reputation as Zealot,'' ''Motive? Could Be Sociopath, Attention Seeker,'' ''Security Woes Hit AT&T Site'' and ''Crimes Committed by Guards Plague Security Industry.''

The Journal-Constitution's coverage did include comments of Mr. Jewell's neighbors and friends, who scoffed at the F.B.I.'s theory.

One headline a day later did cast doubt on Mr. Jewell's viability as a suspect. Later editions Thursday ran a story entitled ''Reports Say Agents Backing Off'' that quoted two network news reports that the investigators' suspicions were cooling after they failed to find physical evidence linking Mr. Jewell to the bombing. It was one of seven Jewell-related articles that day. Others were titled ''Police Work 'Was His Life': Some in North Georgia Town Say Jewell 'Was on a Power Kick,' '' and '' 'Hero Syndrome' Is Fueled by Anger, Need for Attention.'' The final editions that day carried a five-column headline ''No Arrest Made Yet.''

Mr. Kindred, the columnist, was in the crowd outside Mr. Jewell's apartment watching the search on Wednesday. That evening, his column was passed to the copy desk, a group of editors who backstop other editors on issues like fairness and accuracy. Two copy editors who read the column alerted senior editors, according to their depositions. Both said they were rebuffed, although a supervising editor denies this. Mr. Kindred said in his deposition that he was comparing ''the circumstances surrounding their cases,'' not comparing Mr. Jewell to Mr. Williams.

The column noted the apparent fruitlessness of the search, stating, ''Maybe the regular fella had nothing to do with the bomb; the F.B.I. has often sat on a suspect and come up empty.'' Mr. Kindred concluded: ''Richard Jewell sits in the shadows today. Wayne Williams sits in prison forever.''

A few days later, Ms. Teegardin, the Journal-Constitution reporter, interviewed Rochelle Bozman for an article about the coverage -- an article that was never published. Ms. Teegardin asked Ms. Bozman, who was in charge of the coverage, ''Are you going to feel bad, like you did some big wrong, if it turns out that Richard Jewell is innocent?''

Ms. Bozman answered, ''No.''

''Why not?''

''Because we didn't say he was guilty.''

Twelve weeks later, on Oct. 24, The Constitution's lead article carried the headline ''Jewell Out as Suspect in Bombing, Judge Says.''

Photos: Richard Jewell had to wade through news reporters outside his apartment after he was called ''the focus of'' a Federal investigation. (Edward Keating/The New York Times)(pg. C10); Richard Jewell, above, at Centennial Olympic Park in December. In the days after a bomb exploded at the park on July 27, 1996, Mr. Jewell, left, became the subject of intense international news scrutiny after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that he was being investigated by the F.B.I. (Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times); (Associated Press)(pg. C1)