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American Morning

Latest Execution Deadline Set by Kidnappers of "Wall Street Journal" Reporter

Aired February 01, 2002 - 07:40   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Today is the latest execution deadline set by the kidnappers of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl. Pearl's kidnappers yesterday delayed their death threat for 24 hours. The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, says it is doing everything it can to find and free Pearl in Pakistan, but it will not meet the kidnappers' demands. The group has put other American journalists on notice, "Leave the country or become targets too."

Joining us now from Karachi is CNN's Ben Wedeman. And from Washington, Frank Smyth, with the Committee to Protect Journalists. Thanks very much for being with us this morning.

Ben, I want to start with you. You have reported from a lot of dangerous places in your career as a journalist. How seriously are you taking this threat from Daniel Pearl's kidnappers to other journalists?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well we certainly are taking it very seriously, indeed. We're taking all the precautions we can. We're basically trying to stay out of areas which have a history of trouble. It's worth mentioning, however, that Karachi itself is a city -- a very big city -- where there have in the past been many kidnappings. Some for ransom, other for -- others for political motives.

But, basically, we have to be more careful. We have to be very alert when we go out. We have to look at our surroundings. We do go out with a certain amount of security protection. But by in large, we're still functioning as we normally would. And it's worth mentioning that Mr. Pearl was doing the sort of thing that any of us would be doing as journalists, going out pursuing the story.

In his case, he was trying to follow leads in the case of Richard Reid. And it just looks like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

COOPER: Frank Smyth, let me bring you in at this point. Ben brings up a good point. I mean, a journalist has to, in a sense, rely at times on some shady people. Is there anything a journalist can do to protect himself or herself?

FRANK SMYTH, COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS: Well I think everybody has to take these threats very seriously and recognize that they are not just operating in a dangerous environment, but now journalists are being targeted directly. So if journalists are going to attempt to get the kind of exclusive interviews that Daniel Pearl was getting, certainly they'll want to do so in coordination with other people. Make sure people know exactly where they are and what they're doing. Hopefully not try to undertake any of those -- or make those contacts by themselves.

COOPER: Frank, you perhaps know better than most people maybe a little bit what Dan's going through. You were detained for 18 days by Iraqi special forces after the Gulf War while covering the (INAUDIBLE) uprising for CBS radio. Give us a sense, if you can -- I mean, what goes through your mind when -- when you are in a situation like this like Daniel Pearl was in?

SMYTH: Well certainly every second, every minute, every hour, every day you're still alive, you're ahead of the game. And I think Mr. Pearl, I'm sure, is grateful to still be with us. He's in a very delicate situation. I would imagine that he is thinking very much about his pregnant wife and their unborn child. Certainly, he is fearing for his life and also for them.

COOPER: Ben, just very briefly -- we have about 30 seconds left -- does this change the way -- this threat -- does it change the way you are covering this story? Have you given any thought to leaving Karachi? To leaving Pakistan?

WEDEMAN: We think about it all the time and we're constantly discussing it within our team. But at the moment, we have no plans to leave Karachi or Pakistan. Now I have never met myself Mr. Pearl, but I know people who have. And there's a certain amount of professional solidarity here. He's a journalist; he was doing what we all normally do. And, therefore, we feel that it would be a betrayal, so to speak, to leave at this point. Because we do serve a purpose in trying to get the information out about what we know about him and his kidnappers and doing what we can, hoping that he will soon be released.

COOPER: All right. Ben Wedeman in Karachi, stay safe. Thank you very much for joining us this morning. And Frank Smyth, thanks very much for joining us as well on AMERICAN MORNING.

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