Clouding over
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Details, page 2
Published since 1889 by the students of the University of Kansas
Wednesday
February 4, 1987
Vol. 97, No. 88
(USPS 650-640)
Iranian authorities call detained journalist a spy
From staff and wire reports
Iranian authorities said yesterday that detained U.S. journalist Gerald F. Seib was a spy, and the U.S. government condemned Seib's arrest.
In Hays, Seib's hometown, a prayer vigil continued in the chapel at Thomas More Prep-Marion, the Catholic high school Seib attended.
Iranian officials said Seib, a Middle East correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and a 1978 KU graduate, was "a spy for the Zionist regime."
But a State Department official said the United States could not confirm that Iran had formally charged Seib.
"We have not had any official confirmation of charges from the Swiss," State Department spokesman Bruce Mammeran said.
The Swiss Embassy, which represents the
United States in Iran, has been denied consular access to Seib. Ammerman said.
"They have sought to get an appointment to protest this detention, and they have not been successful." Ammerman said.
A dispatch on Tehran radio yesterday said, "The United States has officially requested the freedom of Gerald Seib, the spy for the Iranian regime who entered Iran disguised as a journalist."
The reference to "Zionist regime" was not explained
Seib and his wife, Barbara Rosewic, also a Journal correspondent, have been based in Cairo, Egypt, since 1985.
Robert D. Tomasek, a KU professor of political science, said overseas reporting carried certain risks.
"Reporter are not covered by diplomatic immunity." he said. "They don't have any special privileges under international law.
Reporters are sort of fair game."
Tomasek said he thought infighting among actions of Iran's military government must be resolved. Subed.
"It could be internal politics within the revolution," he said. "The internal infighting."
Various factions are vying to take power when Ayatollah Ruholla Khomiemi loses control.
Tomasek said Seib's arrest would be an embarrassment to Khomeini if he hadn't
The Iranian secret police, the Sevama, may have initiated the detainment on their own he said.
The United States probably will not take military action against Iran, he said.
"The U.S. will try to put as much diplomatic pressure on them as possible." he said. "I don't think the U.S. is going to take
any military retaliatory action."
Members of Kansas' delegation to the U.S. Congress sent a letter yesterday to Secretary of State George Shultz, urging the United States "to communicate to those holding (Seib) the gravity of such an act against an American citizen."
"We worry that unless the United States speaks out forcefully against this reprehensible act, such incidents will happen again," they wrote.
The Kansas House, meanwhile, passed a resolution condemning the Iranian government.
State Rep. Delbert Gross, D-Hays, who introduced the resolution, called the Iranian regime "a bully."
Gross said, "As long as one Kansan is held hostage, wherever he may be, we are all Kansan."
Ren, Jessie Branson. D-Lawrence, said
that often when a resolution was read on the floor, legislators talked with on another. But they never did.
"Because of the importance of it and the fact that it had just happened to someone right here in Kansas, all the members were very attentive and listened quietly," Branson said.
Rosewicz, also a 1978 KU graduate, told Seib's parents Monday that Seib's detainment apparently was caused by a mix-up with his passport.
Richard Seib said his son was not a spy.
"We want to stress his Catholic background, his German Volga background, his ethnic background." Richard Seib said. "His upbringing did not have anything to do with the type of person who would spy for anybody."
U.S. builds forces after kidnappings
Kansan reporter Benjamin Hall contributed information to this story.
United Press International
BEIRUT — U.S. Navy ships and Marine assault forces were poised off Lebanon on Tuesday in response to the latest kidnappings of Americans. A Muslim militia official warned that if the United States attacked, it would pay a high price.
A military buildup came after two Islamic fundamentalist groups renewed threats to kill their American captives.
"We call upon the American people to pressure their government not to commit a foolish action in Lebanon and not engage the American people in a new quagmire," said Tarek Ibrahim, military affairs spokesman for Lebanon's Shite Muslim Amal militia.
"The Americans will be foolish if they attempt to carry out a military operation in Lebanon," he said. "We are always ready for them and we are always on alert. But we think they are exaggerating their threats.
Diplomatic sources predicted any American attack could result in heavy casualties among U.S. forces and death for the hostages.
The first of two threats issued Monday was accompanied by a photograph of American Terry Anderson, kidnapped by the pro-Iranian Islamic Jihad on March 16, 1985. The other came with a photograph of American Terry Anderson abducted January 24 by the Islamic jihad for the Liberation of Palestine.
Islamic Jihad is holding Anderson, an Associated Press reporter; Thomas Sutherland, an American Uni- tarian Beirut infant; and three Frenchmen.
In exchange for the Americans, Islamic jihad demands the release of 17 Iraqis and Lebanese jailed in Kuwait for a series of bombings in 1983. For the release of the Frenchmen, it wants Paris to end support for Iraq in its war with Iran.
The Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine is threatening to kill its four hostages unless Israel freezes 400 Arab prisoners by Feb. 9. Israel has rejected the demand, citing its security of never dealing with terrorists.
The group is holding four Beirut University College officials.
City officials to attend Moscow peace forum
Attorney General Bob Stephan,
Lawrence Mayor Sandra Praeger,
City Commissioner David Longhurst,
local peace activist Bob Swan and 146
others from Washington Tuesday aboard an
Aeroflot, i.e. swan said yesterday.
Three prominent Lawrence residents and the Kansas attorney general have been invited by the Soviet Union to attend an anti-nuclear weapons forum in Moscow.
The forum, called Toward a
Staff writer
Nuclear Weapons-Free World," will be Feb. 10 to 17.
The four will hold a press conference at 3 p.m. today at the Statehouse in Topeka, Swain said.
Praeger said last night that she was waiting for a cable from the Soviet Embassy in Washington, D.C., that would provide further details about the trip. The four have not received agendas or information about accommodations.
Darcy Chang/KANSAN
Bv TODD COHEN
Praeger and Longhurst said they
See MOSCOW, p. 6, col. 3
On the line
t Clinton Lake enjoy unseasonably warm temperatures. The fishermen and other boaters visited the lake Monday afternoon.
KU journalism student files libel suit
Staff writer
By TODD COHEN
Libu suits are usually filed against journalists, not by them. But that's exactly the case in a libel suit a KU journalism student has filed against a Kansas utility company.
Kerry Knudsen, Lawrence graduate student, filed a libel suit in November in 10th District Federal Court in Overland Park against the Gas Company and Electric Company and the company's attorney, J. Michael Peters.
In the suit, Knudsen charged that Peters libbed him in a letter.
"If you take away a reporter's
exercise, write a typist."
Knudsen said Monday.
Lyle Koeper, KG&E spokesman in the company's Wichita office, said he could not comment on the case because it was under litigation.
Peters also refused to comment.
comment.
Peters wrote the letter in response to an article written by Knudsen and published by the Olathe Daily News on March 26 and 27, 1986. The Kansas City Star published the same article on April 6.
Knudsen's article charged that KKG&E was refusing to oil to fishermen a cooling lake at the Wolf Creek Nuclear Plant in Burlington. The Kansas Fish and Game Commission had helped stock the lake with the understanding that it would be open to the public, Knudsen's article said.
The article also alleged that KG&E intended to turn the lake into a private retreat for company executives.
In an April 14 letter to the publisher of the Oatle Daily News, Peters charged that the article contained "several untrue and misleading statements," that "Mr. Knudsen knew that they were inaccurate and incomplete," that "Mr. Knudsen ingruept to create a story which would argue public indignation against KG&E and the other owners of Wolf Creek."
"It is Mr. Knudsen's deliberate disregard for the truth of this story which prompts this letter," Peters wrote.
Knudsen, who for five years has written an outdoors column for various Kansas newspapers, including *The Woman* and he stood by his story 100 percent.
'I can prove the story is correct,' he said.
Libel is any printed communication that holds an individual up to contempt, ridicule, hatred or scorn. Material does not have to be published. It can also be libelous. A private communication read by a third party qualifies.
Knudsen said Peters' letter had injured his reputation and credibility as a journalist.
See LIBEL. D. 6. col. 3
Violent shows still make up much of prime time
Bv KIERSTI MOEN
Staff writer
Violent television shows, such as "Miami Vice" and "Simon and Simon," now make up 40 percent of prime-time hours. That's 15 percent less than two years ago, but still enough to have harmful effects, some experts say.
Kent Cornish, program director of WIBW-TV in Topeka, said, "Programs like 'Simon and Simon' and 'Magnum p.1.' are always going to be here, and anybody who thinks it's violence is not with us on this planet."
"I have good evidence that TV violence does contribute to aggression," said Aletha Huston, professor of human development and co-director of KU's Center for Research on the Influence of Television on Chil
... I don't think it promotes violence."
"Simon and Simon" and "Magnum, P.I." were considered "high in violence and still harmful" in a study of the 1980s national Coalition on Television Violence.
ABC's "Sledge Hammer" topped the list with an average of 58 violent acts an hour. ABC's "Sidekicks" had 43, ABC's "Spenser for Hire" had 42, NBC's "Miami Vice" had 35, CBS'
The study counted the number of violent acts in TV programs to rate violence.
"Simon and Simon" had 28, and CBS "Magnum, P.I." had 27 violent acts an hour.
Huston said she was pleased that television networks were using less violent programming. But she thought many people watched cable TV, which contains much more explicit violence than network programs.
The reason why such high-violence shows have decreased from 55 percent to 40 percent of prime-time hours may be the increased quality and popularity of non-violent situation comedies. The "Cosby Show" is a good example, the National Coalition on Television Violence said.
Program Violent acts/hour
1. Sledge Hammer 58
2. A-Team 56
3. Sidekick 43
4. Spencer For Hire 42
5. New Mike Hammer 36
6. Miami Vice 35
7. Hunter 34
8. Crime Story 34
9. Simon & Simon 28
10. Magnum P.I. 27
11. Downtown 25
12. MacGyver 24
13. The Wizard 22
14. Hearth of the City 22
15. Equalizer 21
16. Scarecrow & Mrs. King 21
17. ABC Movie average 15
18. Moonlighting 14
19. Hill Street Blues 14
20. Amazing Stories 13
"The more people watch, the more likely they are to show some kind of aggressive behavior," she said. "On heroes as well as for villains."
TV violence is especially likely to affect children, she said. Many researchers have found a correlation between the amount of violence that parents watched on television when they were children and the amount of violence in their adult families.
Source: National Coalition on Television Violence
"We would have a much more healthy society if we taught citizens other ways of dealing with conflict than using violence."
TV violence can affect people's behavior, she said.
TV's 20 most violent prime-time shows
But aggressive behavior cannot be
blamed only on television, said Pat Patton, program director for KMBC TV-9 in Kansas City, Mo.
"You have to be alert to repeated violence," Patton said. "But violence on television does not desensitize people to the severity of violence in real life. People recognize 'action-adventure' programs for what they are.
Violent acts/hour
Bill Skeet/KANSAN
"It's clear that TV has an impact on viewers, but it's not the cause of all of our ills. I think the truth lies
somewhere in between."
Dennis Karpowitz, professor of psychology, said poorly adjusted children were more likely than well-adjusted children to be affected by TV violence.
INSIDE
Reflections
Women's basketball coach Marian Washington, who will coach her 400th basketball game today for Kansas on the first National Women in Sports Day, reminisces about the accomplishments in women's athletics. See story page 13.
What a deal
The cost of education at the University of Kansas is a bargain compared to three other schools in KU's peer group, administrators say. See story page 3.
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