Longtime NBC anchor Tom Brokaw issued an apology to Richard Jewell, the security guard who saved lives in the aftermath of the 1996 Atlanta, Georgia, bombing and later became a prime suspect.
Jewell, whose story was recently turned into a movie by Clint Eastwood, started evacuating people from Centennial Olympic Park during the Atlanta Olympics after he spotted the bomb. Days later, media outlets began reporting that Jewell was the primary suspect in the attack. His innocence, however, was announced after months of speculation.
Brokaw, one of the journalists who reported that Jewell was a suspect, apologized on social media on Christmas.
He tweeted, “re richard jewell. 24 hours after the bombing i talked at length with a [senior FBI] official – who did not wave me off jewel as a suspect. i reported that and speculated why. but my last line was for now he’s just a person of interest. when the truth emerged i apologized.”
re richard jewell. 24 hours after the bombing i talked at length with a sr fbi official – who did not wave me off jewel as a suspect.
i reported that and speculated why. but my last line was for now he’s just a person of interest.
when the truth emerged i apologized.— Tom Brokaw (@tombrokaw) December 25, 2019
He added in a subsequent tweet, writing, “nbc made a substantial $ payment to the family without going through contentious [negotiation]. richard and his mother went through a painful time which i deeply regret. i hope we all learned a lesson, [including] the FBI which was my principal source.”
nbc made a substantial $ payment to the family without going through contentious negotiaton.
richard and his mother went through a painful time which i deeply regret. i hope we all learned a lesson, includjng the FBI which was my principal source— Tom Brokaw (@tombrokaw) December 25, 2019
At the time, Brokaw reported, “The speculation is that the FBI is close to ‘making the case,’ in their language. They probably have enough to arrest him right now, probably enough to prosecute him, but you always want to have enough to convict him as well. There are still some holes in this case,” according to a 2016 article in the Guardian.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first published the claim that Jewell was a suspect, and CNN followed minutes later, while Brokaw was not far behind.
NBC News was one of a couple of media outlets that settled lawsuits with Jewell in the aftermath of their erroneous reporting. It paid the security guard $500,000, Bob Costas, who defended Jewell’s right to due process, told the Associated Press in 1997. As part of the settlement, however, the outlet did not issue a retraction or apology for the news report.
Jewell died in 2007 from a struggle with diabetes.
