The Unabomber in Montana: 10 Years After |
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| Journalism Dean Jerry Brown |
Ten years ago, when Ted Kaczynski was unmasked as the Unabomber and arrested at his Montana cabin, most of our upperclass students were about 10 years old. Since then, the face of terrorism has changed — from the iconic photograph of Kaczynski in orange prison clothing to images of the killer-zealots of Sept. 11.
Now a group of those students, using this grim anniversary as a benchmark for reviewing that earlier event, have peeled away some of the mystery of the Unabomber and his times. This retrospective on Kaczynski’s arrest in 1996 was written, photographed and designed by students at the University of Montana School of Journalism during the Spring semester of 2006.
In reopening the Unabomber story, students have learned that cataclysmic events — whether global or homegrown — have lasting impact and that journalists merely have the first pass at making sense of them. In calling journalism the rough draft of history, we imply that the writing of history never stops and that no one can be certain a final draft has been written.
Given what we know now, it’s not surprising that Kaczynski would be interested in how journalism is practiced. He applied for admission to The University of Montana in the spring of 1992, expressing interest in the School of Journalism. He was accepted, but he never attended. I find no record of what he thought
about journalism then, but I do know what he says about it now.
A graduate student who worked on this project wrote to Kaczynski at his permanent address, a Colorado prison, requesting an interview. In a letter rejecting that request, the Unabomber characterizes news reporters as wildly inaccurate, dishonest, biased, self-serving, liars and entertainers, interested in the lurid.
Such broadsides are hardly new, and the characterizations are sometimes true, but Kaczynski obviously doesn’t get how journalism, despite its faults, serves the public — and, by extension, democratic principles.
This publication demonstrates the work of young people with talent and a true calling to practice those principles. It also provides evidence of the solid instruction and inspiration of skillful, experienced professional journalists — professors Sheri Venema, Teresa Tamura and Keith Graham.
The students who participated in this project will face tougher challenges than understanding Ted Kaczynski and the Unabomber story, but by probing into this episode in Montana and U.S. history, they’ll be better prepared, as citizens and journalists, to deal with what may come.
Summer 2006
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