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Discovery Channel scoops CNN on TWA 800 story

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Discovery Channel’s recent program examining the cause of the TWA 800 disaster not only scoops CNN’s previously aired ”No Survivors” program on the same subject, but is a far superior investigative report. Discovery’s ”Best Evidence” takes a critical look at the available hard evidence and the government’s conclusions pertaining to the jetliner’s demise. By contrast, CNN’s ”No Survivors” contained a number of factual inaccuracies, the result of CNN’s producers relying too heavily on official sources and failing to verify the information those sources provided.

For example, CNN based their crash sequence animation that showed Flight 800 climbing sharply after exploding on government simulation data. But the government admitted that the simulations were ”steered,” and outside experts have shown that they do not match the hard radar evidence.

The government used the climb scenario based on their steered simulation data to explain eyewitness accounts of a missile. At a major FBI press conference in 1997, the CIA released an animation showing TWA 800 climbing and said the aircraft ”may have looked like a missile”.

The producers of ”Best Evidence” looked closely at the data behind the government simulations and found that the CIA’s animation did not match the hard radar evidence. FAA radar sites that recorded what actually happened to Flight 800 show that the jetliner banked left and descended after exploding.

For the first time on national television, former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom admitted that he had reservations about the CIA’s animation. ”In retrospect,” he told Discovery’s producers, ”I shouldn’t have asked the CIA” to produce the animation of Flight 800’s final moments.

But CNN’s producers, who also interviewed Kallstrom, apparently did not confront the chief FBI investigator for the TWA 800 case about the discrepancy between the radar data and the CIA animation. In fact, the controversy surrounding the CIA or any other government animation was not mentioned at all in CNN’s program. Instead, CNN simply cited the government as their source and ran an animation based on the government’s invalid data. Clearly, CNN’s producers did not review the available hard evidence--the radar tapes--to verify the information provided by the official government sources they used.

”No Survivors” interviewed the first eyewitness contacted by authorities. Naneen Levine said the object she saw rose off the surface and arced to the west--opposite to the direction Flight 800 was flying. CNN didn’t investigate this discrepancy, but instead let Mr. Kallstrom explain that she probably saw the plane on fire.

On the other hand, ”Best Evidence” allowed structural engineer and eyewitness Paul Angeldes to comment on the government’s explanation of what he saw. He said the government’s theory doesn’t account for the object he saw, which he said first appeared close to shore and in a completely different part of the sky than where Flight 800 was flying.

CNN’s ”No Survivors” didn’t discuss any of the wreckage that went missing during the investigation, not even the wreckage FAA radar sites tracked exiting Flight 800 at apparent supersonic speeds.*

”Best Evidence” displayed the hard radar and debris field evidence confirming the existence of the high-speed wreckage. When Discovery’s producer asked how this wreckage vanished from the investigation, FBI chief TWA 800 investigator James Kallstrom said it may have been sent to Washington for further analysis. Kallstrom provided no further details on the whereabouts of this wreckage.**


cnnX editorial

Flight 800 crashed off the coast of Long Island, NY in 1996 killing all 230 people onboard. Hundreds of witnesses reported seeing a streak of light in the sky before Flight 800 exploded. Two Air National Guard pilots in the air at the time identified the streak as a missile.

Government animations were used to discredit eyewitnesses, not to help explain the cause of the crash. Once the jetliner broke in two, what happened later--the plane climbing, according to the government--had nothing to do with the cause. Yet even with the government's explanation, a majority of the relevant witnesses (including Naneen Levine from "No Survivors" and Paul Angelides in "Best Evidence") still contradict the official crash scenario.

Valuable reporting techniques include fact-checking and obtaining multiple sources for information. When "Best Evidence" applied these techniques, they uncovered significant lapses in the official investigation and got a former FBI Assistant Director to second-guess his judgment. When CNN neglected these techniques, they aired an inaccurate report and got scooped.


For more information on the crash of TWA Flight 800, visit the Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization's website.


*FAA radar sites recorded this wreckage traveling at an average speed of approximately 500 mph over four seconds. Because wreckage exiting an aircraft rapidly decreases its speed due to the extreme force of air resistance, this piece of wreckage most likely had an initial velocity far greater than the speed of sound, which at Flight 800's altitude was approximately 700 mph.

**No analysis of this wreckage has ever been publicly released. Flight 800 Independent Researchers Organization recently filed a federal law suit seeking information on this wreckage.

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