And Id like to take this opportunity to thank you for questioning my integrity as a writer in front of the entire nation! PHILIP NORMAN tracks the BIG appetites of Little Richard Most damaging was one specific sentence in the piece: Richard Jewell fits the profile of the lone bomber, which was published despite no public declarations by the FBI or criminal behavior experts. It put me in a state of confusion for a few seconds because I just didnt know what happened.". I write a humor column in Atlanta., It was the second sentence out of my mouth when I met you, and I didnt say it in the secret language that Siamese twins invent, either. "We in the media got it wrong, even though our reporting was right. What would happen if, instead of fruitlessly seeking a single fugitive, a federal task force decides to seize all the AR-15 rifles in western North Carolina? But it was all too late for Jewell, whose reputation was irrevocably tarnished. He noted the similarities with what the media is currently doing to President Donald Trump based on erroneous or incomplete information from the FBI. Even with evidence and a confession from Murphy, Freeh still considered Jewell the prime suspect. The FBI got nothing. There is far more official rascality than most people recognize. It's also how you report it and how everyone else is reporting it, too. This article originally appeared in our October 1997 issue. Blue Ridge Outdoors noted that the FBI came in with bloodhounds, electronic motion detectors, and heat-sensing helicopters. I stepped out of my car and fired up a cheap cigar. The headline wasn't false; the FBI did indeed suspect him. S MOSTLY UNAMUSED AT JEWELLS THREAT ", "A great reporter named Kathy Scruggs managed to get this incredible scoop, which means somebody in law enforcement had leaked it," said Kent Alexander, the U.S. attorney assigned to investigate the bombing and author of a book on the incident titled "The Suspect.". It was a little after 1 in the morning July 27, 1996. Dennis became more at ease when I mentioned that Id written about federal abuses at Waco and Ruby Ridge and had been publicly denounced by FBI chief Louis Freeh. Richard Jewell was 44 years old when he died in 2007 of a heart attack. There's the paradox: Jewell really was the FBI's main suspect. Richard Jewell, Wrongly Accused in Atlanta Olympics Bombing That was the lesson I took from Dennis and his story of FBI failures in his neck of the woods. This was just the beginning of what happened to Richard Jewell in the aftermath of the attack. The newspaper Yep. With my scruffy beard, railroad cap, and just a country boy shtick, federal agencies often presume Im a (harmless) redneck. ``Obviously were very pleased. This is a story where the pressure was intense, Rankin said. NBC's Tom Brokaw apologizes for 1996 reporting on The tone of the coverage insinuated that Richard Jewell was guilty despite the lack of evidence to support this claim and painted him as a fame-hungry wannabe hero. This case has everything the FBI, the press, the violation of the Bill of Rights, from the First to the Sixth Amendment, said Watson Bryant, one of Jewells attorneys, of his clients infamous case.