...K P F T news

LEAD-IN BY HOST KATHRYN BINOVI: Part of each KPFT News broadcast is devoted to examining the coverage of major issues in the local mainstream media. Here's Shalini Tripathi on how the Houston Chronicle uses the word "evil:"

CRITICISM: "Evil" is a word that has been used often in public discussions since September 11 to describe terrorists and their actions, ever since President Bush said the terrorists who committed the acts were "evildoers." The word has been so often - almost exclusively in the press in relation to the particular incident that whenever I hear the word "evil" now, I associate it with terrorists and their activities - and from talking with various people, I have come to realize that I am not the only one who makes this association.

Leafing through the Houston Chronicle this Monday, September 2, I found that it was used again. In this case, it was in a piece written by the editorial board called "Labor Day: In a Year, Nation has Re-focused on Defeating Evil."

The "evil" to which the headline refers is the actions of the greedy heads of companies like WorldCom and Enron, who decimated worker's pensions and retirement plans while enriching themselves.

Essentially the article discusses how innocent America was last Labor Day, when all we had to worry about was a rising unemployment rate, layoff concerns, a stumbling economy, and dropping consumer confidence. BUT, it all changed eight days later with September 11.

Which is true. But then the Chronicle goes in an interesting direction. It uses that word - "evil" - and I quote: "The nation also is trying to adjust to the implosions of corporate giants such as Enron, WorldCom and others, which did more harm to America's economy and caused more losses in jobs and retirement savings than the terrorist attacks. The corporate misdeeds were evil, too."

Was the Chronicle - by using that word - essentially saying these guys are just as bad as those other bad guys, the terrorists? Are we supposed to believe that the execs are a brand of domestic terrorists? The article's comparison between the damage done by the two groups of people and the point that more damage was done by the execs than by the terrorist attacks - certainly made me think so.

But I was rather taken aback when I read the next line: "Fortunately, corporate crooks are being indicted." And a few lines down - "We trust prison awaits them."

I had to read that line twice - what was surprising about it was that as of yet, only one crook has gone to prison. And that's Michael Kopper, the Enron exec who's co-operating with the feds so he can get his sentence reduced - even though it carries a maximum of only 15 years and includes him shelling over a few million. He's singing like a canary, and no doubt his former friends will be the next ones to fall. But he'll probably be better off for it, anyway. After he gets out, he - and his comrades - will probably pull a few Michael Millikens and live comfortably ever after.

Then I began to think of all the people who are already in prisons across the U-S as a result of the attacks. Over a thousand people - mostly of Arab and Muslim descent - were detained for minor civil violations like visa overstays - without counsel or reason in the immediate aftermath of the attacks - because the government believes that they know something about "evil" foreign terrorist activities. Many are still behind bars, even though ordinarily they would be free on bond. And not a single one of them has been shown to have the slightest link with terrorism. So if the Chronicle's board thinks the crooks are akin to evil terrorists, why has it taken almost 9 months - in the case of Enron, at least - to nab the first bad guy, while in the case of the suspected terrorists, it took less than a month to round up a thousand?

Well, the main reason: these two groups are obviously different. One is comprised of heads of companies committing serious felonies who happen to be U-S citizens. The other is comprised of non-citizens who committed misdemeanor, civil offenses. But "evil" has been applied to both groups.

I guess what bugged me about the Chronicle's characterization was not the use of words - I agree, use "evil" to label the guys. And I, too, hope they go to prison. But don't use a word like that and give me hope that I'll read a scathing piece about the way "evil" should be dealt with and then not discuss how the word can mean vastly different consequences for different people.

E-mail Shalini Tripathi at shalini_tripathi@att.net .