To the Point
Performance-Enhancing Drugs and the Olympics
Just weeks before the summer Olympics, America-s team is threatened by a major drug scandal.
By Warren Olney • • 1h 0m ListenJust weeks before the summer Olympics, America-s team is threatened by a major drug scandal. American sprinter Kelli White, who was expected to be a gold-medal contender at this summer-s Olympic Games, accepted a two-year suspension from competition after the US Anti-Doping Agency confronted her with documentation concerning a San Francisco area pharmaceutical company. Today-s San Jose Mercury-News says that Balco Laboratories -set the scene for the biggest drug scandal in American sports history.- What-s the evidence that world-class athletes use performance-enhancing drugs? What will the crackdown mean for America-s image, and its chances to win? Warren Olney speaks sports historians and reporters, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, and a professor at the New York University School of Medicine.
US Warns of Terror Threat This Summer
The FBI and Attorney General John Ashcroft are asking Americans to be -on the lookout- for seven people associated with al Qaeda. Four months of -chatter- have led to concern about attacks in the US this summer. Paul Wilkinson, chairman of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at Saint Andrews University in Scotland, says citizen vigilance could help avert an assault like recent terrorist attacks in Madrid.
New York Times Admits Errors on WMD Reporting
The New York Times admits it -sometimes fell for misinformation- before US troops went into Iraq and during the early days of the occupation. Today's mea culpa involves stories alleging Saddam Hussein's attempt to build nuclear weapons and his cooperation with al Qaeda. Editors say the paper -never followed up- on stories that are still -highly controversial.- Orville Schell, Dean of the School of Journalism at the University of California Berkeley, offers his thoughts on objectivity and the current state of American journalism.