A Letter From the Publisher

By John A. Meyers

For TIME reporters covering the TWA hijacking, the crisis of the past two weeks has aroused many memories and a considerable feeling of deja vu. As soon as Cairo-based Correspondent John Borrell heard the news, he headed for Algiers, where he was able to interview many of the hostages who had been released. But when Flight 847 suddenly took off for Beirut again, Borrell found himself returning to that dangerous and frustrating city, which he had left only two months ago after an 18-month assignment. To get to Beirut, Borrell flew first to Larnaca, Cyprus, then boarded a ferry to Junieh, a small port just north of Beirut. After finally arriving in the Lebanese capital by taxi, he quickly established contact with West Beirut sources by telephone and pieced together the various strands of the complicated story for this week's cover package. Borrell stayed in touch with Middle East Bureau Chief Dean Fischer, who coordinated overall coverage from Cairo.

For Jerusalem Bureau Chief Roland Flamini, the events led to a feeling of double recall: in 1970 he had helped cover the hijacking of four jetliners by Palestinian guerrillas, and during 1980-81, he reported on the hostage crisis in Tehran. Covering the Israeli role last week, Flamini found that normally informative sources had grown tight-lipped overnight. Said he: "One of the most talkative political centers in the world had suddenly fallen silent." In this unaccustomed atmosphere, Jerusalem Reporter Robert Slater drew on an unusual source. At one point Slater heard a matter-of-fact Israel Radio report that Israel and the U.S. were in close, continuous contact. Says Slater: "I realized the Israelis wanted everyone to know that genuine discussions were really going on between the two countries."

State Department Correspondent Johanna McGeary is also a veteran "hostage hand," having covered all 444 days of the Iran crisis. Both she and White House Correspondent Laurence Barrett put in a series of seemingly endless days trying to ferret out information and weigh contrasting data from Administration sources. "This assignment resembles detective work, gathering many facts and sifting for the few items of real significance," says Barrett. Reporting an unpredictable story on deadline is always difficult, says McGeary. "But," she adds, "the rush of information from sources as varied and contradictory as Lebanese clandestine radio, officials in three governments and the State Department task force overseeing the crisis made this job tougher than usual." After nine grueling days, McGeary observes, "This kind of story calls for three things: careful judgment, persistent legwork and physical stamina."