From the Managing Editor

By Henry Muller

We all know the cliches about journalists, and occasionally we may even perpetuate them in this column. Journalists are tough, always tough. They are unsentimental, cynical, intent on little except getting the next story. They are dedicated to the truth, but perhaps a little short on human qualities.

Last week, as I heard the reports of Terry Anderson's release, I recalled that David Aikman, a senior correspondent in our Washington bureau, was the founder of the Journalists' Committee to Free Terry Anderson. At a time when there was little reason to hope for Terry's release, David was busy drafting petitions, meeting with Middle Eastern diplomats and enlisting the support of others in his profession. As time went on, then TIME photographer Bill Foley took on a schedule of energetic diplomatic lobbying in New York City, and eventually several other journalists helped out.

The committee worked with United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, with Anderson's sister Peggy Say and with the State Department and other groups in the U.S. and Britain. It was not always easy to know what was best. "Our dilemma was that if we made a big fuss about Terry, the argument could be made that it would prolong his ordeal by increasing his value in the eyes of his captors," David recalls. "On the other hand, if we didn't make a fuss, that would contribute to poor morale on the part of Terry and the other hostages."

I was surprised initially to learn that David had never met Anderson. What, then, motivated him to become so involved? "I was worried," David says, "that if I ever met Terry when he came back, and he looked me in the eye and said, 'What did you do to secure my freedom?,' I'd be very embarrassed if I had to say, 'Nothing.' Journalists tend to be awkward about participating in causes, probably for good reason, because by and large they try to be professionally detached and they think the objectivity of their reporting would be seriously at risk if they joined any kind of campaign. There have to be exceptions, and this was one of them."

A veteran foreign correspondent who has spent many years in the Middle East, China, Europe and the Soviet Union, David has no illusions about the effectiveness of the group's efforts. "I don't know if we made a difference. All I know is that it was vital that Terry's colleagues not be silent about his plight and the plight of the other hostages."