Sept. 4 Terrorism Special Report 'Are We Ready?'

Sept. 4 Terrorism Special Report 'Are We Ready?'

Los Angeles Times and KCET's 'Life & Times' to Offer an Exclusive, Inside Look at How City, County and Federal Agencies Would Respond to Major Terrorist Attack on Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- On Sept. 4, the Los Angeles Times will publish and public television station KCET's "Life & Times" will broadcast an exclusive, inside look at how major city, county and federal law enforcement and emergency services agencies would respond to a potential terrorist attack on Los Angeles.

Based on an Aug. 29 "table top" exercise held at the Los Angeles Times building, the two reports will focus on how key government agencies coordinated their emergency responses following and conducted their criminal investigations into a simulated terrorist attack on the city -- all of it hypothetical but built on the actions of real terrorists elsewhere.

The Los Angeles Times and KCET's "Life & Times" covered the two-hour simulation, which was developed and conducted by Brian Jenkins, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corp.

The Los Angeles Times will publish its report in its Sept. 4 edition and online at www.latimes.com/terrorla. KCET will broadcast its half-hour program at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 4 and post that segment at http://kcet.org/lifeandtimes.

Participating Agencies

Government agencies participating in the simulation were the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Angeles Animal Services Dept., Los Angeles Fire Dept., Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Dept., Los Angeles Police Dept., Los Angeles Unified School District, Los Angeles World Airports, and Office of the Mayor, City of Los Angeles. Janet Clayton, Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor, also was on the panel.

The Hypothetical Scenario

Firefighters are called to a Carson warehouse to extinguish a fire apparently caused by welders working on a lunch truck. Respirators, a suspicious hookup on the lunch truck, and large sacks of rice flour are uncovered during an investigation into the fire. Those discoveries spark an international investigation that uncovers a terrorist plot -- already in motion -- to douse the nation's second-largest city with anthrax and ricin.

About KCET's "Life & Times"

Since 1992 "Life & Times" has been KCET's signature news and public affairs series. Its mission is to offer viewers in central and southern California a lively and substantive alternative to local news, providing in- depth reporting, interviews and features on issues and topics that impact our diverse communities.

This highly respected series has won numerous awards over the past decade, including 24 Los Angeles area Emmy Awards and 25 Golden Mikes. "Life & Times" airs every Monday through Friday at 6:30 p.m. Each daily episode repeats at 1 a.m. Additional information is available online at kcet.org/lifeandtimes.

About the Los Angeles Times

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of nearly 2.2 million and about 3.3 million on Sunday. With its media businesses and affiliates -- including latimes.com, TheEnvelope.com, Times Community Newspapers, Recycler Classifieds, Hoy, and California Community News -- the Los Angeles Times reaches approximately 7.6 million or 58 percent of all adults in the Southern California marketplace every week.

The Los Angeles Times, which this year marks its 125th anniversary covering Southern California, is part of Tribune Company (NYSE:TRB), one of the country's leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information about the Los Angeles Times is available at www.latimes.com/mediacenter.

Source: Los Angeles Times

CONTACT: David Garcia of Los Angeles Times, +1-213-237-4715,
david.garcia@latimes.com; or Cathy Williams of KCET, +1-323-953-5243,
cwilliams@kcet.org

Web site: http://kcet.org/lifeandtimes

Web site: http://www.latimes.com/terrorla

Web site: http://www.latimes.com/mediacenter

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