TOM BROKAW SPECIAL ONE-HOUR REPORT "WEB OF HATE" TO AIR FRIDAY, JULY 28 ON "DATELINE NBC" During the last two years, America has witnessed a plethora of hate crimes, from the shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles to the murder of two gay men in Central California to shooting rampages against black, Jewish and Asian Americans in three states. And now it seems that one of the more powerful catalysts for spreading hate is the Internet. In a special one hour "Dateline NBC" entitled "Web of Hate," to be broadcast Friday, July 28 (9-10 p.m. ET), Tom Brokaw reports on the story of how Benjamin Smith, a well-educated young man who was surrounded by a diverse group of friends came to embrace racial hatred. Smith went on a July 4th shooting rampage in three mid-western states, which left two dead and nine wounded, all of whom were Black, Asian or Jewish. Brokaw examines what may have provoked Smith's violent crime spree, learns where he got his racist ideas from, and discovers that the answers may have been just a few computer key strokes away. Like many college students, Smith spent hours on the Internet, where these days you can find just about anything. Brokaw looks at how the Internet may have influenced Smith and others alike who have committed senseless hate crimes. In an exclusive interview obtained by "Dateline NBC," Smith describes how the Internet became his own personal highway to hate. Through the Internet, Smith found his way into the world of white supremacy and then met a man who would become his mentor and friend in the months leading up to the violence. That man was Matt Hale. Brokaw talks to Hale, and while Hale insists that he doesn't advocate violence and is not responsible for what Smith did, Brokaw discovers how deeply involved Hale may have been with Smith in the days and months before the shootings. In addition, Brokaw talks with journalism students at Northwestern University, and reveals the surprising results of an NBC-commissioned research project the students conducted to see how accessible and prevalent hate messages are on the Internet. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------