MEDIA REACTION TRUCK BLAST AT U. N.'S IRAQ HQ;

UNCLAS HARARE 001651 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION TRUCK BLAST AT U. N.'S IRAQ HQ; HARARE ¶1. The August 19 truck bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, has received extensive coverage in both the local print and electronic media. The blast made the lead story in the August 20 edition of the government-controlled daily "The Herald." The paper carried a wire article by Agence France-Presse (AFP) under headline "U. N. envoy, 14 others killed in Iraq blast." The story included a color photograph by AFP of cars burning outside the U. N. headquarters at the Canal Hotel and an insert of the late U. N. special representative for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello who was killed in the truck bomb attack. Today's edition of the independent daily "The Daily News" (08/20) carried another wire article by Reuters news agency on page two, under headline "U. N. special envoy killed in Baghdad suicide bombing." All four state- run radio stations, including the national state-run television station ZTV, included Tuesday's truck bomb attack in all the news programs broadcast immediately after the blast in English and the two major vernacular languages - Shona and Ndebele. This morning, the state-run radio and television stations continued to include the attack on the ¶U. N. headquarters in all the breakfast news programs. ¶2. So far, no editorials regarding the truck bomb attack have appeared in the local press. However, Post will continue to monitor coverage in the local mainstream print and electronic media and will feedback accordingly. SULLIVAN