Shoulder-launched missiles? Subscribers read it here first

Published December 3, 2002 11:38PM (EST)

When, in the wake of last weekend's attacks in Kenya, the media started focusing on the dangers that shoulder-launched missiles in the hands of terrorists might pose to commercial airliners, Salon Premium subscribers may have experienced a sense of déjà vu. That's because a week earlier we ran a detailed story on that very subject. And that story was a follow-up to our first report a year earlier.

Here's a letter we received from one subscriber who appreciated our coverage. Stay ahead of the news with Salon -- subscribe now.

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Seems like all the mainstream media now have their attention on the possibility of shoulder-fired missiles since the attempted attack this past weekend. People around me are wondering how this slipped by, and why they didn't know about it earlier. Except that I knew about the possibility thanks to the Salon Premium piece you posted on Nov. 22.

Basically, I wanted to say "thank you." I've been a Salon Premium subscriber since Day 1 (literally), despite living on the meager budget of a graduate student. However, the cost of the subscription is paltry compared to the quality of writing, and most important, the freedom of press that you have. It's nice to read something without wondering if it was published purely to boost profits or to appease the Big Media Giant (TM). The shoulder-fired missiles article shows just that; you had it on 11/22, other news organizations are just talking about it now (such as USA Today, which just today -- 12/2 -- had something on its front page). Apparently the threat wasn't "real enough" for the mainstream media to report until now. I'm glad that Salon thought otherwise.

Thanks, and best wishes for continued success.

-- Jim Collison


By Salon Staff

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