Remembering Terry Anderson, AP reporter once held captive for 6 years

In 1985, Terry Anderson was the Middle East bureau chief for The Associated Press. It was March 16. He was in Lebanon. He was off that day. He went to play tennis with a colleague.

That’s when kidnappers, carrying guns, followed Anderson, surrounded his car and then dragged him away.

He would be held captive for more than six years, making him one of the longest-held hostages in American history.

On Sunday, at the age of 76, Anderson died. Family said he died of complications from recent heart surgery.

Anderson had a long career in journalism, but he was most known for his horrific ordeal of being taken by Islamic militants while working in war-torn Lebanon in 1985. He was held captive and suffered grueling physical conditions for nearly seven years. He detailed his experiences in a best-selling 1993 memoir called “Den of Lions.”

The AP’s Andrew Meldrum and Christopher Weber wrote, “After returning to the United States in 1991, Anderson led a peripatetic life, giving public speeches, teaching journalism at several prominent universities and, at various times, operating a blues bar, Cajun restaurant, horse ranch and gourmet restaurant. He also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, won millions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets after a federal court concluded that country played a role in his capture, then lost most of it to bad investments.”

Meldrum and Weber recalled Anderson’s capture and time in captivity: “On March 16, 1985, a day off, he had taken a break to play tennis with former AP photographer Don Mell and was dropping Mell off at his home when gun-toting kidnappers dragged him from his car. He was likely targeted, he said, because he was one of the few Westerners still in Lebanon and because his role as a journalist aroused suspicion among members of Hezbollah. … What followed was nearly seven years of brutality during which he was beaten, chained to a wall, threatened with death, often had guns held to his head and often was kept in solitary confinement for long periods of time.”

They added, “By his and other hostages’ accounts, (Anderson) was also their most hostile prisoner, constantly demanding better food and treatment, arguing religion and politics with his captors, and teaching other hostages sign language and where to hide messages so they could communicate privately.”

The New York Times’ Sam Roberts wrote, “The militants had hoped to pressure the Reagan administration to secretly facilitate the illegal sales of weapons to Iran — an embarrassing scheme that became known as the Iran-Contra Affair because the administration had planned to use proceeds from the arms sales to secretly subsidize the right-wing Contra rebels in Nicaragua.”

Anderson was held captive for 2,454 days in Beirut, South Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley before being released on Dec. 4, 1991. At the time of his capture, Anderson’s fiance was pregnant. Upon his release, Anderson met his 6-year-old daughter for the first time.

After his release, Anderson talked about his time as a hostage, including long stretches of being held in solitary confinement, saying, “There is nothing to hold on to, no way to anchor my mind. I try praying, every day, sometimes for hours. But there’s nothing there, just a blankness. I’m talking to myself, not God. I had problems, and it took me a long time to begin to cope with them. People ask me, ‘Did you get over them?’ I don’t know. Ask my ex-wife — ask my third ex-wife. I don’t know; I am who I am.”

 

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Actually, she did

Former Republican Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy appeared on Fox News’ “MediaBuzz” on Sunday and said the kind of thing that further divides the country and simply is not true. A politician doing that on a Sunday morning show is not unusual, but I bring it up to point out that “MediaBuzz” host Howard Kurtz at least did his job and tried to call out McCarthy.

During the most notable exchange, McCarthy was talking about Democrats trying to “deny democracy” in the U.S. and asked Kurtz, “I mean, has Hillary (Clinton) ever said she lost the 2016 election?”

Kurtz, almost incredulously, said, “Yeah, she called Donald Trump and conceded.”

McCarthy was stumped just momentarily, made a dismissive sound and then said, “But she never in (the) press said that.”

Kurtz, doing what a competent host does, repeated that Clinton did call Trump.

And, for the record, here’s what Clinton said publicly the day after the 2016 election: “Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for and I’m sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.”

Near the end of her speech, she said, “This loss hurts, but please never stop believing that fighting for what’s right is worth it.”

Remember a beloved TV figure

Howie Schwab, a statistician and producer at ESPN from 1987 through 2013 and one of the most beloved and skilled behind-the-scenes people at the network, died on Saturday. He was 63. No cause of death was announced, but he had been battling health issues for the past few years.

Schwab was such an amazing figure off the air at ESPN that he ended up being put on the air. He was the star of a show called “Stump the Schwab,” where he would play against (and usually soundly defeat) contestants in sports trivia. The show ran for four seasons in the mid-2000s and was hosted by the late Stuart Scott.

Schwab worked with a variety of on-air talent on various shows through the years, most notably college basketball analyst Dick Vitale, who put out a statement saying, “Howie played a vital role in my career — his incredible research was so valuable for decades. Howie's loyalty & dedication was so special. His passion & love for sports was off the charts.”

ESPNers past and present flooded social media with fond memories of Schwab. Many talked about Schwab’s passion for both sports and ESPN. Here’s ESPN’s on-air announcement of his death.

Schwab was caught up in ESPN layoffs in 2013 and many at the network put out a statement at the time showing their support for him. Schwab then moved on to Fox Sports.

Through Vitale, I got to know Schwab and found him to be a one-of-a-kind character. He was smart-aleck funny, extremely friendly and charismatic, and always quick to reach out to say hello or lend a hand with a request.

ESPN’s Ryan McGee posted this tweet: “When I was first introduced to Howie Schwab at ESPN nearly 30 years ago I was told: ‘This is the guy who knows more about sports than anyone else alive.’ Howie said, ‘Oh, that's not true.’ Then he paused and added. ‘OK, it might be true.’ Godspeed, my friend.”

Taylor TV

Everyone loves NBC’s “Dateline,” right? That’s why the show has been on for like a hundred years (actually, 32 seasons). Some of its noted fans include Kristen Bell, Demi Lovato, Bill Hader and, just maybe, the most famous celebrity there is — Taylor Swift.

Unless the Wi-Fi in your cave is out, you’re fully aware that the biggest pop star on the planet just released another album. What you may not know is that one of the songs was inspired by “Dateline.” It’s the song “Florida,” which also features Florence + the Machine.

During an appearance on iHeart Radio, Swift said, “I'm always watching, like 'Dateline.’ People, you know, have these crimes that they commit where they immediately skip town and go to Florida. They try to reinvent themselves, have a new identity, blend in.”

Swift then added it’s just like going through a heartbreak, saying, “I think when you go through a heartbreak, there's a part of you that thinks I want a new name. I want a new life.”

Swift has said more than once before now that she is a fan of “Dateline.”

Back in 2021, as the true crime show was celebrating its 30th anniversary, I talked with correspondent Josh Mankiewicz, who explained the show’s enduring popularity. He told me, “I think we tell stories in a way the audience appreciates, and I think we do a very good job of storytelling, which can be fun as you lead the audience around corners, while simultaneously being very careful about the story, which is always serious and awful. I think people like seeing the system work correctly. For example, when scoundrels are caught and punished, which probably doesn’t happen enough in our day-to-day lives. A lot of people have followed us into true crime but no one’s as good at it.”

Smart stuff

In Friday’s newsletter, I mentioned the cringeworthy exchange between IndyStar sports columnist Gregg Doyel and basketball star Caitlin Clark, who was giving her first news conference in Indianapolis after being drafted first overall in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. It started with Doyel making the heart sign with his hands, something that Clark does with her family after games. That led to an awkward exchange, with Doyel saying, “OK, well start doing that to me and we’ll get along just fine.”

Doyel ended up apologizing in a tweet and column, and since then many in the sports world have weighed in to criticize Doyel and/or make overall statements about the coverage of women's sports.

The most thoughtful column I read was from Washington Post sports columnist Candace Buckner: “A reporter’s gesture to Caitlin Clark was dumb. So is a lot of the anger.”

Buckner wrote, “What’s more infuriating than Indianapolis Star columnist Gregg Doyel’s whiff of a welcome toward basketball phenom Caitlin Clark on Wednesday, a highly unprofessional, inscrutably brain-dead moment from a credentialed journalist? It’s the army of receipt-keeping reactionaries and easily offended sports fans barging into a movement alongside rightfully enraged women.”

I hate to pick out just a little section of Buckner’s smart piece, so I encourage you to read it all. It’s good stuff.

Media tidbits

 

• Associated Press photographer Matt Slocum with how he got the photo above: “An AP photographer gets in the right spot for a big swing at the Masters.”
• The Daily Beast’s Noah Kirsch with “Lauren Sánchez Asked Kellyanne Conway How to Handle Media Scrutiny.”
• Axios’ Sara Fischer with “Local journalism tax credits included in 2025 N.Y. state budget.”
• The Wall Street Journal’s Robert O’Connell writes about ESPN announcer and former NBA player JJ Redick in “LeBron’s Newest Teammate Isn’t an All-Star. He’s a Podcaster.”
• Al Michaels might be the best football announcer ever, and he called baseball for years. He is best known for his, “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” call when the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the Russians in the 1980 Winter Olympics. So what does he think is the hardest sport to call? He tells talk show host Dan Patrick that it’s hockey. Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann has the details.

Hot type

• The Washington Post’s Rick Maese with “The day the mountain crumbled: Her love of the backcountry drew Emily Franciose to boarding school in the Swiss Alps. Then the mountain fell apart beneath her skis – and left her parents wanting answers.”
• I missed this last week. The Los Angeles Times came out with “The 50 best Hollywood books of all time.”
• Then the Times followed that up with “19 great Hollywood books we missed, according to our readers.”

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Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.