Tampa's port plays TV role

The millions of dollars Tampa's port has poured into beefing up security will pay off in an unexpected way: some free air time on national public television.

A crew from the PBS news show Now With Bill Moyers interviewed port officials and toured the waterfront for a story on how government and the shipping and chemical industries are protecting against terrorism.

They picked Tampa because the port had a good reputation for dealing with the threat and wasn't nearly as well known as megaports such as Los Angeles and New York.

Tampa got pretty good marks for taking "aggressive and meaningful steps," said Daniel Zwerdling, a National Public Radio reporter who also works for Moyers' TV show. But port director George Williamson and others admitted there was still a lot left to do, he said.

Many other ports across the nation are far behind, lacking even basics such as perimeter fences and worker IDs. But there's no shortage of finger-pointing, Zwerdling said, over who's responsible for not making obvious terrorist targets safer.

"It's hard for people to accept on a visceral level that the country's got to change if we're going to be safe from terrorists," he said. The story should appear on PBS stations later this month. A version will also air on NPR.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright