ABC News.com, Bin Laden Clipped

W A S H I N G T O N, Oct. 10 — Fearful Osama bin Laden may be using TV news shows to air secret messages to his terrorist network, the White House has convinced networks to limit the amount of play given to his statements.

Condoleezza Rice, the president's national security adviser, this morning called a group of network executives to raise their awareness about concerns of airing pre-taped messages from bin Laden or his al Qaeda network that could serve as signals for terrorists to incite more attacks.

"Dr. Rice asked the networks to exercise judgement about how these pre-recorded, pre-taped messages will air," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. "She stressed that she was making a request and editorial decisions can only be made by the media."

TV officials said Rice did not call on the networks to stop broadcasting any statements from the group.

"Dr. Rice made no specific request of the news organizations, other than that we consider the possible existence of such hidden messages in determining whether and how to air portions of al Qaeda statements," ABCNEWS spokesman Jeffrey Schneider said.

But Rice made clear to network executives that the White House thinks editorial decisions in U.S. newsrooms have the potential to put American lives at stake.

"At best, Osama bin Laden's message is propaganda, calling on people to kill Americans," Fleischer said. "At worst, he could be issuing orders to his followers to initiate such attacks."

This morning, executives from the network news divisions at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox decided not to air pre-recorded statements from al Qaeda without first screening them in their entirety.

"We all agree our responsibility as journalists is to inform the American public without endangering American lives," NBC News said in a statement released by spokeswoman Barbara Levin.

ABCNEWS has additionally decided to air only still images of al Qaeda representatives accompanied by a translator's voice and on-screen text.

The decisions come as the United States carries out military strikes in Afghanistan aimed at crippling al Qaeda.

In response to the attacks, the group has sent defiant pre-taped messages featuring harsh anti-American rhetoric to the Arab-network al Jazeera. The images, in turn, have been broadcast largely unedited on networks around the world, including on ABC.