Special Bulletin was a 1983 made-for-TV movie about a terrorist group who brings a home made atomic bomb aboard a tugboat in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, in order to blackmail the U.S. Government into disabling its nuclear weapons, and the incident is caught live on television.
The movie appears to focus on the media's coverage of news, and whether covering the news changes it. The program begins with a typical daytime morning lineup, previews of various shows, and a catchy network jingle, "UBS: We're Moving Up!" and the start of some typical game show begins, when an ominous "We interrupt this program to bring you a Special Bulletin." It shows how a local TV crew, filming a dockworkers' strike, become caught in the middle of a firefight between Charleston police and a tugboat sitting at the dock. The police, apparently outgunned, surrender and are taken hostage, as are the reporter and cameraman.
The reporter is later asked to televise what is happening, and we then see the terrorists and their demands: the impounding and delivery of every nuclear trigger device owned by the U.S. Government, in the region, some number of over 400 such triggers, in order that these nuclear triggers (without which, the nuclear weapons stored in that area cannot be used) can be taken out to sea, damaged and dumped overboard, destroying them, or else the terrorists will detonate their own small atomic bomb which is located on the Tugboat.
The people who are manning the boat include a man who apparently is a former designer of nuclear weapons, and some people who may have had contacts with others who were capable of having stolen the plutonium necessary to construct at least one bomb. This means that there is a distinct possibility that the threat is real and that the terrorists have the capacity to actually set off an atomic explosion in Charleston harbor. The bomb's designer also tells the public he designed safeguards in so that if the authorities try to deactivate the bomb or move the boat without knowing exactly how to disable the device, it will detonate.
The movie investigates the issue of the media's coverage of an event, as to whether it changes the event, whether the media is irresponsible in giving such persons access to the airwaves, and whether the media trivializes significant events by the type of coverage given to them. Though not as cynical as the portrayal of the media in the film Die Hard, Special Bulletin takes a serious look at the possible symbiosis between the media and those it has to deal with. whether they be government officials, politicians, terrorists and criminals, or media pundits, in covering a story.
The story also shows the significance of the nuclear stockpiles held by various governments. Based on the size of the bomb as described by the terrorists, basically it will destroy everything within a range of about 1 mile from ground zero, which is Charleston Harbor. A scientist, interviewed about the size of the blast, stated that someone standing 5 miles from the tugboat might be hit by the concussion of the blast wave, or debris from a building damaged by the explosion, but they would still be alive even after the bomb went off. A person standing 5 miles from the blast point of a typical U.S. or soviet tactical nuclear weapon, "would be vaporized in the first 3/5 of a second after the blast."
At first the government chooses to ignore and underplay the story. As facts come out indicating the threat to be real and potentially valid, various public announcements occur, culminating with the decision to order the evacuation of the downtown Charleston area, which causes a public panic. The Government would later announce, just shortly before the deadline, that it would acceed to the terrorists' demands. A van rolls up to the tugboat, allegedly containing the first load of triggers that they had demanded.
In the interim, the terrorists, who are still holding a reporter and a live camera crew, discover they can't see anything because the local stations have all gone off the air, apparently due to a transmitter fire. It is at this moment we discover the real reason: to prevent them from seeing a Navy Seal team attack the tugboat which was caught live by a distant TV camera.
Based on the timeline presented by the terrorists, there is approximately 90 minutes remaining before the bomb would explode. After most of the terrorists are killed or caught, a nuclear response team enters the boat in an attempt to defuse the bomb. The reporter and cameraman, who were on-scene because he was one of the kidnap victims, remains to comment on their efforts. As we watch, the response team is having a serious argument over how to get around a security mechanism built into the device. A reporter from the main studio suggests he leave but he repoorts that the authorities have said that the bomb still has 90 minutes. Suddenly the picture goes to static.
The video returns to the main Network newsroom in New York, which is in a panic. After considerable effort, they get hold of a reporter who was a mile and 1/2 from the tugboat aboard a Marinc Corps frigate. Clearly stunned and dazed, she was recording a few moments earlier and they ask her to rewind and play back the recording. We see her standing in front of a relatively normal looking harbor overlooking the tugboat in the difference, facing the camera, her back to the boat. We then see an enormous bright light coming from the other side of the harbor, followed by a huge blast of wind. The tape ends. The reporter is able to raise the camera out of the hands of the blind cameraman to scan the area behind the ship, which is now nothing but a flaming ruin.
The truth comes out: apparently the government's intention was to stall for time until a Navy Seal team could be put on the ship, presumably because the nuclear response team could defuse the nuclear weapon. In attempting to do so, the nuclear response team sets off one of the failsafes and the bomb explodes. It turns out it really was a nuclear weapon.
The rest of the film shows the aftermath of the explosion on the town of Charleston, and then, with the typical banality of TV news, goes on to show all the other events around the world which have continue to occur despite the destruction of Charleston Harbor.
Presented as a realistic news broadcast, the filmmakers were required to include disclaimers at the end of every commercial break, and the on-screen advisory "dramatization" in order to assure viewers the events were not really happening. Nonetheless, there were still news reports of isolated panic in Charleston. A decade later, another TV movie simulating a news broadcast was produced: Without Warning.
