Bill Stewart (journalism)
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Bill Stewart was a reporter for ABC news who was executed by government forces in Nicaragua.
Stewart was originally from West Virginia, and was a 1963 graduate of Ohio State University. An experienced foreign correspondent, Stewart had been in Nicaragua for a month reporting on the civil war between the American-backed government and the Soviet-backed Sandinistas.
On June 20, 1979 Stewart was travelling in a van in the capital city of Managua with his camera crew when they were stopped at a checkpoint run by the National Guard, the main force of President Anastasio Somoza Debayle.
The young lieutenant in charge of the checkpoint saw Stewart peer out of the passenger window and came and ordered him out the vehicle. Stewart was accompanied by Juan Espinosa, his interpreter. While Stewart was escorted a few meters away from the van his cameraman, Jack Clark, began filming the scene. Clark filmed as Stewart was forced to lie face down on the ground. The lieutenant then put his rifle to the back of Stewart's head and fired, killing the reporter instantly. Espinosa was killed moments later.
The video footage shocked colleagues at ABC, and it and the other networks ran the footage in their evening news broadcasts. Over the next few days the footage was broadcast repeatedly in the United States and around the world.
Before the shooting, Nicaragua had been a controversial subject. Most Republicans argued Somoza and his regime must be kept in power as a bulwark against communism. The dramatic surge in public anger following Stewart's execution made that position untenable. Support for Somoza was withdrawn and he was toppled only a few months later.
There was never any explanation as to why Stewart had been shot. The lieutenant disappeared. It is assumed that the soldiers knew Stewart was an American reporter. But at that point with the regime collapsing the soldiers were tired, angry, and badly led and may not have appreciated or cared about the damage the killing would inflict on the regime.
In a strange diplomatic twist, the United States government refused to help ABC and Stewart's family bring Stewart's body back to the United States; eventually, the German government stepped in and made the arrangements.
See also: Ben Linder, an American engineer killed in Nicaragua a decade later, also enraging the American people.