CNN Exec: US Military Killed 12 Journalists
LGF
CNN Chief News Executive Eason Jordan, who admitted in April 2003 that CNN had been covering up stories of Saddam Hussein’s torture and atrocities in order to keep the CNN Baghdad office open, handed the enemy the biggest propaganda gift they could have imagined at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:
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Do US Troops Target Journalists in Iraq?
This fiery topic became a real nightmare today for the Chief News Executive of CNN at what was an initially very mild discussion at the World Economic Forum titled “Will Democracy Survive the Media?”.
At a discussion moderated by David R. Gergen, the Director for Public Leadership, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, the concept of truth, fairness, and balance in the news was weighed against corporate profit interest, the need for ratings, and how the media can affect democracy. The panel included Richard Sambrook, the worldwide director of BBC radio, U.S. Congressman Barney Frank, Abdullah Abdullah, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, and Eason Jordan, Chief News Executive of CNN. The audience was a mix of journalists, WEF attendees (many from Arab countries), and a US Senator from Connecticut, Chris Dodd.
During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others.
Due to the nature of the forum, I was able to directly challenge Eason, asking if he had any objective and clear evidence to backup these claims, because if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park. David Gergen was also clearly disturbed and shocked by the allegation that the U.S. would target journalists, foreign or U.S. He had always seen the U.S. military as the providers of safety and rescue for all reporters.
Eason seemed to backpedal quickly, but his initial statements were backed by other members of the audience (one in particular who represented a worldwide journalist group). The ensuing debate was (for lack of better words) a real “sh—storm”. What intensified the problem was the fact that the session was a public forum being taped on camera, in front of an international crowd. The other looming shadow on what was going on was the presence of a U.S. Congressman and a U.S. Senator in the middle of some very serious accusations about the U.S. military.
To be fair (and balanced), Eason did backpedal and make a number of statements claiming that he really did not know if what he said was true, and that he did not himself believe it. But when pressed by others, he seemed to waver back and forth between what might have been his beliefs and the realization that he had created a kind of public mess. His statements, his reaction, and the reaction of all in attendance left me perplexed and confused. Many in the crowd, especially those from Arab nations, applauded what he said and called him a “very brave man” for speaking up against the U.S. in a public way amongst a crowd ready to hear anti-US sentiments. I am quite sure that somewhere in the Middle East, right now, his remarks are being printed up in Arab language newspapers as proof that the U.S. is an evil and corrupt nation. That is a real nightmare, because the Arab world is taking something said by a credible leader of the media (CNN!) as the gospel, or koranic truth. What is worse is that I am not really sure what Eason really meant to communicate to us, but I do know that he was quite passionate about it. Members of the audience took away what they wanted to hear, and now they will use it in every vile and twisted way imaginable.
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UPDATE at 2/1/05 5:22:14 pm:
I know this is just Little Green Footballs, and my opinion doesn’t count for a hill of beans in this crazy world, but I think Mr. Jordan ought to be asked to produce proof of such an outrageous accusation—and if he cannot produce that proof, he should be asked to publicly apologize and resign. The clumsy backtracking is unimpressive.
UPDATE at 2/1/05 5:34:58 pm:
In our comments, LGF reader bigel makes an excellent point:
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Please remember that CNN is now reduced to being a rump network in the USA. Nobody except Larry King gets more than 1,000,000 viewers, and the rest (Cooper, Zahn, Brown, etc.) get pretty much the hard left/Pacifica/NPR. Nor does CNN have any interest in attracting more American viewers if it means veering away from their hard-left worldview.
Their core audience now are the Europeans and Arabs, and that is exactly who Jordan was trying to appeal to.
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I think that’s right. Eason Jordan is positioning CNN to compete with Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya in the alternate universe of Arab media. Rare kudos are due to Barney Frank, who stood up in the wolves’ den and questioned Jordan’s ludicrous statement.
by Charles
littlegreenfootballs.com |
