Bin Laden, Unedited
After Powell's Disclosure, FNC Airs Tape
By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 12, 2003; Page C01
washingtonpost.com
Fox News Channel was the only cable network to air yesterday's purported Osama bin Laden audiotape in its entirety.
Nearly a year and a half after the Bush administration asked television networks not to run such tapes unedited, CNN carried only a few minutes of the 16-minute message shortly after it was released by the Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera at 3 p.m. MSNBC waited until 4 p.m. before airing a couple of minutes.
Strangely enough, all the networks, including al-Jazeera, were scooped by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who revealed during morning testimony to a Senate committee that he had reviewed a transcript "of what bin Laden, or who we believe to be bin Laden, will be saying on al-Jazeera during the course of the day." Powell gave no indication of how he had obtained the information.
"Why would we not run it?" asked Fox News Vice President John Moody. "It was news. The secretary of state said it was news.
"We had the secretary of state telling the world about the tape and telling us, much like a programmer, that it would air later. . . . We shared the editorial judgment of the secretary of state in thinking that this was potentially a statement that would make a connection between al Qaeda and Iraq." Fox had the tape translated into English before airing it.
The tape could be useful to the White House as it tries to rally international support for military action against Saddam Hussein, arguing in part that he is cooperating with bin Laden's terrorist network. In yesterday's tape, the man alleged to be bin Laden called on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves against a U.S. attack. Powell cited the statement as a reason the United States cannot simply rely on U.N. weapons inspectors in Iraq.
MSNBC spokesman Alan Winnikoff said his network initially held off as "an editorial decision, based on past concerns about security. We would never show something we received from al-Jazeera without reviewing it first."
CNN spokesman Matthew Furman said the tape's translation was first reviewed by Chairman Walter Isaacson and other top network executives.
"We all understand these tapes are largely propaganda tools," Furman said. "To air it in its entirety, especially before reviewing it, we'd consider to be irresponsible. We aired only those parts we thought were newsworthy."
One month after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice urged network executives in a conference call not to air bin Laden tapes live and unedited. Rice said that such recorded statements could be used to frighten Americans and inspire supporters, and could even include coded messages to followers that could result in new attacks.
Spokesmen for the five major networks, including Fox, agreed to the administration's request. Powell argued at the time that the bin Laden statements may contain "some kind of message."
But Fox's Moody said that argument applied more to videotapes, and that Powell's testimony yesterday "takes the curse off the agreement that emerged back in '01 between Condoleezza Rice and the networks."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said last night that no U.S. security official had raised any concerns with him about Fox's decision to air the tape.
How did Powell break the news? "There are a variety of ways these things float and people talk about them," Fleischer said cryptically at his briefing earlier in the day. "And I don't think it surprises anybody that people are able to hear and see and find information about things that are newsworthy."
Said a staffer in al-Jazeera's Washington bureau: "We have no idea." |
