CNN's disinformation campaign
washtimes.com
Yesterday, CNN executive Eason Jordan claimed that the network had not covered up evidence of atrocities in Saddam Hussein's Iraq because it wanted to ensure access, but because it was worried about putting people's lives in danger. Writing on today's Op-Ed page, former CNN Baghdad correspondent Peter Collins, who personally witnessed Mr. Jordan and network President Tom Johnson unsuccessfully begging for an interview with Saddam, makes a strong case that Mr. Jordan is lying when he denies that ensuring access was a motive for CNN's shading of the truth on Iraq.
Mr. Collins writes that in January 1993, he participated in meetings in Baghdad between CNN executives and various officials close to Saddam, among them Tariq Aziz, during which Messrs. Jordan and Johnson made their pitch for an exclusive interview with the Iraqi dictator. "From both the tone and the content of these conversations, it seemed to me that CNN was virtually grovelling for the interview," Mr. Collins writes. At one point, the CNN executives offered Saddam an hour's worth of time on the network without commercial interruption.
Mr. Collins adds that, the day following one such meeting, he was preparing to do a "live shot" when a producer handed him some notes, telling him that Mr. Johnson wanted them read on camera. The notes were an item-by-item summary of points that had been dictated by the Iraqi information minister. Mr. Collins was forced to read those propaganda points on the air verbatim, without providing any context. Moments later, Mr. Johnson reproached him for not sounding sufficiently enthusiastic while "reporting" what the Iraqis told CNN to say. Mr. Collins adds that, the following day, when he factually reported that Iraqi charges that American war planes were bombing "innocent Iraqi farmers" were false (it turned out that the "farm" in question was most likely a location for Iraqi missile batteries), CNN correspondent Brent Sadler rebuked him for hindering the network's chances of landing an interview with Saddam.
In short, contrary to the assertions made by Mr. Jordan, the facts presented by Mr. Collins strongly suggest that CNN's coverage of Iraq was largely dictated by concerns about currying favor with Saddam Hussein in an effort to win an exclusive interview with the dictator. No careful viewer can trust CNN's reporting on international affairs. |
