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CNN’s firing of Senior Middle East News Editor Octavia Nasr has prompted an outcry from Arab-Americans, angry about what they see as a double standard when it comes to coverage of the Middle East in the American media. Nasr’s 20-year career at CNN ended Wednesday after a tweet mourning the death of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, a Lebanese Shiite cleric whom she called “one of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.” Facing a rash of criticism, she explained her tweet in a blog post, saying her respect was based on Fadlallah’s advocacy for women’s rights.

ISLAMIC-TERRORIST HEZBULLAH'S "SPIRITIUAL" IMAM FADLALLAH - GOOD RIDDENSFadlallah - When mass suicide [homicide] bombing was invented. The new dimension of international terrorism - Page 115 Stefan M. Aubrey - 2004 - 312 pages [p. 115-116] A further extension of this philosophy can be found in the teachings of the Lebanese spiritual leader Shaykh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah. While Fadlallah agreed that the teachings of the Koran provided for the use of force and jihad for defensive purposes, the contemporary situation of the Middle East creates a scenario that tends to breed violence. [...] justification of violent action in the name of...

CNN fired an editor for expressing "a lot" of "respect" for a Hezbollah leader the US had designated a terrorist. So how has ABC dealt with someone with similar views? By hiring her and awarding her the prestigious plum of host of This Week. So what's the difference between Octavia Nasr and Christiane Amanpour? According to Cal Thomas, little, when it comes to their views. It's just that Amanpour is too smart and sophisticated to stick her views on a Tweet. Thomas shared his insight on this weekend's editon of Fox News Watch. View video here.

How did CNN senior editor of Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr celebrate July 4? By mourning the passing of Hezbollah's Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. Here's what the CNN editor posted on her Twitter account: Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot..#Lebanon Fadlallah "famously justified suicide bombings," as the New York Times recalls in its obituary for him: In a 2002 interview with the British newspaper The Telegraph, he was quoted as saying of the Palestinians: “They have had their land stolen, their families killed, their homes destroyed, and...

CNN’s senior editor of Middle East affairs, Octavia Nasr, posted a message on her Twitter account on Sunday in which she expressed sadness at the death of Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, described by terrorism analysts as the spiritual mentor of Hizbullah. “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot,” Nasr wrote...

CNN fires ME editor over tweet 08/07/2010 Octavia Nasr mourns death of Shi'ite leader Fadlallah. NEW YORK — CNN has fired an editor responsible for Middle Eastern coverage after she posted a note on Twitter expressing admiration for a late Lebanese cleric considered an inspiration for Hizbullah. Octavia Nasr later apologized for her tweet, but CNN's senior vice president for international news gathering, Parisa Khosravi, said Wednesday that Nasr's credibility had been compromised. The Atlanta-based Nasr worked at CNN for 20 years, starting as an assignment editor on the international desk. Her job was mostly off the air, but she...

TEL AVIV – CNN's senior Middle East affairs editor is leaving the media company after it was reported she professed her "respect" for an anti-American Islamic extremist who was an ideological guide to the Hezbollah terror group and who was accused of masterminding a 1983 attack on U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 Americans. "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah ... one of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot," CNN senior editor for Middle East affairs Octavia Nasr wrote on her personal Twitter page earlier this week. Now Mediate.com obtained an internal CNN...

CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs professes her respect for an extremist sheikh and spiritual father of a terrorist organization. "Today we lost a merciful father and a wise guide," said Hezbollah's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, referring to the death of 75 year old Lebanese Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, seen as one of the original spiritual guides of the terrorist organization. But Fadlallah was being mourned by a far more surprising source - CNN's Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, Octavia Nasr, who Tweeted the following on her personal page: "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein...

Mideast affairs editor hails late leader as "one of Hizbullah’s giants." CNN’s senior editor of Middle East affairs, Octavia Nasr, posted a message on her Twitter account on Sunday in which she expressed sadness at the death of Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, described by terrorism analysts as the spiritual mentor of Hizbullah. “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah... One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot,” Nasr wrote. Nasr’s remarks drew fire from the Honest Reporting media watchdog, which asked on its Web site, “Is Nasr a Hezbollah sympathizer? This is disturbing enough given that...

Mark Finkelstein June 8, 2006 You just knew it. The MSM had to find a way to downplay the significance of the killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Whereas he had been portrayed as the key to violence in the country, now that he's dead, he is described as just one among many. And sure enough, on CNN this morning at about 6:20 AM, there was Octavia Nasr CNN's senior editor for Arab affairs, interviewed by host Soledad O'Brien, suggesting that Zarqawi's death might not really be such a big deal, after all. She reported...