Posted on 02/11/2005 11:22:19 AM PST by neverdem
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February 11, 2005, 12:36 p.m. Eason Jordan vs. the Blogosphere
This week on CNBCs Kudlow & Cramer I asked three influential U.S. senators about the CNN scandal regarding news executive Eason Jordan. To recap, at last months economic forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jordan publicly accused the U.S. military of deliberately targeting journalists in order to assassinate them. Senators George Allen, Jeffrey Sessions, and Norman Coleman all agreed with columnist Michelle Malkins characterization that Jordan and his CNN defenders have slimed the military.
The senators were simply furious at the story, with each expressing anger at Jordans liberal anti-U.S.-military bias. Sessions pointed out that episodes like this show why the mainstream media has lost so much credibility in recent years. Coleman was not ready to open up an investigation, but he indicated the matter was worth looking into. Allen was strong in the defense of both the moral character and visionary mission of our troops in Iraq.
Importantly, each was aware of the story.
This tawdry tale has been reported, for the most part, only on the blogosphere, again pointing out just how strong this alternative Internet medium has become. The blogosphere is relentless: It rightfully hammered Eason Jordan and CNN from day one and refuses to stop. Weve seen this before, of course. Easongate comes only a few months after Rathergate, the blogosphere-led campaign that ensured the dismissal of producer Mary Mapes from CBS and Dan Rathers hasty departure.
The blogosphere has gained near immediate influence and credibility with its ability to widely disseminate alternative media coverage. (These days, alternative more often than not means true.) Powerhouse bloggers such as John Hinderaker, Glenn Reynolds, and Hugh Hewitt, among many others, have flexed their muscles and badly bruised CNN on this story.
Besides the obvious anti-military bias, Jordans comments were incredibly arrogant and cynical. And, yes, I believe his remarks border on wartime treason, since they so clearly give aid and comfort to our terrorist enemies as well as anti-American Arab militants throughout the Middle East. Remember, this is the same Eason Jordan of CNN who made a deal with Saddam Hussein and his regime to not report atrocities in Iraq in exchange for keeping a CNN news base in Baghdad.
As Easongate heats up on the web, the storys central figure is now attempting to back off his remarks. Without denying he said them, Jordan is suggesting that he didnt mean to say them. Huh? On-the-scene eyewitnesses like liberal House member Barney Frank and equally liberal Sen. Christopher Dodd have corroborated Jordans scandalous remarks. But the Davos conference organizers refuse to release the tape that would so clearly indict Jordan.
This is reprehensible. However, as blogger Jim Geraghty has written, we can only get at the facts if this tape is released. So, why wont the Davos people release it? What exactly are they hiding?
Equally reprehensible are the non-actions of CNN, which refuses to take ownership of the anti-American behavior of its top news executive. So far, the network has said only that Unfortunately, [Jordan] was not clear enough in explaining his assertion. Well, what exactly does that mean? Either he said it, or he didnt say it. And if he did say it, then both CNN and Jordan have a big problem now, dont they?
The obvious fact is that CNN is trying desperately to make the story go away. This episode merely confirms the institutional anti-military bias of that news organization. If CNN had any patriotic backbone, or even good professional journalistic common sense, it would have, at the very least, suspended Jordan pending a thorough investigation.
Seeing as the blogospheres reporting has moved into the upper reaches of the U.S. Senate, it is unlikely that CNN will succeed in its attempted cover-up. Freedom of the press is the best disinfectant for public corruption. Bloggers are doing their duty.
Larry Kudlow, NROs Economics Editor, is host with Jim Cramer of CNBCs Kudlow & Cramer and author of the daily web blog, Kudlows Money Politic$.
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http://www.nationalreview.com/kudlow/kudlow200502111236.asp
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Bloggers are doing their duty. - Kudlow
Bloggers are also doing the duty of Old Media journalists.
Old Media: You are losing market share every month. Be afraid. Your days of impacting anything important in the nation are numbered. Indeed, for an entire segment of the population, they are 100% over.
read later bump
How extensively is this being covered in the papers, talk radio, foxnews, and the Msm?
Eason Jordan should be fired, but the media is all worried about Jeff Gannon.
Very little.
Why arent talk radio or foxnews at least covering it?
Maybe because it's all second hand info, and they can't get the tape.
Do you think they are using Jeff Gannon to take the heat off Jordan? If this is the case, then we have to really turn up the heat, start flooding the liberal media, fox news, wabc radio with emails of the story and keep it up until something is done to Jordan, like being fired?????
The answer to your question is "Yes". They pick and choose what they want to cover, and somehow in their warped little minds, Jeff Gannon is somehow connected to some Bush scandal. Now, Eason Jordan on the other hand, if they ignore it for long enough, they expect it to go away - as if it never happened. Not so easy in today's new media.
Thanks for the link. I liked the story that said Barney Frank was left speechless. That's something!
Thanks for looking- hopefully, a real "blogstorm" is about to break on the Eason, Gannon, and Ward stories. It will be interesting, if nothing else.
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