he-he-he Eason had it coming.Way to go bloggers! Now as to the others, - GET THEM!
Posted on 02/12/2005 4:51:47 AM PST by fight_truth_decay
For those of us in the information business, this is truly an earth-shaking time. Who would have imagined that the downfall of one of the world's most powerful news executives would be precipitated by an ordinary citizen blogging his eyewitness report at Davos in the wee hours of the morning on Jan. 27? It's simply stunning.
The courage of Rony Abovitz cannot be overstated. This ordinary American citizen raised his voice at an international forum of media and political heavyweights--also attended by Europe's most influential America-haters--and demanded that Eason Jordan back up his poisonous assertion about the American military targeting journalists. Abovitz's remarks prompted Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) to press Jordan for details. Abovitz also received thanks from Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) for standing up. After the event, Abovitz bypassed the MSM and exposed the controversy with a simple click of the mouse.
Fellow attendee/former CNN journalist/blogger Rebecca MacKinnon confirmed Abovitz's account, fielded questions from Hugh Hewitt, and added reporting with her e-mail exchange with Jordan.
From there, a few standout bloggers picked up on the story and refused to let it die. The MSM calls it a lynch mob. I call it a truth squad. Ed Morrissey, Hewitt, La Shawn Barber, Jim Geraghty, and LGF kept "baying"--which got the attention of the blogosphere's most powerful player, Instapundit. Bill Roggio quickly created the group blog, Easongate, to keep on top of the story. Legions of smaller bloggers, too numerous to mention, kept the heat on. N.Z. Bear pitched in with a helpful Easongate tracker.
The relentless Hewitt used his blog, radio show, and Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis to cover the story, observing, "You can't cover the press if you don't press the coverage."
On Feb. 4, intrepid blogger Sisyphean Musings contacted the World Economic Forum in an effort to obtain a videotape of the forum--which was eventually rebuffed. Rosen, meanwhile, went to work and contacted BBC journalist Richard Sambrook, who was on the Jordan panel, for a statement. Sambrook backed Jordan.
But what about the other panelists? Enter this blog.
I myself came "late" to the story--by blogospheric standards, not MSM standards. On Feb. 1-2, I was traveling and only had time to briefly glance at a on Captain's Quarters about Jordan's remarks. I noticed coverage on Instapundit and Hugh Hewitt when I returned home, but did not take the time to read up on all the background until the weekend. My first brief posts on Easongate weren't until Feb. 6, when I simply provided to others covering the story.
The next day, Monday Feb. 7, I thought it might be helpful to try and advance the story by calling up some of the panel participants. Rep. Barney Frank returned my call first thing Monday morning. David Gergen returned my call in the early afternoon. Sen. Chris Dodd's office provided a statement by late afternoon.
Powerline concluded prophetically: "Eason Jordan is finished."
And the dam broke bigtime.
On Tuesday Feb. 8, CNN employee and Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz finally published a story on the controversy, rehashing much of what I'd reported on this blog--except with a transparent coat of whitewash. Kurtz was roundly mocked by the blogosphere and has done permanent damage to his reputation as an effective media critic. Roger L. Simon said it best: "All in all, this is not an article, more of a place holder..." See also Kaus.
Among the MSM, the Toledo Blade's Jack Kelly, the Riverside Press Enterprise editorial page, and the Washington Times editorial page, and Investor's Business Dail were on the ball. So, too, the New York Sun. The New York Post published my column on Wed. Feb 9. That night, CNBC's Larry Kudlow had three senators on who agreed with the column's conclusion that Jordan had recklessly slimed our troops. Then came the rest, including a strange footnote from the WSJ op-ed page that will look even stranger in hindsight for ridiculing the "usual Internet suspects" that brought down a previously untouchable MSM giant.
The shock waves that have overwhelmed CNN started with a single blogger and reverberated worldwide. I agree with Rony Abovitz that there should be no joy in watching Eason Jordan's downfall. But there is certainly great, unadulterated satisfaction in seeing the collective efforts of the blogosphere--citizens and professional journalists among them--produce the one thing the MSM has for too long escaped in its walled-off world: accountability.
Cue the Carpenters music: We've Only Just Begun.
*** Other analysis...
Mark Coffey's take on The Lessons of Easongate.
The tireless Captain Ed on the moral of Eason's Fables.
Jim Geraghty says "we learned that a lot of people in major media institutions thought this was a tempest in a teacup, unworthy of even a paragraph of coverage." Yup.
Instapundit has more.
Jeff Jarvis, who will be on Kurtz's CNN show on Sunday, sez: "Oh, yes, and before we forget... Davos: Release the tape! You, too, can't stonewall or your little club will become known as the place where the powerful can try to lie."
Ditto to that.
Rebecca MacKinnon and Jay Rosen follow up. Most interesting comment on Rosen's site comes from a poster named "veteran journo:"
A few things strike me that I haven't yet seen others pick up on. The "mis-spoke" defence is all very well, but if there's anyone who knows or should know how to be quoted, how not to be quoted and how to avoid being misquoted it's a journalist with Jordan's experience.
If he were a "civilian" I could understand the "tempest in a teapot" view but this guy is a journalist who quotes people everyday.
Ditto, for telling stories that CNN hadn't aired. If they hadn't broadcast the story about the Al Jazeera journo forced to eat his shoes, it's because they couldn't get people to talk about it on the record. A news executive can't go passing on those rumours in a semi-public forum. If the standard of proof wasn't good enough to get it on CNN, it 's not good wnough to discuss at a forum in Davos. Maybe at Jordan's dinner table but not Davos.
To me, these two mistakes are inexcusable coming from a news executive. And they are indeed grounds for firing or resigning.
I still believe it would be better to show the tape because I think journalists can't possibly argue against that given the nature of the Davos forum.
...there's something very wrong about journos and power brokers attending huge "off the record" gatherings.
Honestly, I would never agree to be off the record at such an event.
Anyway that's my take -- inescapably bad errors of judgement. He had to go.
Jayson Blair, Raynes, Rather, Mapes, Eason and ? have met the howling winds of Truth and lost.
What if the DAVOS tape reveals what ELSE was said, aside from Jordan's comments?
We have to press on for the tape.
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Here are the major players that comprise the 2005 World Economic Forum......
Partners of the Annual Meeting 2005
Annual Meeting partners are member companies that are deeply committed to the World Economic Forum, to its mission and to the Annual Meeting in particular.
Strategic Partners
ABB
A.T. Kearney
Accel Partners
Accenture
Apax Partners
AUDI AG
Bahrain Economic Development Board
Bain & Company
Barco
The Boeing Company
Bombardier
Booz Allen Hamilton
BP
Cisco Systems
The Coca-Cola Company
Computer Associates International
Deloitte
Deutsche Bank
DHL
Ernst & Young
Fluor Corporation
HP
IBM Corporation
Infosys Technologies
KPMG
Kudelski Group
McKinsey & Company
Manpower
Merck & Co.
Merrill Lynch
Microsoft Corporation
Nakheel
Nestlé
New York Stock Exchange
Nike
PepsiCo
Pfizer
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Reliance Industries
Siemens
Swiss Re
Time Warner
Volkswagen
Zurich Financial Services
http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Members+and+Partners%5CPartners+Summit%5CPartners_Annual+Meeting+2005
Especially true in the last 3-4 years with the explosive growth of weblogs on the Internet and the ability to report on what anybody says anywhere in the world publicly on the Internet sometimes in the matter of minutes. That posting by Buckhead here on FR shortly after the 60 Minutes II report on President Bush's Texas Air National Guard service quickly triggered off an investigation that within 24 hours totally debunked the story and totally ruined the reputation of CBS News once and for all.
If you've read Alvin Toffler's book The Third Wave, he write in that book a chapter called "De-Massifying the Media," where as communications technologies improve the giant media conglomerates will wield less power. It appears that weblogs have made Toffler's prophecy come true.
Jordan's days were numbered after he authored the NYT editorial where he admitted that CNN withheld stories and colored others to maintain its presence in Iraq. His Faustian bargain with Saddam was the beginning of his undoing. He admitted that CNN ignored tortune and other household Saddamite atrocities so that they could continue to report the important news, such as the amazing Saddam landslide in Iraq's truly democratic elections, mind you the recent one's were total frauds. It wasn't so much that CNN committed these terrible acts of omission but rather that Jordan, in classic liberal attitude, failed to comprehend the destructive effects of these acts.
To Jordan I can only say good riddance and I'm sorry the world didn't catch on to you sooner.
"What I found odd about this post/story...was the involvement of Frank and Dodd."
They probably jumped on the story, hoping it WAS true so they could bash Bush and the troops.
blogs are little First Amendment machines".
Essentially, this whole episode is an exercise of First Amendment rights, documenting the odious statement of a supposedly professional journalist.
Everyone has a printing press now
YES AND NOW WATCH AS THE LEFT GETs THE GOVT TO REGULATE THE INTERNET.
BECAUSE "WHO EVER CONTROLS THE PRESSES HAS THE POWER"
QUOTE FROM COMMIE..LENNIN?
I would like to believe that these useful idiots are paying some kind of price for their wisdom-deficient opinings; but am not aware there has been one yet; that they have had to pay.
Hope I am wrong. . .
Let's not get drunk with power, remember along with power comes responsibility.
he-he-he Eason had it coming.Way to go bloggers! Now as to the others, - GET THEM!
Well, whatever his intentions; I can appreciate his input; but not enough for me to 'reevaluate Barney Frank as a Demrat politician'.
The Top guy at CNN resigns and they put it under entertainment???
EASONGATE: BARNEY FRANK TALKS
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/001447.htm
By Michelle Malkin · February 07, 2005 11:22 AM
Just got off the phone with Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who spoke with me about Easongate. Rep. Frank was on the panel at Davos.
Rep. Frank said Eason Jordan did assert that there was deliberate targeting of journalists by the U.S. military. After Jordan made the statement, Rep. Frank said he immediately "expressed deep skepticism." Jordan backed off (slightly), Rep. Frank said, "explaining that he wasn't saying it was the policy of the American military to target journalists, but that there may have been individual cases where they were targeted by younger personnel who were not properly disciplined."
Rep. Frank said he didn't pay attention to the audience reaction at the time of the panel, but recalled that Sen. Dodd was "somewhat disturbed" and "somewhat exercised" and that moderator David Gergen also said Jordan's assertions were "disturbing if true." I have a call in to Sen. Dodd's office and sent an e-mail inquiry to Gergen.
I asked Rep. Frank again if his recollection was that Jordan initially maintained that the military had a deliberate policy of targeting journalists. Rep. Frank affirmed that, noting that Jordan subsequently backed away orally and in e-mail that it was official policy, but "left open the question" of whether there were individual cases in which American troops targeted journalists.
After the panel was over and he returned to the U.S., Rep. Frank said he called Jordan and expressed willingness to pursue specific cases if there was any credible evidence that any American troops targeted journalists. "Give me specifics," Rep. Frank said he told Jordan.
Rep. Frank has not yet heard back from Jordan.
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
Let's not get drunk with power, remember along with power comes responsibility.
Stop it! You're ruining a perfectly good gloat thread. :-)
Well Done, all good and faithful Bloggers.
This has been a most interesting {nearly} 2 weeks!
MSM: 0, Pajama wearers: 2!
Congratulations!!!
The Hollyweirds have had trouble telling the difference between harsh reality and their make-believe world for a long time. The blogosphere is teaching them the difference.
There's a lesson in your words I think... check this out:
I think Geraghty is correct on Easongate
CNN's Chris Cramer by Freeper Chgogal
Vn,
Wonder if someone/blogger is already working on this?? Maybe we can ping LaShawn.
For CNN to push Jordan out, tells me there's more than just incriminating comments to nail Jordan, but to nail more hides to the wall.
YW FTD! :)
SHOW THE TAPE!!
KUDO'S to all the Bloggers that nailed his butt on this outrageous accusation
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