Methinks they doth protest too much. |
Posted on 02/13/2005 9:21:49 AM PST by Brian Mosely
Sad conclusion in the Eason Jordan affair (see below the New York Times article), sad day for the freedom of expression in America and sad day again for the future of blogging: the defense of the US army honor seemed more important to some bloggers than the defense of reporters' work (and sometimes life)! Nevertheless, there is one advantage in this story: masks are fallen! Within the honest community of bloggers, some of them claimed to be the "sons of the First Amendment", they just were the sons of Senator McCarthy. And this is very worrying to see this new wedding between self-proclaimed citizen's media and maintstream journalists scalps' hunters. Fifty years ago, it was enough to be communist to be fired, today, it is enough to raise questions about the Bush administration policy in Iraq to be denounced as "anti-American". Maybe the only difference is that you are not fired, but that you must dismiss! What's my conclusion? Real promoters of citizen media would have to take some distance with those who have fueled and organised the Eason Jordan hatred. If not, the "new era of journalism" opened by the blogosphere will appear as the old clothes of American populism.
According to the New York Times, "Eason Jordan, a senior executive at CNN who was responsible for coordinating the cable network's Iraq coverage, resigned abruptly Friday 11 February, citing a journalistic tempest he touched off during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, late last month in which he appeared to suggest that United States troops had deliberately aimed at journalists, killing some.
Though no transcript of Mr. Jordan's remarks at Davos on Jan. 27 has been released, the panel's moderator, David Gergen, editor at large of U.S. News & World Report, said in an interview last night that Mr. Jordan had initially spoken of soldiers, "on both sides," who he believed had been "targeting" some of the more than four dozen journalists killed in Iraq. Almost immediately after making that assertion, Mr. Jordan, whose title at CNN had been executive vice president and chief news executive, "quickly walked that back to make it clear that there was no policy on the part of the U.S. government to target or injure journalists," Mr. Gergen said."
In a memorandum released to his colleagues last night, Mr. Jordan, 44, who had worked at the network for more than two decades, said he had "decided to resign in an effort to prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished by the controversy over conflicting accounts of my recent remarks regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq."
Bret Stephens, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board who attended the session in Davos, wrote in Thursday's Journal that Mr. Jordan had "made a defamatory innuendo" but added: "Mr. Jordan deserves some credit for retracting the substance of his remark, and some forgiveness for trying to weasel his way out of a bad situation of his own making."
Source: New York Times. See also the first posting on 28 January 2005 about the Eason Jordan affair: it was posted by Rony Abrovitz on forumblog.org, the official weblog of the World Economic Forum.
Eason Jordan will clear all this up by releasing
the video tape of his address ...
... right after Kerry signs the SF-180.
Unlike the legacy press, the bloggers are willing
to be mistaken, and need only be shown the evidence
known to exist, but being suppressed for some reason.
Bob Woodward's made his whole career based on that, and he's a major role model for American journalists.
This writer could get a second (and honorable) job making fudge.
Bill Press was visibly red faced and bitter about the whole thing (no surprise there). David Gergen seemed to have some sort of guilt complex about the whole thing--I don't know if that was real, or just fake tears because David does not want to be ostracized by his fellow MSM cocktail circuit journalism buddies.
I am proud to be compared with the patriot Joe McCarthy. He was 100% right about the Communist infiltration of our institutions. It's a pity he overextended and took on the military which led to his downfall. McCarthyism was a critical wave which was prematurely cut off, and needs to be completed and FINISHED today...in the MSM, Hollywood, and the schools especially.
Perhaps that's because the army defends the very rights that reporters frequently abuse.
The MSM calls this censorship by the blogosphere. I call it being held responsible.
Methinks they doth protest too much. |
A typical liberal response when "caught with their hands in the cookie jar"---- call someone names---I have never read such a childish editorial
It's amazing how the left believes that the First Amendment somehow protects the jobs of journalists and college professors from the consequences for both fields call for serious consequences in those situations.
Oh indeed.
The journalists who plastered false pictures of American "torturers" on the front page of the Boston Globe are not "Sons of McCarthy" - they are merely journalists.
The journalists who falsely accused the military of assassination of reporters, then covered up the story are not liars - they are merely journalists.
The journalists who published the names of CIA operatives so that they were killed are not murderers - they are merely journalists.
The journalists who help the enemy ambush American Soldiers so they can videotape the attack are not vultures - they are merely journalists.
The journalists who vilify, lie, murder and profit from the blood of our fighting men are not to be held liable - for they are merely journalists...
But those who call them to account? Why, they are the "Sons of McCarthy"...
A little more about this fellow:
http://wef.blogs.com/about.html
Bertrand Pecquerie, an expert in newspaper syndication and press networks, has been appointed Director of the World Editors Forum in October 2003.
Mr Pecquerie, who is French, is the founder and former Director of World Media Network, a press syndicate that linked more than 20 major dailies around the world, including El Pais, La Stampa, Libération, Irish Times, Tages Anzeiger, La Nacion, Al Ahram, Yomiuri Shimbun and others.
He was also the Director of the syndication and special events service of the French daily Libération and, most recently, he was General Secretary of the French government’s Best Practices Agency (Agence des Bonnes Pratiques) which promoted good administrative and public service practices in local and national government.
Mr Pecquerie, 47, also brings an extensive background in online publishing to the WEF. He was Director of World Media Live, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal specialising in cultural websites. He has also been a professor of history and communication at the University of Paris and was an adviser to the President of the French National Assembly on educational and cultural matters.
Merda by any other name still stinks. This idiot seems to think he can defame our troops in front of a foreign audience with impunity.
The only decent thing he has done in 23 years at the rapidly sinking CNN is get the H*** out of Dodge. He compounded his indecency after his admitting that he had hidden the fact that Saddam intended to kill his sons-in-law to "protect" CNN interests in Iraq.
This guy is a loser in ever respect. Good riddance!! Its worth adding that the MSM (journalists?) were trying to gloss over what he did as journalistic license on the Sunday morning slobbers.
And it wasn't like Jordan prefaced his comments with "I believe" - because then it would have been opinion instead a statement of fact. Jordan treated the statement as fact - when it is clear he didn't have support for his claims - which should be a potential firing offense for any journalist, especially when making a very incindiary claim.
Throw in Jordan's admission that CNN sucked up to Saddam to maintain a reporting presence in Iraq, and you have very damaged goods. But as long as Jordan was saying something that the liberal moonbats also believe, they will support him and twist the First Amendment to try and fit the situation.
The program is also known as "Unreliable Sources" to many of us... It's better now that Bernie Kalb, an unreconstructed Dan Rather clone, isn't running it, but "better" is a relative term. The mere sight of Bill Press sends me running to the bathroom with the heaves.
Bang On. You are very right.
It would be very interesting to see if his name eventually surfaces in the oil-for-food scandal.
I am proud to be called a son of McCarthy.............
We will get these Godless Commies on the run if its the last thing we do.
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Gee, I didn't hear any of this hand-wringing when the lefty bloggers were taking down Jeff Gannon. Then the New York Times was only too happy to pile on.