Eason Jordan, CNN’s chief news executive, apologized on behalf of the network yesterday for giving more attention to the statements of a suicide bomber’s family than to the parents of one of his victims.
It looks like the Israeli / right-wing Jewish pressure campaign on the network has already begun to bear immediate fruit. I almost never watch cable news or pundit television because it gives me a migraine, but I was at the gym yesterday and they had the TVs on.
George Bush had just given his Middle East speech, in which he spinelessly caved into every one of Ariel Sharon’s demands, thereby ensuring nothing but more bloodshed and misery for both sides, and here’s who the allegedly anti-Israel “Communist News Network” thought provided a balanced and expert stable of commentators:
REV. PAT ROBERTSON, FOUNDER, CHRISTIAN COALITION: “Judy, I think it was brilliant.” RICH LOWRY, THE NATIONAL REVIEW: “I think it was a marvelous speech.” CARL JEFFERS, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: “I applaud the president for staying engaged and continuing so.” ROBERT NOVAK, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: “I don’t think that the Israel government could be happier with that speech if it were written by Prime Minister Sharon’s people. RA’ANAN GISSIN, ADVISER TO ARIEL SHARON: (What do you expect he said?) REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Well, I think president has once again shown incredible leadership.”Here’s my question: Has Hell frozen over? Six speakers and Robert Novak as the voice of reason? Just how pathetic has CNN become? Isn’t Pat Robertson the guy who said that the 9/11 attacks were God’s revenge on America because of abortionists and the ACLU? What is an anti-American nutcase doing as an analyst of the Middle East? Who is Carl Jeffers and why is he considered a match for the editor of America’s most right-wing opinion magazine. Where was the Palestinian spokesperson to balance Gissan? And where was the liberal lawmaker to balance the extremist DeLay?
CNN’s pandering to the Bush/Israeli position is undeniable, and yet conservatives and Israelis complain that it is somehow not compliant enough. As always, they are “working the refs” and their strategy is a complete success. Imagine the outcry if any network ever presented so one-sided a lineup against Israel and its illegal occupation. We’d be hearing the alleged “pro-Israel” community complaining about it for years. But when the Israelis and their most right-wing supporters rule the roost, well, everything’s hunky-dory and nobody even notices the egregious bias in the presentation.
I suppose it’s too much to ask to imagine the CNN might have thought to consult, um, someone familiar with the history and politics of region who could speak to the likelihood of his plan achieving any success whatever. Nahhh.
Meanwhile, a check of the transcript shows that before the speech, CNN led with two Israeli guests and one Palestinian, (Dore Gold, adviser to Ariel Sharon; Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator; Ehud Barak, former Israeli prime minister) which is, I guess, as close to “balance” as this increasingly right-wing network can be expected to go. Might as well go to Fox and get the real thing. Here, for those who want more, is the transcript.