Posted on 03/26/2003 7:51:16 AM PST by Maedhros
NEW YORK (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Peter Arnett is taking "perverse pleasure" out of reporting from Baghdad for one of CNN's rivals, he told reporters Tuesday.
Arnett is contributing to MSNBC and NBC News through his role as a reporter for "National Geographic (news - web sites) Explorer," a two-hour documentary show MSNBC airs each week.
The former CNN reporter, who was the lone television correspondent in Baghdad during the initial U.S. bombing of the city in the 1991 Persian Gulf War (news - web sites), talked about the intense hostilities to come and "misinformation" that has been presented by the Pentagon (news - web sites) and the Iraqis in the past week. He also said he expected almost all of the reporters now in Baghdad to remain there, no matter how fierce the battle for the city gets.
"I do get a perverse pleasure out of it. After all, CNN did dump me, I thought unfairly," the Pulitzer Prize winner said of working for MSNBC.
That's a different tune than Arnett sang in earlier interviews, when he denied any bitterness toward his former employer, which failed to renew his contract following his 1998 Operation Tailwind report. The report alleged that American forces used nerve gas in 1970 during the Vietnam War. CNN eventually retracted the story.
"I said CNN could have hung on with me," he said. "Tailwind was almost a death blow to my career as a correspondent. I was radioactive after Tailwind. You can't afford to make a serious mistake in journalism. You're dead."
Arnett, 68, also gave some insight into the way CNN's Baghdad crew may have been expelled from the city Thursday, saying they lacked the political skills in dealing with the Iraqi authorities. "It's nothing they did in particular that the Iraqis were irritated at," he said. "A degree of diplomatic and personal relationships get you through in a place like Baghdad."
Perhaps the most difficult aspect of reporting the war is sorting through "misinformation" from both sides during the past week, Arnett said.
He bristled at criticism he said he received for stating a few days ago that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) was definitively still alive. "The Pentagon refused to believe it," he said. "And my comments were being challenged by others saying, 'What does Arnett know?' "
Arnett also complained about Pentagon comments -- which the networks reported -- implying that Iraqis had executed American POWs. "It took quite awhile for the Pentagon to come around to the fact (that the dead soldiers) were battlefield casualties."
As to Iraqi propaganda, he said, "You have to expect that kind of exaggeration from the Iraqis because they're trying to build the spirit of their people."
Arnett also endorsed the new "embedding" system, in which journalists are covering the war while traveling with American and British troops. Noting the cumbersome nature of reporting in Vietnam -- in which it took correspondents days for pictures to get back to the United States while laden with heavy film cameras -- he termed embedding a "phenomenal development."
"You have to give those front-line reporters credit," he said. "They are reporting the reality of what's going on. It's a great way to cover (the war), and the more embedding the better if it continues this way."
The technical term is "sucking up to Saddam."
Sounds just like a Saddamite.
He went to Baghdad to weasel his way back into reporting the news. I wish NBC would admit that they sent him to Baghdad as a news correspondent and not give not give false National Geographic credentials.
Why do they try to give Arnett ALL the credit?
If you remember they truly couldn't get Bernie out from under the bed when the rounds started flying. Arnett was carrying all the water for quite a while. John Holliman did a great job also once he got his bearings.
Well, Bernard Shaw is probably too good a man to contradict Petah!
And Holliman is dead, so he can't.
This guy is taking PR lessons from Bill Clinton. ME ME ME ME ME ME ME.
I switched to CNN. To their credit, they just opened the microphones that were placed around the Baghdad. For about ten minutes, the only audio they carried was the explosions and air raid sirens - with no talking head commentary.
I cranked up the surround sound and turned up the subwoofer to get the full effect. It was like being there.
Because he did the "baby milk factory" reports.
The conclusion? His "reports" are worthless. They are as much a waste of time as he is a waste of the earth's oxygen.
Leni
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