Confusion over status of Geraldo Rivera in Iraq

Reuters | 3/31/03 | Charles Aldinger

[kattracks]

Confusion over status of Geraldo Rivera in Iraq

By Charles Aldinger

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - Veteran reporter and former talk show host Geraldo Rivera, a correspondent for Fox News, was asked to be removed from Iraq by the U.S. military for reporting Western troop movements in the war, the Pentagon said on Monday.

But in a report from Iraq where he was about 60 miles (100 km) from Baghdad with the 101st Airborne Division, Rivera, known for his provocative on-screen style, said all was well and suggested he wasn't being ejected from the country by the U.S. military for coverage of the war.

Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman later told Reuters, however, that Fox News itself had agreed to remove Rivera after the military commander where Rivera was reporting felt that he had "compromised operational security."

A Fox spokesman said: "All I can tell you is that he's still reporting from Iraq."

Rivera said in his televised report that he did not know where the reports about the alleged security violations came from but accused colleagues, including former employer NBC, of perhaps "spreading some lies about me." He suggested all was well between him and the military.

"I'm further in the country than I have ever been," Geraldo said.

"If you were to ask me on whether or not he had reported on things that were of tactical value and compromised operational security, I would have to say yes. In the eyes of the commander on the ground, he did," Whitman told Reuters.

"I would say that he is going to be leaving Iraq," added Whitman. "Fox has talked to us and they have indicated to us that they are going to remove him from the area of operations."

Whitman, who had earlier said the military was ejecting Rivera, later amended that to Fox agreeing to withdraw the correspondent.

Reports from competing media said earlier that Rivera, a former talk show host and veteran correspondent who has also reported the war in Afghanistan and high-profile stories such as the O.J. Simpson murder trial, had been accused of violating rules against compromising operational security.

Whitman said Rivera was not officially "embedded," or assigned to the unit by the military, but was covering the troops at the time.

03/31/03 13:32 ET

[cyncooper]

I made the same point on another thread. Why would Fox allow him to make such a statement on the air calling MSNBC names when they knew he was goners? I cannot see them screwing up that much.

Several of us made that point.

On the one hand you had not only Geraldo, but David Asman in studio calling the story an outright lie.

On the other hand Reuters and their named source from the Pentagon. Now we see Reuters amending their story...

[GOPrincess]

"Why would Fox allow him to make such a statement on the air calling MSNBC names when they knew he was goners? I cannot see them screwing up that much."

Exactly. It seems like if there was a problem and his status was under discussion, Fox would either not broadcast his reports while the matter is pending or caution him not to comment on his status while they untangled things/made up their mind/etc.

[Dog Gone]

Pentagon briefing coming up now.

[ken5050]

Is there a DoD briefing today?..It'll be the first question....and did Helen ask Ari about it at the WH briefing?

[GOPrincess]

I've found some of Reuters' war coverage in general a bit suspect in tone...would they have an ax to grind re Fox?

[babaloo]

Well, great minds think alike! LOL! You are correct that more than Geraldo will have been hung out to dry. This is really a mess.

[GOPrincess]

Victoria Clarke just came on. We'll see!

[Howlin]

You cannot compare Geraldo Rivero to Peter Arnett.

[ken5050]

Not Fox per se...they don't really compete..but Reuters is up against many of Murdoch's other media outlets in the same markets..

[Woahhs]

It's not like the Iraqis themselves don't know what towns lie along that road, or where it ends at...

[ken5050]

Yeah...Rivera has more hair on his upper lip than Arnett has on his head...

[jimt]

Pentagon now reports that it will accept no solution short of Geraldo actually leaving the country.

I can agree with that decision. Listening to his reports, he clearly and constantly overstepped the bounds laid down for "embedded reporters". He was compromising security. As we used to put it in the Army, "He s**t in his own mess kit."

[sonofatpatcher2]

"This just in!"
"CNN is full of crap and Geraldo Rivera is still in Iraq."

"Hasn't CNN always been full of it, Spock?"

"So true, Dr. McCoy, so true. And now back to Patty Ann at the FOX Newsdesk."

"Hey, Jim, do you know why protesters always carry a bucket of week-old bear manure to ever anti-war rally?"
"No, Bones, why do they?"

"It keeps the flies off the reporters from CNN, ABC, CBS and MSNBC!"
Bada-Bang! Bada-Bing!

Want a break from war news? Go to the Stark Trek Freeper Post or the New Stark Trek Website for a laugh or two. Then come back refreshed and loaded for bear!

[Merovingian]

MSNBC still reporting that he has been kicked out..

[San Jacinto]

Actually, I just made that up. I was facetiously comparing the Geraldo brouhaha with the more important issues of the overall operation. I obviously should have made the sarcastic context of my comment more clear.

[cyncooper]

I've found some of Reuters' war coverage in general a bit suspect in tone...would they have an ax to grind re Fox?

I'm willing to bet that Reuters DESPISES Fox News.

Just a hunch.

:)

[dep]

i think what we're most likely to see emerge here is a kind of face-saving move -- geraldo will suddenly go to where the action is hot and heavy, as in afghanistan again or, perhaps, to cover stunning new developments in the jon benet ramsey case.

i think there was probably a deal cut to let him retreat with honor as opposed to being flat-out bounced.

dep

[Lauratealeaf]

Reuters won't even call the 911 terrorists "terrorists" and they reported that bogus 4 to 6 day pause last Friday night. I don't think they are believable.

[cyncooper]

This is really a mess.

It's a weird mess.

The lefties are really going nuts and throwing any pretense of even-handedness to the winds.

It looks to me that Reuters took a statement by the Pentagon and mischaracterized it, deliberately would be my guess, in a tit-for-tat revenge for Arnett. Fox really slammed Arnett, and although Peter Arnett was working for MSNBC, his views were right in line with Reuters'.

[cyncooper]

I don't think they are believable.

I don't either.

The only thing that gave me pause was in their first story the quoted the Pentagon guy, named him as they do in this latest version, and his statements as they quoted them were quite definitive.

Then lo and behold Reuters claims it's the Pentagon guy "amending" his statement. Well, that doesn't sound quite believable to me, as I would think the Pentagon is quite careful in the statements they issue.

There must be more here and I won't believe it until the Pentagon says whatever they're saying to another news source---preferably on camera for all of us to hear ourselves at this point.