Oops. TV Guide: “Arnett is the Comeback Kid in Iraq”

MRC ^

[Sir Gawain]

Oops. TV Guide: “Arnett is the Comeback Kid in Iraq”

     Talk about bad timing. The headline over a story in the new TV Guide arriving in homes this week: “At 68, Arnett is the Comeback Kid in Iraq.” NBC severed its relationship with Arnett on Monday after he went on enemy TV to praise the enemy's resistance and boast how his “reporting” was aiding the efforts of domestic dissenters to undermine U.S. policy.

     For a full rundown of what Arnett said on Iraqi TV and his record of spreading enemy propaganda, see Monday's CyberAlert Extra:
http://www2.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030331_extra.asp

     For how Arnett charged that he lost his job because the U.S. government and “right-wing media” fear his “truth” telling, see:
http://www2.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030401.asp#1

      Apparently, TV Guide is a bit embarrassed by the story penned by Max Robins since they have removed it from their Web site, but you can still access it via Google.

     In the article in the April 5-11 edition of TV Guide, Robins admired Arnett's “redemption” and raved that “for Arnett, the Iraq war is nothing short of a professional resurrection.” Noting how Arnett was forced out of CNN after the Tailwind scandal, Robins related how Arnett felt victorious over his CNN tormentors now that Ted Turner and former CNN Chairman Tom Johnson are gone from CNN, “the Iraqis have thrown the CNN crew out of Baghdad, and I'm still here. Any satisfaction in that? Ha, ha, ha, ha."

     Northern Virginia freelance writer Steve Allen alerted CyberAlert to the Robins piece and how it was still available on Google even after TV Guide took it down. An excerpt from the Robins story:

If you were watching NBC when war with Iraq began, you were also witnessing the redemption of Peter Arnett. As NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw said to him during a recent live report from Baghdad: "Go ahead, Peter, you're in charge."

The 68-year-old Arnett has been reporting from the Iraqi capital, just as he did 12 years ago for CNN during the Gulf War.

NBC made a deal with Arnett's current employer, National Geographic Explorer, to provide war coverage to NBC News and MSNBC. (Explorer airs Sundays, 8 pm/ET, on MSNBC.)...

For Arnett, the Iraq war is nothing short of a professional resurrection. His career came to a halt in 1998 after the Tailwind scandal: a CNN report that said the U.S. military had used nerve gas during the Vietnam War, a charge the network was forced to retract....

"I was furious with [CNN founder] Ted Turner and [then-CNN chairman] Tom Johnson when they threw me to the wolves after I made them billions risking my life to cover the first Gulf War," Arnett says via phone from the Iraqi capital. "I was resentful and wanted a way to redeem myself. Now [Turner and Johnson] are gone, the Iraqis have thrown the CNN crew out of Baghdad, and I'm still here. Any satisfaction in that? Ha, ha, ha, ha."

Arnett's journey back to Baghdad began shortly after September 11, 2001, when the independent news service and production company Camera Planet hired him.

"This was a guy who had one bad chapter in an otherwise incredible career," says CameraPlanet CEO Steve Rosenbaum....

Eventually, CameraPlanet struck a deal with National Geographic Explorer for Arnett to do the 2002 documentary Back to Baghdad, which was followed this year by a second documentary, Baghdad on the Brink.

When it appeared that war with Iraq was imminent, NBC News made its deal with National Geographic Explorer.

The fortuitous arrangement gave NBC the most seasoned correspondent at this war's epicenter.

"The Iraqis have let me stay because they see me as a fellow warrior," Arnett says. "They know I might not agree with them, but I've got their respect."...

     END of Excerpt

     For the index of stories by Robins, where this piece should be listed but isn't: http://www.tvguide.com/magazine/robins/

For Google's capture of the article as originally posted: CLICK HERE

[Sir Gawain]

I couldn't find it cached anymore.

[Brett66]

Maybe they should re-title it "he blowed up real good".

[dc-zoo]

That should be scumbag kid.

[ladyinred]

Oh so now it is the 'right wing' media and President Bush's fault is it Peter?
Slimey jerk!
The last laugh is on you.

[martin_fierro]

Ah, TV Guide: Source of the simplest crossword puzzles in the known universe.

Their journalistic insights are equally sharp.

[JoJo Gunn]

TV Guide has turned into just another Leftist rag, never missing a chance to mention the Clintons or to promote the homosexist Agenda.

[thegreatbeast]

TV GUIDE makes a lot of mistakes. Just a week or two ago, that crapulous old woman, Susan Sarandon, was the cover horror. They like to slip a lot of sly liberal asides into their publication too. Will not renew.

[Yankee]

In the meantime MSNBC, in a pathetic effort to change the subject, has become the 24 hour "Geraldo Report".

I watch Fox but randomly flip to the others just for a glimpse, and every time I flipped to MSNBC they were doing "Geraldo analysis" and taking shots at FOX.

I had to laugh when Shepard Smith went to a commercial break earlier saying, "Your watching FOX, the network that covers the news, not other networks".