Why Are Anti-American Foreigners Reporting America's News?

The American media received a grade of D minus from the Media Research Center for the coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom. "While the media covered many aspects of the war fairly well-reports from embedded journalists were refreshingly factual and were mostly devoid of commentary-television's war coverage was plagued by the same problems detected during previous conflicts: too little skepticism of enemy propaganda, too much mindless negativism about America's military prospects, and a reluctance on the part of most networks to challenge the premises of the anti-war movement or expose its radical agenda."

MRC reserved its lowest grade-an F-for Peter Jennings. "Led by the highly tendentious Peter Jennings, ABC's reporters presented the most adversarial and negative coverage of the American war effort. Their reporter in Baghdad, Richard Engel, did the most to play up Iraqi claims of civilian suffering at the hands of Americans while Jennings-more than any other anchor-zeroed in on purported weaknesses and failings in the U.S. effort to win support among liberated Iraqis."

Radio host and Rocky Mountain News columnist Mike Rosen noted: "But how do you explain Peter Jennings, an otherwise intelligent and articulate man? His nightly ABC broadcasts positively reek with obvious, anti-war spin."

We can easily explain his bias against America: Peter Jennings, who works for an American network and interprets the news for millions of Americans, is not an American at all. Peter was born in Canada to a mother who he admits, "was pretty anti-American." She passed her anti-American gene on to Peter. Although he has fed at the American money trough for some 40 years, he has never sought American citizenship.

And it shows. CNN reported: "ABC's Peter Jennings gave the boot to country singer Toby Keith after deciding the lyrics of his hit song, 'Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue,' were too controversial for the network's July 4th special celebrating America."

Canada, where Jennings still holds citizenship, is a former friend whose prime minister, Jean Chrétien, (of course we knew he'd have a French name) followed the lead of French President Jacques Chirac and refused to join our coalition or even give us moral support.

NBC's Ashleigh Banfield is another high-profile foreigner reporting the news. As MRC noted: "She's 'very quick to point out' that she's not a U.S. citizen but is Canadian." When David Letterman asked how she was regarded over there, "Banfield, referring to CBS Orchestra leader Paul Shaffer of Thunder Bay, Ontario, revealed how she uses her Canadian citizenship to her advantage in separating herself from the United States: 'Sure, you bet. I mean, people right away assume that all of us are American because we work for an American TV crew, but I am Canadian, just like Paul, and so I'm very quick to point that out and I tend to get a warmer reception by some.'"

In a speech at Kansas State University, Ashleigh derided "cable news operators who wrap themselves in the American flag and go after a certain target demographic." She referred, of course, to Fox News Channel.

Morley Safer, who has lived off CBS's 60 Minutes for 33 years, is also Canadian. During one segment, he bought a bogus green card and social security card from a street vendor for $55.

Canadian Kevin Newman went to work for ABC in 1994 and moved to the Good Morning America show in 1998. The Ottawa Citizen reported on "his overt Canadianness" on the air. He later became a correspondent for Nightline, "where Newman often focused on stories about Canada." He has since returned to his native land and now broadcasts there. ABC hopefully hired an American to take his place.

CBS's John Roberts is another Canadian reporter. He has been the anchor for the Sunday edition of the CBS Evening News since 1995 and is senior White House correspondent for CBS News. Adrienne Arsenault of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News met him during the embedded-reporters-in-training at Fort Benning last December. "There are nine other women in the course. And one other Canadian. He is John Roberts, CBS's White House correspondent. He left behind his "ehs" and the name "JD" long ago. Still, the passport is valid so Platoon 1, squad 2, Bravo team becomes the Canuckistan corner."

Most journalists consider themselves Citizens of the World, so anti-Americanism comes easy to them, whether they are Canadian or American. It's just easier for the Canadians. Columnist Jonah Goldberg reminds us: "At a seminar filmed in 1987 for a PBS series called 'Ethics in America,' Peter Jennings of ABC News and Mike Wallace of CBS' 60 Minutes agreed that reporters shouldn't be distracted by loyalty to their own country."

Thomas Sowell, writing in Capitalism magazine, observed: "Journalists have been wrapping themselves in the First Amendment for years-even as they assume the role of citizens of the world, who soar above the parochial concerns of the United States of America." He notes that one cable network refuses to use the word "terrorists" to describe the 9/11 hijackers, and many news organizations give Osama bin Laden and other terrorists a moral equivalence to America itself. "Perhaps that is what to expect from journalists who claim all the privileges of Americans, while acting as citizens of the world, neutral as between 'both sides.'"

The Media Research Center gave Ted Koppel the "worst" rating for embedded reporters. "At the same time, ABC's Ted Koppel used his position as an embedded reporter to issue lectures about U.S. policy." Ted Koppel was born in England after his Jewish parents fled Germany. He didn't come to the U. S. until he was thirteen years old. One assumes he has since become an American citizen, although we can't be sure he even finds it necessary. After all, he and his cronies are Citizens of the World now.

To comment on this article or express your opinion directly to the author, you are invited to e-mail Allan at acstover@comcast.net .

Rocky Mountain News

URL: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_1897088,00.html

Rosen: Filtering the war news

April 18, 2003

While much of the print and broadcast coverage of the war in Iraq has been excellent and courageous, a great deal of it has been infuriatingly biased or downright stupid.

Fox News, the unliberal alternative to TV network news, has been outstanding. And the public has been responding with its approval. Fox's viewership is soaring at the expense of the established nets. The dean of Washington press corps morons is surely Helen Thomas who has become an embarrassing caricature of herself. She lost any pretense of journalistic objectivity when she recently pronounced George W. Bush as the worst president of all time. But how do you explain Peter Jennings, an otherwise intelligent and articulate man? His nightly ABC broadcasts positively reek with obvious, anti-war spin. The New York Times is just as bad.

It's understandable that journalists want to maintain their independence. They don't want to be exploited as uncritical conduits for propaganda. Fair enough. But their skepticism is selective.

They're far more suspicious of the Department of Defense under Republican administrations than they are of the Environmental Protection Agency under Democratic administrations. They're instinctively adversarial and doubtful of business interests but remarkably receptive to press releases from gun-control activists, feminists and homeless advocates. Not coincidentally, this comports with the overwhelmingly liberal bias of the dominant media culture.

Journalists like to say that they're only the messengers, reporting bad news as well as good. But they also say they won't accept handouts at face value. Well, they can't have it both ways. If they exercise discretion in what they report, then they're not simply messengers. If your postman filtered your mail, he'd get fired and arrested. I don't expect Jennings to be a cheerleader for the U.S. in this war. He's not even an American citizen, and many in his country - Canada - have been less than supportive of our mission. But his filter has served to emphasize the negative. He's been more than a doubting Thomas; he's been an adversary, overcovering political street theater here at home, and harping on military setbacks - real or imagined - in an environment rich with success and victory abroad.

During World War II, Admiral William "Bull" Halsey was asked what reporters should be told before and during a battle. "Tell 'em nothing," he said. "When it's over, tell 'em who won." War coverage has come a long way since then, and not all for the best. Film shot on World War II battlefields had to be sent to the rear for processing and editing, transported across the ocean, and distributed to theaters for Movietone News. At best, it was a week before audiences at home saw anything.

Today, it's instantaneous. Flash back to June 6, 1944. Imagine television sets tuned to live coverage, in living color, of the carnage on Omaha Beach, followed by an instant telephone poll asking whether the battle plan for the invasion of Normandy was a good idea.

Lt. Gen. William Wallace, the U.S. Army's senior ground commander in the Iraq war, told reporters on March 28 that, "The enemy we're fighting is a bit different than the one we war-gamed against." Washington Post reporter Rick Atkinson left out the key words "a bit" in his front-page story. This is spin, which materially alters impressions and unfairly undermines confidence in the war effort. It's wrong and irresponsible. It's the kind of thing Mark Twain had in mind when he said the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between "lightning" and "lightning bug."

American journalists aren't citizens of the world or disinterested observers from another planet. They're American citizens with a stake in this nation's security. Legendary World War II reporter Ernie Pyle died in combat with American troops in the Pacific. His dispatches were accurate and vivid, but there was never any doubt that he was rooting for our side. Was he wrong?

Want to vote for more positive, balanced coverage? You can start by tuning out CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, etc., and watching Fox instead.

Mike Rosen's radio show airs daily from 9 a.m. to noon on 850 KOA.

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