I can't find anything confirming this using Google on Eason Jordan yet.
Site:
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At approximately 4:14 PM Pacific, Larry Elder reported live on his nationally syndicated radio show that Eason Jordan has resigned.
Posted by: Charles | Comments (1) | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
National Review Online reporting. Developing...
Update: Associated Press also reporting:
CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amidst a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq.Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy.
During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum last month, Jordan said he believed that several journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq had been targeted.
He quickly backed off the remarks, explaining that he meant to distinguish between journalists killed because they were in the wrong place where a bomb fell, for example, and those killed because they were shot at by American forces who mistook them for the enemy.
"I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise," Jordan said in a memo to fellow staff members at CNN.
But the damage had been done, compounded by the fact that no transcript of his actual remarks has turned up. There was an online petition calling on CNN to find a transcript, and fire Jordan if he said the military had intentionally killed journalists.
The "online petition" they're referring to is on Easongate.com!!!
A fellow Easongate blogger reports that Larry Elder just announced it on his radio show. I'm going to be a guest on Kevin McCullough's show next week. I wonder what we'll talk about...
Thanks again, Lucianne! That's what happens when you're quick on the draw. Just think...I was about to turn off my computer!
Readers speculate that there's more to this story, too. CNN decided to cut its losses for a reason.
Posted by: La Shawn Barber | Comments (10) | Permalink | TrackBack (2)
Marc Morano, CNS News, attended the Washington Press Club's 61st annual congressional dinner. His article, Insiders Cautious Over Jordan Comments, is at NewsMax.
It has already been reported here that Senators Allen (R-Va) and Dodd (D-CT) have asked for the WEF tape to be released.
What is striking is how many journalists and politicians claim NOT to know about this controversy.
Newsweek's contributing editor Eleanor Clift said, "I know Eason Jordan and he made that comment. But I don't know anything further about it so I wouldn't have a comment."Huh?
Rep. Kucinich is informed, but not talking:
Former Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) said he was familiar with the Jordan controversy but didn't have any comment on it.
You should read the whole article. Ron Silver, the actor, knows all about it and is talking. Too funny.
This article puts some things into perspective. First, we're not doing a good enough job of getting some members of the press up to speed and interested in what Jordan had to say. That's striking.
Two weeks ago, Jordan was talking about an issue that is supposed to be VERY important to the press: fellow journalists being killed in Iraq. But journalists at the Washington Press Corps dinner didn't know about it and didn't seem very interested in finding out about it.
Two weeks ago, Jordan was making remarks that Rep. Frank considered of such importance that he followed up, asking Jordan "for specifics about the journalistic casualties so he could make inquiries at the Pentagon." Jordan doesn't provide these specifics and instead claims he was misunderstood. How can he not have specifics? Why haven't other Representatives and Senators heard about Jordan's remarks?
We need to do a better job at informing these politicians and journalists. We need to do a better job of making our singular demand the release of the video - echoed by our representatives and other press organizations.
We need to get every blog, on both sides of the ideological spectrum to do what Dr. Andrew Cline has done at Rhetorica.net.
That's what I think we need to do. That's why I joined the group.
Posted by: Sisyphus | Comments (1) | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Tim Schmoyer (a.k.a. Sisyphus) of the blog Sisyphean Musings has joined the team of Easongate as a writer. Tim has been following the Eason Jordan story closely and is the blogger who almost received a copy of the tape from Mark Adams. Tim's views on the Easongate controversy can be viewed here.
Tim will be our last addition barring any unforeseen events.
Thanks for joining, Tim!
Posted by: rogg | Comments (0) | Permalink | TrackBack (0)
Reuters reports on Easongate (an aside: aren’t wire services supposed to be on the cutting edge of news?). In a poorly researched article titled "CNN Executive in Hot Seat Over Iraq Claim", Reuters conveniently omits many facts, including crucial eyewitness statements.
But one witness at Davos, Florida businessman Rony Abovitz, said he was shocked by Jordan's initial claim and asked him to prove it. "I was quite surprised, especially by his passion for what he was saying," said Abovitz, who wrote an entry detailing Jordan's comments on a blog from the World Economic Forum that was later picked up by others. "I thought that this was a huge story, very damning to the U.S. if true."Abovitz said that others in the room, including Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., and Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., joined in the debate, which became heated before being broken off. But Abovitz, who co-founded a medical technology company in Hollywood, Fla., said that he felt impelled to blog it after realizing that others weren't going to report on it.
Note this article does not directly quote from Sen. Dodd, Rep. Franks, David Gergen, Richard Sambrook, Justin Vaisse, Bernard Rappaz and Bret Stephens, whose accounts confirm Rony’s assertions. Rony’s account is the only one mentioned, giving the appearance of a lone dissenter. There is no mention of a tape. Shoddy reporting or deliberate omissions? You make the call. Since Reuters CEO Tom Glocer has similar problems with slandering troops, we can understand Reuter’s soft peddling of this story.
The Associate Press (an aside: aren’t wire services supposed to be on the cutting edge of news?) also covers Easongate today (this same article is posted at The New York Times). The account is more balanced that Reuters' but still deficient in facts. Of note:
CNN said, however, that it had no such transcript and, although a videotape reportedly exists of the conference, the meetings were held under rules forbidding participants from being quoted directly."I don't know how much more clear we can be," Robinson said. "I think the story should be moot when you read in the first accounts that he made the misstatement and he cleared it up.”
Sorry, Mr. Robinson, but it is far from clear, and we are not depending on Mr. Jordan's accounts of the events at Davos. “A videotape reportedly exists”? We know it exists. Contact Mark Adams and ask him to release it, and copy Eason Jordan while you’re at it. At least the AP took the time to read this site and directly quotes our petition.
The Boston Herald has a contemptuous article on bloggers covering Easongate. It seems the downfall of some reporter named Jeff Gannon (who?) from Talon News is worthy of bloggers’ efforts, while CNN's chief news executive accusations of American troops intentionally targeting journalists without a single shred of evidence to back up these outrageous claims is not.
Please sign the petition to express you displeasure with the state of events.