Full Version: Eason Jordan resigns over remarks
For those not yet familiar with this story, CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan startled many attending a World Economic Forum videotaped, but off-the-record, discussion titled Will Democracy Survive the Media? when he reportedly accused US forces of targeting at least 12 journalists that have died in Iraq. Rep. Barney Franks (D-MA) and Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) both were in attendance and both have confirmed the original story.
This is not he first time Jordan has stirred controversy at CNN. In 2004, he accused US forces of torturing journalists. In 2003 the scandal involved Jordan admitting that CNN covered-up Saddam's atrocities against some foreign journalists working inside Iraq which appeared to some as silence for access.
In Jordan's resignation, he states:
Question for debate:
Did Eason Jordan do the right thing by resigning?
What effect will this have on the media?
Should CNN be help to the same standard of transparency regarding this issue as CBS News was regarding the purported Bush memos?
Should WEF release the videotaped comments?
QUOTE("Michelle Malkin")
Rep. Frank said Eason Jordan did assert that there was deliberate targeting of journalists by the U.S. military. After Jordan made the statement, Rep. Frank said he immediately "expressed deep skepticism." Jordan backed off (slightly), Rep. Frank said, "explaining that he wasn't saying it was the policy of the American military to target journalists, but that there may have been individual cases where they were targeted by younger personnel who were not properly disciplined."
Rep. Frank said he didn't pay attention to the audience reaction at the time of the panel, but recalled that Sen. Dodd was "somewhat disturbed" and "somewhat exercised" and that moderator David Gergen also said Jordan's assertions were "disturbing if true." I have a call in to Sen. Dodd's office and sent an e-mail inquiry to Gergen.
I asked Rep. Frank again if his recollection was that Jordan initially maintained that the military had a deliberate policy of targeting journalists. Rep. Frank affirmed that, noting that Jordan subsequently backed away orally and in e-mail that it was official policy, but "left open the question" of whether there were individual cases in which American troops targeted journalists.
After the panel was over and he returned to the U.S., Rep. Frank said he called Jordan and expressed willingness to pursue specific cases if there was any credible evidence that any American troops targeted journalists. "Give me specifics," Rep. Frank said he told Jordan.
Rep. Frank said he didn't pay attention to the audience reaction at the time of the panel, but recalled that Sen. Dodd was "somewhat disturbed" and "somewhat exercised" and that moderator David Gergen also said Jordan's assertions were "disturbing if true." I have a call in to Sen. Dodd's office and sent an e-mail inquiry to Gergen.
I asked Rep. Frank again if his recollection was that Jordan initially maintained that the military had a deliberate policy of targeting journalists. Rep. Frank affirmed that, noting that Jordan subsequently backed away orally and in e-mail that it was official policy, but "left open the question" of whether there were individual cases in which American troops targeted journalists.
After the panel was over and he returned to the U.S., Rep. Frank said he called Jordan and expressed willingness to pursue specific cases if there was any credible evidence that any American troops targeted journalists. "Give me specifics," Rep. Frank said he told Jordan.
This is not he first time Jordan has stirred controversy at CNN. In 2004, he accused US forces of torturing journalists. In 2003 the scandal involved Jordan admitting that CNN covered-up Saddam's atrocities against some foreign journalists working inside Iraq which appeared to some as silence for access.
In Jordan's resignation, he states:
QUOTE("Eason Jordan")
"After 23 years at CNN, I have decided to resign in an effort to prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished by the controversy over conflicting accounts of my recent remarks regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq.
I have devoted my professional life to helping make CNN the most trusted and respected news outlet in the world, and I would never do anything to compromise my work or that of the thousands of talented people it is my honor to work alongside.
While my CNN colleagues and my friends in the U.S. military know me well enough to know I have never stated, believed, or suspected that U.S. military forces intended to kill people they knew to be journalists, my comments on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not as clear as they should have been."
I have devoted my professional life to helping make CNN the most trusted and respected news outlet in the world, and I would never do anything to compromise my work or that of the thousands of talented people it is my honor to work alongside.
While my CNN colleagues and my friends in the U.S. military know me well enough to know I have never stated, believed, or suspected that U.S. military forces intended to kill people they knew to be journalists, my comments on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not as clear as they should have been."
Question for debate:
Did Eason Jordan do the right thing by resigning?
What effect will this have on the media?
Should CNN be help to the same standard of transparency regarding this issue as CBS News was regarding the purported Bush memos?
Should WEF release the videotaped comments?
Did Eason Jordan do the right thing by resigning?
He did. He would do an even better thing by demanding that the tape be released so that we could clear up that "unfair tarnish" he alleges.
What effect will this have on the media?They are put in the awkward place of reporting about remarks damning the US military that were so serious that a senior news executive is resigning ... and yet they somehow hadn't ever reported the story. That's the weird thing here for the press. Those of us who get our news unfiltered from the internet knew all about this, and yet when Judy Woodruff and Chris Matthews were asked about it, they had that "deer in the headlights" look and had no idea what he had said. So now the media has to report that "Eason Jordan, head of CNN News, has resigned due to a controversy that we, the news, have not reported to you the reader / viewer / listener. We, therefore, are irrelevant. Please see michellemalkin.com or Powerlineblog.com if you want to actually know about the story."
For a further effect on the media, please look for the upcoming butt-covering, taking place by the mainstream media painting bloggers (who did the actual investigative reporting here) a right-wing operatives, nut jobs, vast conspiracy, witch hunt, etc.
Should CNN be help to the same standard of transparency regarding this issue as CBS News was regarding the purported Bush memos? I don't see the two as related. I'd see a closer parallel to the Talon News (conservative) reporter who has recently "outed" as being a gay-p0rn website operator. Liberal bloggers were all over the story and he won't be getting another white house press pass anytime soon... washington post article
Should WEF release the videotaped comments? Yup. Hard to say that you were 'off the record' in a room full of reporters with a camera rolling, but that's what we have here. Hard to say that you were mis-quoted when you are the one preventing the quote from being made public.
He did. He would do an even better thing by demanding that the tape be released so that we could clear up that "unfair tarnish" he alleges.
What effect will this have on the media?They are put in the awkward place of reporting about remarks damning the US military that were so serious that a senior news executive is resigning ... and yet they somehow hadn't ever reported the story. That's the weird thing here for the press. Those of us who get our news unfiltered from the internet knew all about this, and yet when Judy Woodruff and Chris Matthews were asked about it, they had that "deer in the headlights" look and had no idea what he had said. So now the media has to report that "Eason Jordan, head of CNN News, has resigned due to a controversy that we, the news, have not reported to you the reader / viewer / listener. We, therefore, are irrelevant. Please see michellemalkin.com or Powerlineblog.com if you want to actually know about the story."
For a further effect on the media, please look for the upcoming butt-covering, taking place by the mainstream media painting bloggers (who did the actual investigative reporting here) a right-wing operatives, nut jobs, vast conspiracy, witch hunt, etc.
Should CNN be help to the same standard of transparency regarding this issue as CBS News was regarding the purported Bush memos? I don't see the two as related. I'd see a closer parallel to the Talon News (conservative) reporter who has recently "outed" as being a gay-p0rn website operator. Liberal bloggers were all over the story and he won't be getting another white house press pass anytime soon... washington post article
Should WEF release the videotaped comments? Yup. Hard to say that you were 'off the record' in a room full of reporters with a camera rolling, but that's what we have here. Hard to say that you were mis-quoted when you are the one preventing the quote from being made public.
Did Eason Jordan do the right thing by resigning?
Eason Jordan has been a disgrace to the news business for years. He admitted in the April 11, 2003 New York Times: link
The guy covered up news for years, now he is making up news. He deserves his fate.
What effect will this have on the media?
I think this shows the power of the blogosphere as a counterweight to the established news media. Jordan was exposed on various blogs, who did most of the investigative work. It also shows that left-leaning blogs, like the DailyKOS will defend such behavior, simply because it aligns with their viewpoints.
If the media had done its job in reporting on this (several reporters were in attendance when Jordan made his remarks), perhaps there would have been less "blow back".
Should CNN be help to the same standard of transparency regarding this issue as CBS News was regarding the purported Bush memos?
I don't think this is particularly a CNN issue. There was no editorial boards or fact checkers involved, only Jordan's viewpoints.
Should WEF release the videotaped comments?
If we want to know the truth, they should. Of course, Jordan is blocking that...
Eason Jordan has been a disgrace to the news business for years. He admitted in the April 11, 2003 New York Times: link
QUOTE
"Over the last dozen years I made 13 trips to Baghdad to lobby the government to keep CNN's Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders. Each time I visited, I became more distressed by what I saw and heard awful things that could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff. ...
"The secret police terrorized Iraqis working for international press services who were courageous enough to try to provide accurate reporting. Some vanished, never to be heard from again. Others disappeared and then surfaced later with whispered tales of being hauled off and tortured in unimaginable ways. ...
<SNIP>
"I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein's regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment. At last, these stories can be told freely."
"The secret police terrorized Iraqis working for international press services who were courageous enough to try to provide accurate reporting. Some vanished, never to be heard from again. Others disappeared and then surfaced later with whispered tales of being hauled off and tortured in unimaginable ways. ...
<SNIP>
"I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein's regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment. At last, these stories can be told freely."
The guy covered up news for years, now he is making up news. He deserves his fate.
What effect will this have on the media?
I think this shows the power of the blogosphere as a counterweight to the established news media. Jordan was exposed on various blogs, who did most of the investigative work. It also shows that left-leaning blogs, like the DailyKOS will defend such behavior, simply because it aligns with their viewpoints.
If the media had done its job in reporting on this (several reporters were in attendance when Jordan made his remarks), perhaps there would have been less "blow back".
Should CNN be help to the same standard of transparency regarding this issue as CBS News was regarding the purported Bush memos?
I don't think this is particularly a CNN issue. There was no editorial boards or fact checkers involved, only Jordan's viewpoints.
Should WEF release the videotaped comments?
If we want to know the truth, they should. Of course, Jordan is blocking that...
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