Matters of Emphasis - Paul Krugman

erbarmen, Donnerstag, 01. Mai 2003, 14:58 (vor 7671 Tagen) @ Evi Dentz

CNN´s Iraqi Cover-Up
CNN admits that knowledge of murder, torture, and
planned assassinations were suppressed in order to
maintain CNN´s Baghdad bureau.



In a shocking New York Times opinion piece, CNN´s
chief news executive Eason Jordan has admitted
that for the past decade the network has
systematically covered up stories of Iraqi
atrocities. Reports of murder, torture, and
planned assassinations were suppressed in order to
maintain CNN´s Baghdad bureau.

Read Jordan´s op-ed at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/11/opinion/11JORD.h
tml

Jordan has not always been so candid -- nor
honest. Just six months ago on public radio, when
challenged regarding the veracity of CNN´s Baghdad
reports, Jordan stated:

"CNN has demonstrated again and again that it has
a spine; that it´s prepared to be forthright... we
work very hard to report forthrightly, to report
fairly and to report accurately and if we ever
determine we cannot do that, then we would not
want to be there [in Iraq]."
http://wnyc.org/onthemedia/transcripts_102502_jord
an.html

Below, HonestReporting presents a series of op-ed
columns and editorials condemning CNN´s policy. At
the end of this communique is a response that
CNN´s Eason Jordan sent to HonestReporting.

Now that this senior CNN executive has come clean,
it leaves us wondering: In what other regions
ruled by terrorist dictators do the media toe the
party line so as to remain in good stead? It is
known that the Palestinian Authority, since its
very establishment, has employed brutal methods of
intimidation against journalists.

For specific examples, see HonestReporting´s
expose, "Palestinian Intimidation of the Press":
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/reports/Pa
lestinian_Intimidation_of_the_Press.asp

Have the major international news agencies also
withheld information on the PA in order to stay on
good terms with Arafat´s henchmen? As
HonestReporting chronicled on another occasion,
CNN has at the very least lent credence to patent
lies stated by the Palestinian Authority:
http://www.honestreporting.com/articles/critiques/
Broadcasting_the_Big_Lie.asp

Now that CNN has turned sincere, admitting it
buried stories that would smear Mideast dictators,
perhaps the time has come for more comprehensive,
honest reporting in the region.

HonestReporting encourages members to respond to
the Jordan admission by demanding that media
agencies report the facts, including efforts to
intimidate Mideast journalists. If news agencies
must buy access to dictators´ regions through the
omission of telling violence, we must insist that
they either report the truth, or leave.