Eason Jordan Update

This update from Radio Blogger on the Eason Jordan outrage. Looks like the MSM can no longer ignore this! Also, welcome Radio Blogger to the Sailor's Blog Roll. - Sailor

Tuesday, February 8
Radio Blogger
Larry Kudlow gets it.

Here's a transcript of the interview a little while ago on CNBC's Kudlow and Cramer program.

LK: You are one of my hero bloggers, by the way. A must read every single morning. This has been a blog story from day one. The so-called mainstream media hasn't really touched this. I think Kudlow & Cramer is the first actual show to put it on the air.

HH: Well, actually Chris Matthews had me on to flog "Blog" on the weekend, and I predicted that this week there would be a breakout of the Eason Jordan story, and it's in the Washington Post, page C-1, Howard Kurtz, The Boston Globe, The New York Sun today. You did talk about it last night with Ann Coulter and John Fund, which immediately spread around the blogosphere instantaneously, as validation that this was indeed controversial. Eason Jordan has a problem. CNN has a problem. Time Warner has a problem. They've spent a lot of time building this new brand, "The most trusted name in news," and now they're the most busted name in news.

Because the fact is he made claims about which the weight of evidence suggests, the weight, there's some contrary evidence out there, and we can't get the videotape, that the American military targeted and killed twelve journalists. In November of last year, Larry, Eason Jordan told a different foreign audience that he believed that an American military had abducted and were torturing journalists. Clearly a lot of paranoia here, a lot of controversy at the Davos conference where on January 27th, Eason Jordan made these remarks, and the blogosphere has probably had 1,000 posts from big bloggers to little bloggers that have reported the story.

LK: We've got eyewitnesses, here. And one of them is liberal Congressman Barney Frank, usually no friend of the war and so forth. But apparently, he is up in arms. Hugh, big question is, there is a tape of the proceedings. So if Jordan says, "I didn't say it," then the tape is going to tell us one way or another. Who's hiding the tape?

HH: The Davos beauracracy. My producer, my radio producer (me) contacted the gentleman who's got the tape last week. At first he said I don't think I'm going to give it out. Then another blogger called him and he said okay, I'll get it to you as soon as I unpack it. Someone got to him, and they retreated, and now they're declaring that it was an off-the-record session, which is odd since so many people have reported on it. Senator Chris Dodd as well as Barney Frank, another Democrat, Senator Dodd, reported yesterday he's outraged by the comments that were made by Eason Jordan at the time. David Gergen up at the Kennedy Institute of Government has kind of helped out Eason Jordan. But most of the evidence that is out there, that is moving at the speed of sound around the blogosphere, is coming to the conclusion that Eason Jordan has something to hide, and that he's very happy this tape isn't out there. The question that needs to be asked of him and CNN and of Time Warner are 'are you in favor of the truth?' Ask Davos to release the tape. Ask them to put it out there so we can see it and decide.
LK: And I want to speculate hypothetically. I can't back it up factually. If the tape shows that Jordan said what other eyewitnesses like Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd say he said, and what you all have reported, isn't that grounds for immediate dismissal? Isn't that just the most traiterous thing against the U.S. military ever?

HH: I don't think it would be traiterous. I think it's paranoid. And I also think it infects a news organization with a kind of sinister approach to the American military which is not justified. There are reports that after his speech, he was surrounded by delegates to Davos from the Arab countries congratulating him on his bravery and his courage. This is the sort of anti-American propaganda bashing we don't need. And the blogosphere is out there to hold people accountable when they do things like this. That's why I wrote the book, is to warn people there is a new information system, and you cannot stand up in Davos, Switzerland, bash the American military, insinuate that they may have murdered people, then try and backpedal and expect the story will go away. That's the old media.

LK: Hugh, I don't see why this isn't just as bad or worse than Rathergate. And I don't see why he shouldn't be dismissed by CNN.

HH: Oh it's much worse than Rathergate.

LK: He should be dismissed by CNN. He should have been dismissed last week when this story first hit. This is Rathergate, this is New York Times, this is the whole nine yards that has wrecked the mainstream media's credibility.

HH: If he said what people think he said, that were reported by bloggers there, you're absolutely right. But I'm willing to withhold judgement, as many of the blogger are, until we see the tape. But that means Eason Jordan should be out there demanding that its being released. the fact that he isn't is a pretty good indictment of his fear over what he actually said. We've caught him in at least one contradiction. He said he spoke in response to Barney Frank's charge that the casualties among journalists were all a part of collateral damage. In fact, most of the accounts say he spoke first, he went on a rambling monolog, he also attacked Rumsfeld, he attacked young soldiers getting excited and passionate. There's a lot on that tape we need to see, and CNN, and especially Time Warner, have got to protect their brand. They've got to worry about this, and they're not doing so yet.
LK: Well I'm not convicting him, I'm just saying if he said what he said, it would be grounds for immediate dismissal.

HH: Exactly.

LK: Last point, Hugh. The rise of the influence from the information in the blogosphere is nothing short of startling. Even I've been blogging the last five or six months, and enjoying the interaction. This is only going to accelerate, right? It's only going to take on even greater velocity and importance?

HH: Larry, in 1999, there were two dozen blogs. Today, there are seven million. David Sifry of Technorati says 40,000 new ones a day are being created. Some of them like mine and Powerline and Instapundit, and on the left there are a lot of good lefty bloggers like Pressthink.org and Jeff Jarvis over at Buzz Machine. All of these people are changing influence or opinion before the newspapers come out in the morning. They are setting the information curve that people have to absorb. I was stunned when Judy Woodruff at a panel I was on in Washington yesterday, she preceeded the panel, she was asked about the Eason Jordan story by a blogger friend of mine, and she didn't know about it. I mean don't they read the blogs at CNN? You cannot put your head in the sand and not see that the information processing in the United States, it's sensory system, has been completely revolutionized. That's what's happening.

LK: I'm with you. It's the first thing in the morning. I hit five or six, including yours, including Glenn Reynolds' Instapundit, including Hinderakers' Powerline. There's a couple of others, you've got to read it. You're absolutely right. Anyway, Hugh Hewitt, you are one of the very best, and I appreciate your taking the time and come on the show. More to be revealed on this story.

A very good segment with a serious journalist who gets the blogs, and sees the story for what it is. Another leak in the dam. Let's hope it spreads.

Posted at 4:57PM PST

More signs that MSM is getting interested in the Eason Jordan story.

Hugh will be on with Larry Kudlow, of Cspan's Kudlow and Cramer, tonight at 5pm EST, specifically discussing the controversial Mr. Jordan.

Howard Kurtz has written a very defensive-minded recap of the scandal, omitting several pieces of info. Mickey Kaus does a fine job critiquing the critic.

Here's the deal. The tape was promised. Now the tape is going here.

If there's nothing to hide, why is the exculpatory evidence being buried? We don't need to have people tell us what he meant. We're all grown ups here. Let us hear the context for ourselves. We can decided rather quickly what his intent was.

With each passing day of stalling and downplaying, it is only re-inforcing the idea of a coverup. If this keeps up, CNN will lose completely the legacy they've built for years.

Dan Rather made mistakes before, and he's been biased, but he was still viewed, by and large, as a reporter with a fair degree of credibility. It's gone forever not just because the Air National Guard story was bogus, but because of the coverup.
Same deal for CNN. What he said was bad enough. The coverup won't stick. There's too many people looking. CNN is gambling on a losing bet.

Posted at 12:48PM PST