In an article that was written a couple of days ago, but not published until today, Doc Farmer, expresses his opinions on the Eason Jordan debacle as only Doc can. - Sailor
US Troops Target Journalists? So Says CNN's Eason Jordan!
Written by Doc Farmer
Saturday, February 12, 2005
There's been a story brewing for a week or so that you may not have heard about - well, not if you still depend on the "big three" or Chicken Noodle News, that is. A man named Eason Jordan, who is one of those high mucky-mucks over at CNN, was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and made some rather amazing claims while involved in a panel discussion. On January 27th, according to witnesses,
Jordan claimed that US soldiers were, as a policy, targeting journalists to be killed in Iraq. Not just once, but several times.
Let me say that again. The head of the News Division at CNN (and "news" is supposedly their core business) accused US soldiers of being assassins of journalists. As part of approved military policy.
The blogosphere and the pajamahadeen have been investigating this with all the zeal of a band of forged document debunkers. Mr. Jordan has said his statements were "mischaracterized" by bloggers, but luminaries of the political commentary world such as Michelle Malkin apparently have eyewitness accounts of what Jordan said. The World Economic Forum is refusing to release the transcripts or tapes of the panel discussion, so it's another case of one man's word against several other men's word. As far as I can tell, these other people are not your standard UFO-abductee types, so their claims cannot be immediately dismissed.
Why is this a
problem? Jordan was involved in a private panel discussion with a bunch of movers and shakers who obviously were able to sucker their bosses into putting them on an expense account in (arguably) one of the most expensive conference locations on the planet - Switzerland! A $50 salad and $500 bottle of table wine (not to mention the "free" breadsticks that cost 20 bucks!) means that these folks must be smart. Well, smart enough to get their companies to pick up the tab, anyhow.
Anyhow, the problem is a bit like the CBS "Memogate" issue. It's not just the action itself, it is also the cover-up that is causing so much angst. If CNN had come forward and said "Mr. Jordan's views do not represent those of CNN" or "Eason's been hanging around Ted Turner, what do you expect?" this issue might not have grown legs and started running down the Information Superhighway. However, there's also the issue of policy. Jordon is the head of a large (if waning) news organization, with a lot of
influence still remaining in the mainstream media. Granted, the "stream" that CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN are going up, paddle-less, does have a rather unfortunate name (and even more unfortunate aroma) but that's another topic.
As is usual, there's a new website that has popped up like a mushroom in the fetid manure created by such scandal (http://www.easongate.com/) and there's a petition for Jordan to release the transcript of the panel discussion (http://gogman.is-a-geek.com/Easongate/Petition/). There is also a rather (no pun intended) heavy discussion going on about the impact of "Easongate." Who said what, when, how, under what context, etc. The wheels are a'spinnin', the
gears are a'grindin', and the bloggers are a'bloggin' with a goal that CNN and the MSM seem to want to avoid.
The truth.
At this point, I don't know what that truth is. I'm inclined to believe the witnesses more than Jordan, mostly because Jordan has more to lose than they do. Not just his job, but the guilt over putting another nail in the coffin of the MSM. Of course, there's also the small issue of slandering over 140,000 troops in Iraq, because if this story is true, he's accused them all of being complicit in the targeted assassination of journalists - the folks they're actually putting their lives on the line to protect. Eason had better hope he doesn't end up on a plane sitting between two Marines returning home from Fallujah. He'd be in for a lot of dirty looks. I bet they wouldn't share their in-flight pretzels with him, either.
You may be asking yourself, "So what? Maybe he's full of hot air, but Jordan's got the right to speak his mind, right?"
Well, he has the responsibility to speak the truth. As the head of a news division, his words carry weight, and can influence editorial policy at CNN. Further, since he's so high up in a major news organization, people are going to assume that if there's smoke, there's also fire. Since our enemy in Iraq (they're called "terrorists" by the way, not "insurgents" or "freedom fighters") uses every opportunity for generating propaganda, this plays into their hands like a "Cody" action figure with a gun to its plastic head.
The story is starting to seep, very slowly, into the mainstream media now. In this fashion, it's a lot like "Memogate" or "Rathergate" or "whatever-the-hell-gate" - I don't know about you, but I'm getting sick of this "gate" suffix for every scandal. The bloggers are on the bleeding edge of the discovery process, and the MSM try their best to ignore the story until they're dragged, kicking and screaming, toward the truth. There'll be the usual denials,
cover-ups, blame-shifting and finger-pointing we've come to know and hate. CNN's competitors won't kick them too hard, mainly because they've got an incestuous relationship going on, and they'd rather pull the blinds and hope the neighbors can't see the shadows. If one kicks the other too hard, they'll smoothly transition from incest to cannibalism. Showing either reprehensible personality trait to the public will mean blood on the walls for the mainstream media that they, for once, won't be able to hose off.
As I said earlier, most people cannot be sure of the truth of Eason Jordan's words unless and until he and the organizers of the conference release the transcript of his talk, as well as any video or audio tapes. However, I believe I can say with 100% certainty that it is impossible for the US military to have or implement a policy to assassinate journalists who have been in Iraq.
How do I know? Simple.
Horrendo Revolver is STILL ALIVE!
If the military were going to whack anybody, they would have shot that schmuck first!
About the Writer: Doc Farmer is a writer and humorist who is also a moderator on ChronWatch's Forum. He formerly lived in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but now resides in the Midwest. Doc receives e-mail at docfarmer9999@yahoo.co.uk.
This Article Was First Published In ChronWatch At: http://www.chronwatch.com/content/contentDisplay.asp?aid=12993
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