The Video from Davos/Eason Jordan Overkill?
Now let me review this. The big cheese of a global news organization, a dude at least nominally American, attends an upscale international powermonger conference in Switzerland. If front of said chi-chi movers and shakers, the nominally American big cheese accuses the US military of committing premeditated murder — “targeting” journalists on the battlefield. When confronted by a Member of the US House of Representatives and another attendee, said nominally-American big cheese back tracks, after a fashion.
Given the mammoth cheddar’s job title and the venue, this is a news story. Given the allegation of premeditated murder by the US military, it’s a major news story–as I noted in my first post on this issue, now given the nom de blog, Easongate.
Pursuing this story isn’t a case of blogworld overkill. Eason Jordan, head of CNN’s news division, committed no mere faux pas– he committed slander. In my original post on Jordan’s Davos debacle, I suggested that the CNN honcho was soliciting business among Third World attendees. His allegations aren’t simply the anti-American patois of Euro-elites, they are a kind of verbal prostitution that seeks to turn handshakes at Davos into special access in Damascus for CNN.
The word’s out that Davos’ media gatekeepers will not release a video of the session. That buys time but it doesn’t buy silence. A few tut-tuts from Howard Kurtz won’t put the screws to this story, either. CNN’s own silence is daming. CNN, Cable News Network or Criminal? No Nothing (but Jordan’s fever-swamp allegations). I see that powerline has already dispatched the notion that Easongate is overblown. Jim Geraghty at KerrySpot correctly assesses the professional damnation CNN will confront. CNN wants access to the minutes of VP Cheney’s energy task force? Okay, where’s the video from Davos?
“Video from Davos”– it’s got a ring to it.
UPDATE: THanks to Hugh Hewitt for pointing this out. The cartoon feature Day By Day simply nails CNN. The Christiane Amanpour character in the strip is a super hoot.
UPDATE 2: I see Instapundit has charged me with a war crime– correction, an “alleged” war crime. This is getting personal. While I would love to joke about Eason’s depravity, the issue of calculated murder is far too serious. Charging US soldiers with premeditated murder is heavy stuff–unless, of course, you’re a Ward Churchill-type of leftist poohbah. Then angry, vicious accusations of assorted evils commited by the US are the path to tenure at a Big 12 university. Ah! Now I get it. Churchill, like Eason, is in it for the money!
UPDATE 3: BARNEY FRANK, PROFILE IN COURAGE: A commenter adds this:
If they ever develop an egometer it will be interesting to see if the media mavens or the politicians win. Jordan has effectively, and so far successfully, flipped off Rep. Frank as well as the U. S. military. I would bet we have not gotten the last word from Rep. Frank on this issue. I believe he also holds the best chance of getting the tape.
In my mind Barney Frank is the big winner in this and if he pursues it, he is Profiles in Courage calibre, as far as I am concerned.
I agree. REP Frank exhibited courage and character.
UPDATE 4: I agree with Commenter 10. Comment 1 is out of line/over the top. I suspect the comment’s extreme statement is based on anger generated by Jordan’s statement, but murder isn’t a joke. I know, Grand Dame Agatha made it a joke on occasion, but she was writing mystery fiction. Ficiton is a moral lie– you know up front it’s a fake. I’m going to keep Comment 1 up, though, and give Major Mike a chance to retract it, apologize, or explain it.
Usual bullshit from the criminal-liberal-press. Doesn’t this asshat know how he’s more difficul for other journalists who are imbedded with the military? Who could blame one of ours for letting one of CNN’s Finest earn the equuivalent of a Purple Heart?
Comment by MAJ Mike — 2/8/2005 @ 5:55 pm
Actually, isn’t falsely accusing someone of murder a crime? Even with the ICC?
Comment by _Jon — 2/8/2005 @ 6:33 pm
Austin, As I point out on my blog, Two Minute Offense, Eason’s “misunderstanding” excuse doesn’t wash. Gergen shut down the panel because the military wasn’t there to defend itself. At that point, it would be obvious to anyone that he had been intrepreted to have made accusations which required a military response. Not to mention the congrats he got from anti-American crowd and the demand from Barney Frank for proof. So at this point, even assuming he was misunderstood, he was aware at how his remarks, IN TOTAL, had been intrepreted. He didn’t, at that point, set the record straight. So, even if you believe his spin, he is still guilty of knowingly allowing attendees to believe that he was accusing the military of targeting journalists. Either way, he’s just as guilty.
Comment by stan — 2/8/2005 @ 7:48 pm
Comment by TZ — 2/8/2005 @ 8:07 pm
I wouldn’t call it prostitution, Jordan is a pimp, soliciting on behalf of his stable.
Comment by Alan Kellogg — 2/8/2005 @ 9:47 pm
Imagine that you’ve been briefed by your own security people that being anywhere close to a firefight with advancing U.S. troops will likely get you killed, especially if you happen to be near something that resembles a weapon with a sight (anti-tank missile, artillery range-finder, RPG, shoulder-mounted camera…). And given that the military has lost so many people to these look-and-fire weapons (2nd or 3rd cause of casualties in Iraq (?)) I certainly wouldn’t risk pointing anything at a tank or a soldier from more than 10 feet away (and if the soldiers are using night-vision goggles which sharpens outlines and diminishes detail, not even 10 feet :-). Mr. Jordan clearly thinks soldiers under-fire should treat a proven deadly-threat with the same respect as a truck with a big red-cross/crescent on it. And that the press has some privileged position (better than, say, women and children). Times and circumstances change. He screwed up and his lack-of-forethought (or outright bias) is responsible for many of these deaths (esp. if he bought, employed, or even just encouraged, non-embedded video reporting). And I’d wager these (unvoiced) regrets are the reason for his (increasingly shrill) lashing out at others in an attempt to shift the blame, if only to help him sleep at night. Or perhaps worse, he cannot even admit to himself what he’s done - in the same way the left deludes itself when it fails to grok that the worst-ends results are often precisely due to their best-intentions (eg. the lefts’ unwillingness to accept that the amount of violent crime scales inversely with the ability of the law-abiding and the least-and-weakest of society to defend themselves). To say nothing of condemning Saddam’s sons-in-law (and others) to death through his own sin-of-omission (and naked greed). Note that this is the biblical definition of greed (not the blessings of cut-throat competition lowering of prices enabling conspicuous consumption by even the poor, nor the companies sharing the resulting wealth with their shareholders and employees). Mr. Jordan will get his reward. If not in this life, the next. If there are surviving children or relatives of the sons-in-law he allowed to be murdered they should sue him and CNN in the U.S. for whatever profits they made (times three) during the years these fools wittingly gave aid and comfort to the Baathists. Were it not for CNN (and others) propaganda (for Saddam, against sanctions, promoting Hamas’ and other “insurgents” in the region grievances as righteous) the Baathists might have fallen with “just” no-fly-zones, economic and diplomatic pressure, covert operations and the threat-of-direct military action. Imagine where we could have been if, instead, Mr. Jordan (and CNN) had been a force for good, disinfecting the UN scandal, shaming old Europe, and exposing the Baathist enablers (the French 1T$+ commercial oil entanglement, other countries’ weapons deals, etc.). Shame on him and those like him. This is why morality (an unwavering internal compass) is so important for people in positions of public trust, much more important than written law. He must have started down this path long ago with small steps and equivocations. He and his company should suffer the indignity of the forgotten. Never to be mentioned again, erased from all memories.
Comment by Ari Tai — 2/8/2005 @ 9:59 pm
Interesting that Gergen shut down the panel because the military wasn’t there to defend themselves, and now they can/t even find out the charges! Soldiers serving overseas should bring up the Davos video everytime they meet with members of the press. And contact your Congressman as well! If a large number of military begin raising Cain about Jordan’s comments, either the government or the media will have to address the issue. Soldiers work too hard and take too many risks defending the freedoms of the press to be maliciously slandered overseas by a cowardly executive.
Comment by GG — 2/8/2005 @ 10:50 pm
“they are a kind of verbal prostitution that seeks to turn handshakes at Davos into special access in Damascus for CNN.” It doesn’t matter does it? Nobody’s watching CNN anymore. Their Neilsen ratings have tanked over the last year or so. They’re in the same boat as cBS. The whole TSM has become irrelevant. Their credibility, the foundation of their business, has now been completely turned to rubble. My only question is “Just how long have they been feeding us this crap before the blogosphere?….before we had a way to uncover their fabrications and lies?” Heh.
Comment by Vulgorilla — 2/9/2005 @ 7:12 am
It is interesting that everybody in the bsphere seems to think this ends if the tape doesn’t play. I had thought that too, but it leaves out one important fact. The guy who called Jordan on his allegations was Barney Frank. If it offended Frank at the time, it must have been pretty bad. After all, he is from the Commonwealth that beatified Ted “the Dunker” Kennedy, so he has heard some pretty off the wall stuff over the years. And then Rep. Frank was the first biggee to come out and confirm the story. If they ever develop an egometer it will be interesting to see if the media mavens or the politicians win. Jordan has effectively, and so far successfully, flipped off Rep. Frank as well as the U. S. military. I would bet we have not gotten the last word from Rep. Frank on this issue. I believe he also holds the best chance of getting the tape. In my mind Barney Frank is the big winner in this and if he pursues it, he is Profiles in Courage calibre, as far as I am concerned.
Comment by Mrs. Davis — 2/9/2005 @ 8:24 am
Good for Barney Frank for being honest and calling Jordan on this. According to Frank when Jordan made these allegations he “expressed his skepticism” and asked Jordan to explain himself. Doesn’t strike me as particularly courageous but it’s nice to hear a sane response to this very serious charge. What really worries me about this thread though is the reaction of the first poster- “Who could blame one of ours for letting one of CNN’s Finest earn the equuivalent of a Purple Heart?” So it’s okay to shoot journalists? Or at least if you don’t like the network they work for? Explain yourself MAJ Mike…
Comment by Mark North — 2/9/2005 @ 5:02 pm