A CNN Executive Says G.I.s in Iraq Target Journalists

New York Sun ^ | February 8, 2005 | RODERICK BOYD

[SE Mom]

Naturally it was a rhetorical question:) But still.

Next thing you know- NBC will assign the story to Kevin Sites- to get the facts...

[jriemer]

Didn't C-SPAN have coverage of what went on in Davos? Would they have Jordan on tape? And isn't C-SPAN's tape public domain?

I found a working link to CSPAN 2002's coverage: CSPAN Coverage - World Economic Forum, January 31 - February 4, 2002

You get "error-500" messages from the CSPAN site when you try to access current Davos video clips or news.

[gaspar]

The mere mention of David Gergen, that Washington lickspittle, is a sure indication that the incident is even worse than reported.

[umgud]

I have it on good authority that Eason got his information directly from Ward Churchill.

[Valin]

Crosslink
Eason Jordan Update
Hugh Hewitt.com ^ | 2/8/05 | various

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1338508/posts
Posted on 02/08/2005 7:54:09 AM CST by Valin


"The Most Busted Name In News"

[fight_truth_decay]

Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Response from Eason Jordan

http://carolliebau.blogspot.com/2005/02/response-from-eason-jordan.html
Our friend, formerly of CNN, passed along this statement from Eason Jordan. It seems that he is making a semantic argument, i.e., that when he said that the journalists had been "targeted", he didn't mean to imply that the U.S. military realized that they were journalists. (That is, soldiers intended to shoot the people who were killed -- they just didn't know they were journalists.) Perhaps that's true. Perhaps. But why wouldn't he have made the point about mistaken identity clear in the original remarks?

Here is the statement:

"To be clear, I do not believe the U.S. military is trying to kill journalists in Iraq. I said so during the forum panel discussion. But, nonetheless, the U.S. military has killed several journalists in Iraq in cases of mistaken identity. The reason the word "targeted" came up at all is because I was responding to a comment by Congressman Franks, who said he believed the 63 journalists killed in Iraq were the victims of "collateral damage." Since three of my CNN colleagues and many other journalists have been killed on purpose in Iraq, I disputed the "collateral damage" statement, saying, unfortunately, many journalists -- not all -- killed in Iraq were indeed targeted. When someone aims a gun at someone and pulls the trigger and then learns later the person fired at was actually a journalist, an apology is ppropriate and is accepted, and I believe those apologies to be genuine. But such a killing is a tragic case of mistaken identity, not a case of "collateral damage." That is the distinction I was trying to make even if I did not make it clearly at the time. Further, I have worked closely with the U.S. military for months in an effort to achieve a mutual goal: keeping journalists in Iraq safe and alive."

---

When our friend checked with Jordan in response to my inquiry about whether these remarks were for attribution, he received the following response:

"NBC, Reuters, and Al Jazeera have all complained to the U.S. military that their journalists have been wrongly detained, imprisoned, and abused by U.S. military forces. I am unaware of any transcript of the Davos panel discussion. My comments were part of a conversation, not scripted. It's fine with me if my comments here are posted on a blog."

Comments:
PajamaHadin said...
Great scoop Carol. The response does indeed sound like backpedaling and semantic gymnastics. As a Linguist and Philosopher, I know that when I see it. I'll point my readers to this in my coverage of this. Thanks for the great work.

7:41 PM
LB said...
Can you believe this guy Jordan? Semantical gymnastics. He should be very sore indeed.

Nobody's buying this. Jordan said what he said and meant it: journalists are being targeted. The implication was that United States soldiers were specifically going after journalists. Now he wants to backtrack and parse "collateral damage" and mistaken identity? Sorry. Too many fact-checkers on this case. The blog swarm has descended...

My post title stands: Eason Jordan Claims American Troops Targeted And Killed Journalists.

7:55 PM
Daddypundit said...
Great scoop, Carol. This sounds like more of the same spin we received from CNN - that his remarks were taken out of context, he didn't say what he meant, he didn't mean what he said, etc. (pick your favorite excuse).

8:11 PM
Jeremy said...
Sounds like he just doesn't understand the concept of "collateral damage".

8:23 PM
ainta said...
Given this (and Eason's previous, similar comments) does ANYONE at Time/Warner wonder why CNN is bleeding out?

8:25 PM
Robin said...
Thanks for putting this up, but it does sound like Jordan's trying to lie his way out of the hole he dug with his own mouth.

8:35 PM
Major Bill said...
In his attempt to explain his comments in Davos, Mr. Jordan employs a bit of disingenuous sophistry. In the context of the discussion in Davos, Mr. Jordan evoked the term "targeted" in a manner that clearly refers to the military planning process. In the targeting process of military planning, targets are identified, selected, and prioritized based on their military value with respect to the operation. However, in defense of his statements in Davos, Mr. Jordan defines targeting as the process that goes on in the heat of a battle wherein soldiers take aim at personnel that appear to be the enemy (or at least threatening to them). These are two very different activities. Mr. Jordan's comments are tailored for two different audiences. He may be able to slip his little trick past some people, but others will notice. I hope I have been able to add a little clarity to the discussion. Sincerely, Major Bill

8:49 PM
Alec Rawls said...
So according to Jordan, Pat Tillman's death was NOT collateral damage, rather he was "targeted" by his fellow Rangers. Both reinterpretations of existing terms are absurd. Jordan must have stayed up all night looking for a way out of his bold-faced lies.

MORE:

http://carolliebau.blogspot.com/2005/02/response-from-eason-jordan.html

[Mo1]

Mr. Frank said he tried to get information out of Mr. Jordan so that he could forward it to the appropriate congressional investigative authorities. " I think Congress has demonstrated with Abu Ghraib that we will aggressively pursue reasonable allegations," he said

????? ... another investigation???

[Chef Dajuan]

what do you expect from the crescent news network?

'al jazeera boy'???????

if that's the worst one of them gets called, they're damn lucky!

[OldCorps]

great story. The Dan Rather scenario is not unlike real life. Back in the 80's, an army colonel told me a story about how he met Dan Blather when on a combat patrol in Vietnam. Freepmail me if you are interested.

[Chef Dajuan]

or as ward bond once said to george raft in some old gangster movie, "let me plug 'em, boss. i just love to rub out reporters."

[OXENinFLA]

So if EJ can't come up with proof does that mean he can be charged with Slander?

[Mo1]

Charged by who .. Congress??

I wouldn't hold my breath

[Radix]

" A warning to all the MSM. You're acting like the enemy."

The MSM are not acting, they are the enemy.

Great post, and the article is rubbish! Oh, and barney frank should not be referred to as "Mister." He is a scumbag with a good wit and a sharp tongue, but that is the sum of his good qualities.

[fight_truth_decay]

MRC's Bozell on FNC's Hannity & Colmes Tonight

Brent Bozell, President of the MRC, will appear tonight on
Hannity & Colmes. Topic: What Eason Jordan, Executive Vice
President of CNN, said a couple of weeks ago, at a conference in
Switzerland, about the U.S. military targeting journalists.

FNC runs Hannity & Colmes twice nightly/overnight. By time
zone:
EST: 9pm and 2am
CST: 8pm and 1am
MST: 7pm and 12am
PST: 6pm and 11pm

What Jordan said exactly is in some dispute. In Tuesday's
Washington Post, Howard Kurtz delivered a mainstream media report
about the subject which has been a topic of animated discussion
on many blogs.

For Kurtz's story, "Eason Jordan, Quote, Unquote: CNN News
Chief Clarifies His Comments on Iraq," see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6490-2005Feb7.html

National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty has been
chronicling developments in this story day by day. For his blog:
http://www.nationalreview.com/tks/tks.asp

For CNN's bio of Jordan, with a photo of him:
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/anchors_reporters/jordan.eason.html


-- Brent Baker Media Research.org

[Cinnamon]

and terrorists are not? last time I checked Journalists were being kidnapped left and right by jihadists.. I guess those dont count.. only the imaginary ones our evil army has targeted...oooh those why it's an outrage! lmao