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Posted on 08/15/2006 11:45:56 AM PDT by Blogger
Palestinian security forces hunted for two abducted Fox News journalists Tuesday, and the Palestinian president and prime minister intervened in an attempt to gain their release.
President Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Hamas-led government, scheduled meetings with the news organization's Jerusalem bureau chief, Eli Fastman, and its chief correspondent in Israel, Jennifer Griffin.
The prime minister assured the Fox News representatives that Palestinian security forces would use all their power to "put an end to it soon," said government spokesman Ghazi Hamad said, without elaborating.
Investigators said the president's office was closely following the probe into the abduction.
American reporter Steve Centanni, 60, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, were seized by masked gunmen Monday near the headquarters of the Palestinian security services.
No one has claimed responsibility for kidnapping, and police said no demands have been made. Major militant groups denied any connection to the abduction.
U.S. officials said they were in touch with Abbas' office, Palestinian security officials and the Israelis to see if they can help secure the journalists' release.
"Certainly we are concerned about their safety, that is why we are working to ensure their freedom," said Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, a spokeswoman for the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem.
She said it was still unclear who was holding the journalists.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark dispatched diplomats to Gaza to assist in any contacts for their release. She said she was "very concerned" about the kidnapping.
Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught, said Fox representatives told her negotiations for their release were already under way. But officials in Gaza said no contact had been established with the kidnappers.
Nabil Abu Rdeinah, an Abbas aide, said the president ordered all security forces to work on tracking the two journalists. "This is an unacceptable act. We condemn this operation and hope we would succeed to find a peaceful solution very soon," he said.
An investigator in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity so as not to jeopardize the investigation, said suspicions were focusing on a renegade group from an established Palestinian militant organization, but he declined to give further details. The car in which the journalists were taken has been identified, he said.
Centanni was behind the wheel of the Fox vehicle, marked in large letters "TV," when the gunmen pulled up and stopped them, a Fox employee said. A Palestinian who was with them was forced onto the floor at gunpoint, and the two journalists were taken away.
An official following the investigation said the getaway car was spotted driving south along the coastal road.
Police and security forces were deployed at major intersections and roads in Gaza immediately after the kidnapping.
Several foreigners have been kidnapped in Gaza by small groups seeking the release of relatives from jail, jobs or other personal favors. All have been freed within a few days without harm.
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one thing these terrorists crave is media attention. Fox is denying them that spotlight and, apparently, so are their cable competitors, while negotiations to free Centanni and Wiig are conducted
This is a story a day or two old. My recollection -- and I might be mistaken -- is that the Carroll story didn't really break out for about a week, until her captors released a hostage video on the Web. Before that, everyone hung back and let the CSM take point. The Carroll story was pointedly not front and center, because negotiations and rescue plans were brewing behind the scenes.
That is journalism, and Fox is shirking its responsibility.
Fox has a responsibility to report the news, and it has a responsibility to its people. They're balancing those responsibilities, under considerable emotional strain. I'm not inclined to second-guess. We know the essential facts: An American TV correspondent and his crew were abducted. We don't need hourly updates until he's safe and home.
The terrorists already have the European media.
Worse case scenario...this kidnapping is the ROP reps "courtesy call" to Fox. If so, they are trying to take control and further terrorize the American media.
Don't let it happen.
True.
Prayers for their families!
Isn't Trace Gallagher the one wou always looks like he thinks there are monsters under the bed?
"And I am still searching for Nichole's REAL killers!"
For some strange reason, I find this hard to believe. Prayers for the two men.
I believe his bio said he graduated highschool in 1962.
God keep him safe!! Amen
In what way?
Be careful. You will be lambasted the way I have been for questioning this decision not to cover a major news event. I've been told, "it's not about YOU!!".
bttt
"Palestinians Look for 2 Journalists"
Good luck.
I haven't been able to find many "journalists" here in America.......
Oh, it was true all right. On the long thread last night when the Centanni story broke, several people posted samples of the things they were posting on DU and Kos. If you have the stomach for it, you might check those sites out - the stuff that was posted here was more than enough for me.
I overgeneralized when I made my post and I apologize for that. I'm sure that most of the reporters who worked with Centanni are hoping for his safe return. Having said that, seeing the huge amount of venomous hatred leveled at Fox News by other media outlets for having the "temerity" to occasionally present news with a conservative view, it doesn't take a big leap of imagination on my part to picture smarmy little worms like Keith Olbermann, Dana Milbank, Chris Matthews or Maureen Dowd (to name a few) quietly chuckling about the "irony" of a Fox News reporter (i.e. a "White House propagandist") being kidnapped by Islamofascists.
Maybe I'm wrong - I hope I am. But the fact that I even think this way about these people is a measure of the utter contempt that I hold the mainstream media in these days. I can honestly say that there is no other group that I loathe more.
For the sake of the hunter's pride, I sure hope that pic is fake. If not, who took it? His wife?? Another deer??? lol
I've seen Steve Centanni several times on FOX and almost feel like this is happening to someone I know. I read through most of the comments on this post and someone said this is not the time for humor. I agree. Show a little class, people, we're not DU. Let's face it, too, this could EASILY be Christianne Amanpour or any other "INFIDEL". Though Christianne may not know it, we are all in the same boat, and she can spend years shedding tears for the poor Palestinian victims of the "Zionists" and Americans, but her throat will be the first to be slashed if she's in the wrong place at the right time. After all, they didn't ALL go to that "use to the media 101" class, and even if they did, there could come a day, God forbid, when those types of journalists are of no use to them anymore. Just like the Nazi's. They'd use the cowardly - and then they killed them. We are ALL sub-human pigs and cows to them.
CNN Headline news at least has Glenn Beck and he's calling it like he sees it.
Regular CNN continues to be anti-American and anti-Israel.
I agree. Beck has been right-on. I haven't been able to stand Amanpour since the first Iraq war.
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