Eason Jordan, who has a history of making vile remarks about the U.S. military, has resigned from his position as top news executive for CNN, following a controversy carried out largely on the blogosphere:
NEW YORK (AP) – CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amid a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq. Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy.
During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum last month, Jordan said he believed that several journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq had been targeted.
He quickly backed off the remarks, explaining that he meant to distinguish between journalists killed because they were in the wrong place when a bomb fell, for example, and those killed because they were shot at by American forces who mistook them for the enemy.
"I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise," Jordan said in a memo to fellow staff members at CNN.
But the damage had been done, compounded by the fact that no transcript of his actual remarks has turned up. He was the target of an Internet and Web site campaign that was beginning to rival the one launched against CBS’s Dan Rather following the network’s ill-fated story last fall about President Bush’s military service [SOURCE].
The conference was videotaped, and the videotape
had been found. Bloggers demanded the release of
the video tape, but Eason, et al., were stonewalling. Eason offered an only semi-plausible semi-denial/semi-retraction of his comments and did not call for the release of the tape to allow everyone to see what he really did or did not say. The MSM then largely turned a blind eye to the controversy.
Excerpt from MORE:
If, like most people, you relied on the conventional media for your
news, you would not only be late to the party, you would have no idea
what is going on–your first knowledge of anything out of the ordinary
would be Jordan’s resignation. Assuming even that will be reported. It
would be an interesting assignment: trying to write a story on Jordan’s
resignation for a paper that has not heretofore covered the
controversy. If Jordan had just announced he wanted to spend more time
with his family, he would have made their task easier.
Excerpts from STILL MORE:
To paraphrase Instapundit: Well, I guess we know what was on that tape.
I have a feeling that the discussion of the "blogs as a lynch mob" is going to get a lot of coverage in the coming days.
Could it be that Rony Abovitz’s account was most accurate, that the
tape would show Jordan making the accusation, only halfway
backtracking, and many in the audience applauding his courage for
making the accusation?Bill at
InDCJournal: "I’m actually shocked. I’m starting to believe in Hugh
Hewitt’s theories about blogs having the omnipotence to warp space and
time, cure baldness and raise the dead."
