-Caveat Lector-
Posted to Marxmail by Jose Perez:
[Following the recent spate or repostings of the charge that CNN
played decade old video claiming it was Palestinians celebrating the
Sep. 11 attacks, a person named Craig Gingold did the logical thing,
and wrote CNN. He was immediately answered by the person in charge of
newsgathering for CNN, Eason Jordan. Gingold asks that his email and
Jordan's response be circulated to all lists where the charge against
CNN was aired]
[I do not know Craig Gingold, or if I do I don't recall who he is.
But I have known Eason Jordan, the executive who answered his email,
for more than a decade, at least casually, as well as observed his
work, or the results of it, at fairly close range.
[I'm sure if we sat down to have a philosophical or political
discussion Jordan and I might disagree on countless topics. But on
the level of the formal, ethical norms and standards of mainstream
journalism, nothing I've ever seen him do or say nor anything I have
ever heard about him would raise the slightest question in my mind
about taking his probity for granted on an issue like this.
[Jordan is a Georgia native who rose through the CNN. He came into
CNN in his early 20s and was for five or six years the overnight
person on CNN's international desk. At the end of the 1980's, as CNN
grew and its international reporting expanded, he was put in charge
of the growing international desk, and is especially associated with
initiatives like making sure CNN kept a reporting presence in Iraq
throughout the Gulf War and resisting significant pressure from the
U.S. and its allies in that war to stop reporting Iraq's side of that
story.
[There would be, undoubtedly, countless things one might criticize
from a left-wing point of view about this reporting, but even so, it
must be admitted that CNN covered Iraq's side in that war to an
extent that was unprecedented in the history of mainstream American
journalism. Similarly, he was closely associated with things like
CNN's establishing a bureau in Havana, and was the first journalist
from a major "Western" news organization to report on North Korea,
using a small DV cam to record pictures and reporting about the
famine that country was facing 3 or 4 years back. He has stanchly
defended CNN's hiring of Palestinian journalists and the airing of
their work against a barrage of criticism from the Israeli press and
government. Under Jordan, CNN's international desk became much more
of a truly international desk, with staff members from all over the
world, including many from the third world. A number of people that
came in essentially as person-on-the-lowest-rung on the international
desk (most famously Christian Amanpour but not just her) have gone on
to do some of the better on-screen CNN international reporting of
recent years, despite "funny accents," "bad delivery" and "faces made
for radio."
[Unfortunately, U.S. viewers get very little exposure to this
reporting, as the CNN domestic network (the one everyone thinks of as
"the" CNN although the truth is CNN International has many, many more
subscribers) no longer carries much of this material, unlike several
years ago, before Time-Warner acquired Turner broadcasting.
[An interesting question for CNN to ponder might be why what is
presented as an unsubstantiated rumor was given such credence. I say
unsubstantiated rumor because the person who made the charge didn't
even CLAIM to have the proof, and there was a strong suggestion in
how he wrote about it that he'd never even seen the alleged proof.
The person who was said to have the proof was an anonymous teacher.
And on the *substance* of the events, there is no dispute that there
were initially some expressions of celebration among Palestinians
when the first reports on the attacks came through.
[I do not believe such a claim would have been as easily accepted
say, eight or ten years ago.]
[José]
* * *
----- Original Message -----
From: "Craig Gingold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2001 8:00 PM
Subject: !b_a_Act: CNN Exec Replies to Phony Video Accusation
Over the last several days an extremely alarming email has been
circulating on virtually every email list in existence, judging by
the number of copies that I have received. The basic charge is that
CNN perpetrated a knowing deception of its viewers by airing a
10-year-old videotape of Palestinians celebrating during the Gulf
War, but misrepresenting it as showing celebrations of the terror
attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. I hardly need explain
why this is an extremely serious accusation. The implications -- if
true -- are so disturbing that I felt compelled to make an effort to
ascertain the veracity of the claim. (The relevant parts of that
email are at the very end of this posting.)
Given the incredibly wide circulation of the email, and the fact that
it is based entirely on the unverified assertions of one individual,
I think it is essential to make a serious effort to determine what
the basic facts are. Unfortunately, I don't have access to the
10-year-old tapes cited by the man making the accusation. That would,
of course, be the most straightforward way to either prove or
disprove his charges.
The next -- and most obvious -- step to take was to ask for a
response to this allegation from CNN. Friday afternoon I wrote a
short letter that I sent by email to CNN, which I made a point of
CC'ing to the man in charge of news operations, Eason Jordan.
Somewhat to my surprise, I received a reply from Mr. Jordan before an
hour had passed -- clearly they are rather concerned to be accused of
such a blatant deception. His reply is below, followed by my letter
of inquiry. (I had intended to send this out immediately, but was
prevented from doing so due to computer problems.)
Unless somebody comes forward with clear and convincing proof that
CNN really used 10-year-old videotapes, I see no particular reason to
doubt Mr. Jordan's outline of the facts. In any event, I must confess
I don't know why it should have been considered utterly unbelievable
that there would have been *some* Palestinians who did, in fact,
celebrate the attacks on the United States. Not surprising at all,
IMO. And hardly surprising that this would be considered newsworthy.
The real questions are, how widespread were such celebrations, and
how representative -- or NOT -- were they of overall Palestinian
reaction to the attacks? And, of course -- did the news reports (on
CNN and elsewhere) make any real effort to make such assessments?
I know we can never rule out with *100% certainty* the *possibility*
of such blatant electronic fabrications, but I think we should try to
avoid the kind of credulous acceptance of unsubstantiated allegations
that I've observed in this case. Certainly, we need to be vigilant
against all forms of manipulation. But the real problems we face with
the mass media are *much* more in the area of framing and context,
and the suppression of strongly dissenting points of view.
Craig Gingold Midpines CA
** Please forward this post to any other list where this issue has
been discussed. **
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
From: "Jordan, Eason" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: VERY URGENT: CNN Accused of LYING to viewers
Date sent: Fri, 14 Sep 2001 17:00:44 -0400
[Message] From EASON JORDAN, Chief News Executive, CNN:
The suggestion that CNN used 10-year-old images to illustrate
Palestinians celebrating the terrorist strikes in the U.S. is
baseless and ridiculous. The videotape was, in fact, shot Tuesday in
East Jerusalem by a Reuters TV crew and included comments from a
Palestinian praising Osama Bin Laden, who was not a Gulf War player.
The more interesting story -- it has the added value of being true --
is that Palestinian officials have threatened journalists for taking
pictures of these Palestinian celebrations.
____________________________
[Reply to a followup question:]
The videotape was shot on Tuesday, not Wednesday, during daylight
hours (late in the day but before nightfall). CNN is a responsible
news organization committed to accuracy and fairness. The sad
reality, which is indisputable, is some Palestinians celebrated when
they heard about this horrific tragedy.
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
-----Original Message-----
From: Craig Gingold [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 4:49 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Jordan, Eason
Subject: VERY URGENT: CNN Accused of LYING to viewers
To: Responsible individuals at CNN:
In case you have not yet seen this, I am forwarding for your
*immediate* attention an email post which is being very widely
circulated on a large number of email listserves. (This was
originally posted on the Indymedia website at the URL shown below.)
The accusation of deliberate and knowing deception on the part of CNN
is extremely grave. Judging by the positive responses that have been
posted, and the alacrity with which this post is being forwarded to
yet other email lists, it is clear that the vast majority of readers
are giving these allegations uncritical acceptance -- undoubtedly
because it confirms widespread perceptions of bias and manipulation
on the part of the mass media.
I urge you to take this matter very seriously, and I hope you will
undertake an *immediate* investigation of the specific allegation
that has been made. Most importantly, CNN needs to issue a detailed
factual response to this accusation AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. A failure to
to so will only lend more credibility to the allegation.
I hope to hear from someone at CNN some time later today - Friday -
to confirm that you are in fact undertaking to investigate this
matter.
Sincerely,
Craig Gingold Midpines CA (209) 742-6802
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To: Recipient list suppressed <Recipient list suppressed Date:
Thursday, September 13, 2001 7:35 AM Subject: "CNN USING 1991 FOOTAGE
of celebrating Palistinians"?
At work on Wednesday we were discussing this. They were showing
images of the West Bank, of people celebrating in bright sunshine
when it should have been evening there, if it in fact were live.
================================
http://indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=63288&group=webcast
CNN USING 1991 FOOTAGE of celebrating Palistinians to manipulate you
(english) by Marcio 10:32pm Wed Sep 12 '01 . I'd like to add some
ideas from here, down south. There's an important point in the power
of press, specifically the power of CNN. All around the world we are
subjected to 3 or 4 huge news distributors, and one of them - as you
well know - is CNN. Very well, I guess all of you have been seeing
(just as I've been) images from this company. In particular, one set
of images called my attencion: the Palestinians celebrating the
bombing, out on the streets, eating some cake and making funny faces
for the camera.
Well, THOSE IMAGES WERE SHOT BACK IN 1991!!! Those are images of
Palestinians celebrating the invasion of Kuwait! It's simply
unacceptable that a super-power of cumminications as CNN uses images
which do not correspond to the reality in talking about so serious an
issue.
A teacher of mine, here in Brazil, has videotapes recorded in 1991,
with the very same images; he's been sending emails to CNN, Globo
(the major TV network in Brazil) and newspapers, denouncing what I
myself classify as a crime against the public opinion. If anyone of
you has access to this kind of files, serch for it. In the meanwhile,
I'll try to 'put my hands' on a copy of this tape.
But now, think for a moment about the impact of such images. Your
people is hurt, emotionally fragile, and this kind broadcast have
very high possibility of causing waves of anger and rage against
Palestinians. It's simply irresponsible to show images such as those.
<snip non-germane material>
Márcio A. V. Carvalho State University of Campinas - Brazil
--
Louis Proyect, [EMAIL PROTECTED] on 09/16/2001
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