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FAIR-L
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting
Media analysis, critiques and activism
ACTION ALERT:
PBS Fails to Hold Rumsfeld Accountable
September 20, 2002
Asking tough questions of those in power is one of a journalist's most
important jobs-- especially when a country may be going to war. But PBS's
Jim Lehrer failed to challenge Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a
September 18 interview on the "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"-- even when
Rumsfeld made factually inaccurate assertions.
For instance, Rumsfeld repeatedly referred to the United Nations Special
Commission (UNSCOM) weapons inspectors being expelled from Iraq, saying,
"We have seen the situation with Iraq where they have violated some 16
U.N. resolutions and finally threw the inspectors out." Rumsfeld went on
to say that "we have gone through... four years where they threw the
inspectors out and there's been no one there."
In December 1998, the U.N. inspectors were not thrown out; they were
pulled out by UNSCOM chief Richard Butler prior to a U.S. bombing campaign
in Iraq. As Madeleine Albright told Lehrer at the time (12/17/98), Butler
"made an independent decision that UNSCOM could no longer work."
Rumsfeld also made a dubious assertion about Iraq's plans for "invading
Saudi Arabia, which they were ready to do." This was presumably a
reference to the Pentagon's claim in September 1990, after the Iraqi
invasion of Kuwait, that Iraq was massing hundreds of thousands of troops
along the Saudi border in preparation to take over that country as well.
But the St. Petersburg Times (1/6/91) published satellite imagery from the
region that appeared to disprove the Pentagon claim, since no massive
Iraqi build-up was visible in the satellite photos.
After the war, a U.S. "senior commander" admitted to Newsday (3/1/91) that
reports of a major Iraqi troop mobilization were exaggerated, saying,
"There was a great disinformation campaign surrounding this war." Despite
the serious doubts about the veracity of Rumsfeld's charge, Lehrer allowed
it to stand without comment.
A recent segment on CNN demonstrates precisely how journalists can clarify
misleading statements from government officials. On September 18, CNN
reporter Richard Roth explained the confusion about the UNSCOM inspectors
this way:
"On our air, Donald Rumsfeld, secretary of defense... said look, it was
Iraq, he said, that booted out, kicked out those weapons inspectors.
That's not exactly accurate. It was the U.N. and the weapons inspections
agency that withdrew them, under pressure from the U.S., because they had
barely gotten out with their bags when U.S. military strikes occurred."
It's always important for journalists to correct misstatements of fact,
but when an official is offering misinformation as a justification for
war, that journalistic duty becomes an imperative.
ACTION: Please contact the PBS NewsHour and encourage them to correct the
inaccurate statements made by Donald Rumsfeld. You might also suggest that
NewsHour media correspondent Terrence Smith take a look at how the
NewsHour and other broadcast outlets handle official inaccuracies.
CONTACT:
NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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