As any of you might know, Lou and I disagree about alot of things ("Is the sky blue, Lou? Lemme check first!") but, it is good to see he has came to the same conclusions. Michael Pugliese
----- Original Message ----- From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3 at panix.com> To: "sr" <socialist-register at yorku.ca>; "wsn" <wsn at csf.colorado.edu> Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 6:18 PM Subject: CNN responds to false footage charge
> 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" <gingold at sierratel.com>
> To: <change-links at yahoogroups.com>;
> <bay_area_activist at yahoogroups.com> Cc:
> <WILPF-news-us at igc.topica.com>; <hopedance at omnipost.com>
> 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" <Eason.Jordan at turner.com>
> To: "'gingold at sierratel.com'" <gingold at sierratel.com>
> 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:gingold at sierratel.com]
> Sent: Friday, September 14, 2001 4:49 PM
> To: cnn.feedback at cnn.com; 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, lnp3 at panix.com on 09/16/2001
>
> Marxism list: http://www.marxmail.org
>
>