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This set the fact checkers of the internet to see if they could find more about Ted Turner, Eason Jordon and the leader of the communist country just off the coast of Florida. It is interesting to me that on CNN RELIABLE SOURCES on February 16, 1997 Eason was emphatic to clear up that Ted Turners relationship with Castro was not the reason that only CNN got permission to set up an office in Havana. No other American news group received the same permission.
In the 1999 lecture at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Eason also insisted that:
CNN "will not consciously pull punches. If I ever find anybody doing it, then those people will be history at this network, as well as with our Iraq coverage."
He said the same thing on the Reliable Sources interview:
"We will pull no punches. Our reporting in the past has included stories that hit every sensitive subject -- human rights, prostitution, you name it, we've been there, we've done it. We will pull no punches in the future, just as we've pulled no punches in the past. . ."
This, of course, was not the truth. In a famous New Your Times OP-ED, "The News We Kept to Ourselves", Eason said that there were awful things that he could not report because doing so would have jeopardized lives of Iraqis, particularly those on CNN's Baghdad staff.
Well, perhaps it was close to the truth... He pulled his punches, and is now history.
2:22:33 PM
IRAQI ELECTION RESULTS [Cliff May - National Review Online] The ballots have been counted and there is reason for optimism. Starting at the back of the pack, Iyad Allawi, perceived by many as America’s candidate, came in third. What does that prove? That this election was decided by Iraqis, not by Americans. That’s how we wanted it. That’s how we said it should be. That’s how it was.
The Kurds came in second. That’s good, too. Not just because the Kurds are Iraqis who suffered greatly under Saddam and did indeed celebrate the arrival of America troops by cheering, waving flags and throwing flowers (far from CNN’s cameras, unfortunately) but also because the Kurds will insist on minority rights -- not just for themselves but also for the Sunnis. (Actually, most Kurds are Sunnis – but they are Kurdish Sunnis, not Arab Sunnis and relatively few of them are Salafists, that is radical Islamic fundamentalists.
The Shia, who also were oppressed and slaughtered under Baathist rule, came in first – but with a plurality, not a majority. If they are smart, they will understand that to govern Iraq will require forming alliances, making compromises, working issues out in the political sphere (a concept with which few in the Middle East have had experience). In other words, they will need to develop democratic habits which can lead to democratic values which will give solidity to democratic institutions.
It is true that many Sunni did not participate in the voting. Two explanations: Some were afraid to vote, intimidated by the terrorists. So we have to work with freedom-loving Iraqis to eliminate those who prevented their fellow Iraqis from exercising their rights. Others may have chosen not to vote. That does not de-legitimize the elections, any more than it would have de-legitimized the election of Nelson Mandela had white South Africans chosen not to participate. It is to be expected that some Sunnis chose not participate in an election that would bring to power groups that had long been subject to the will and whims of an unelected minority. But such people can not hold democracies hostage.
The American interest here is straightforward: We want an Iraqi government that isn’t hostile to us, that isn’t vowing revenge and shouting “Death to America!”, that isn’t sponsoring terrorism, that isn’t developing WMDs, that isn’t slaughtering, torturing and raping its own people.
An Iraq that is a free and democratic, that provides opportunity and, in time, prosperity – that would be a bonus. Yes, we do hope for such a bonus. That, along with our desire to leave Iraq rather than rule Iraqi, is a big part of what makes us different from the imperialists and interventionists of the past.
"The fact is that homosexuals aren't barred from marrying under Canadian law." Kenney said at the meeting of the Punjabi Press Club last month in Brampton, Ont. "The fact is that homosexuals have been married and do marry."
I know that this guy will find out very soon how idiotic this sounds. However I wonder if he will see that defending marriage, as some kind of romantic, religious institution, and then suggesting loveless, sexless partnerships to be the same thing, is stupid.
You can get a Ford in “any color you want, so long as it’s black.” - Henry Ford
The blogosphere, with its lightning speed and rough-edged sense of justice, seems to be claiming more victims more quickly.
Three dramatic departures in recent days have highlighted the one strike-and-you're-out nature of trial by Internet.
Eason Jordan quit under pressure as CNN's chief news executive Friday night over his remarks on U.S. soldiers killing journalists in Iraq, following a relentless campaign by online critics but scant coverage in the mainstream press.
A conservative online reporter who covered the White House under a pseudonym resigned after liberal bloggers dug up embarrassing information about his background. And an aide to Maryland's Republican governor who spread online gossip about a Democratic rival was fired after the Web rumors were revealed by The Washington Post.
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