The Urban Grind

What is CNN News Chief Eason Jordan's problem?

And why does he have any credibility left whatsoever?

This is the man who, in April 2003 admitted that CNN routinely covered up atrocities of Saddam Hussein's regime, for the purpose of keeping their Baghdad bureau open.

And recently at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Eason claimed that the U.S. military targeted, and killed at least a dozen journalists:

This fiery topic became a real nightmare today for the Chief News Executive of CNN at what was an initially very mild discussion at the World Economic Forum titled “Will Democracy Survive the Media?”

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During one of the discussions about the number of journalists killed in the Iraq War, Eason Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others.

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When pressed for more specific evidence by U.S. Democratic Congressman Barney Frank, the following happened:

Eason seemed to backpedal quickly, but his initial statements were backed by other members of the audience (one in particular who represented a worldwide journalist group). The ensuing debate was (for lack of better words) a real “sh—storm”. What intensified the problem was the fact that the session was a public forum being taped on camera, in front of an international crowd. The other looming shadow on what was going on was the presence of a U.S. Congressman and a U.S. Senator in the middle of some very serious accusations about the U.S. military.

To be fair (and balanced), Eason did backpedal and make a number of statements claiming that he really did not know if what he said was true, and that he did not himself believe it. But when pressed by others, he seemed to waver back and forth between what might have been his beliefs and the realization that he had created a kind of public mess.

Gay Patriot via Political Diary (subscription based) provides a more detailed look at Jordan's "backpedaling."

He even "offered the story of an Al-Jazeera journalist who had been 'tortured for weeks' at Abu Ghraib, made to eat his shoes, and called "Al Jazeera boy" by his American captors."

And then, this liberal Democrat pressed Mr. Jordan to be more specific, putting the CNN Executive on the spot. The newsman rambled on a bit and mumbled some sort of response about how "'There are people who believe there are people in the military who have it out' for journalists." He could provide no evidence to buttress his claims, then "offered another anecdote: A reporter who'd been standing in a long line to get through a checkpoint at Baghdad's Green Zone had been turned back by the GI on duty. Apparently the soldier had been displeased with the reporter's dispatches, and sent him to the back of the line."

I guess Jordan is getting desperate, since CNN is losing viewers left and right.

Or perhaps, in a bid to capture more far left viewers, he's looking to open up a CNN bureau in yet another rogue state.

So for those of you who would like to make your displeasure known to CNN, you can write them here or call them up:

404.827.1500

Thank you to Kevin McCullough for providing the contact info.