Special to Catholic Exchange
During what the AP described as “a damage-control visit to Israel,” CNN executive Eason Jordan conceded that “CNN erred in giving more programming time to the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber than to his Israeli victims and tried to rectify the mistake,” the AP's Steve Weizman relayed in a June 24 dispatch.
Last week Jordan, addressing concerns about how CNN suggested moral equivalence between the families of suicide murderers and their victims by showcasing both sets of families, distributed a memo to CNN's staff ordering them to adjust their news judgment. The memo begins:
To: CNN Staff
From: Eason JordanJust as we exercise utmost restraint and caution in how we report on and televise al-Qaeda statements, CNN henceforth will not televise or report on the statements of suicide bombers or their families unless there seemingly is an extraordinarily compelling reason to do so, in which case advance approval must be obtained from Rick Davis, Chris Cramer, Rena Golden, or me.
The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, however, that “the widely reported efforts by news broadcaster CNN to make amends with Israeli viewers has more to do with its competition with Fox News than any misgivings about its Middle East coverage, industry sources say.”
Jordan's trip to Israel followed threats from Israeli cable and satellite service operators that they would pull off CNN because of what they perceive as the network's anti-Israel bias, a perception heightened last week when Britain's Guardian newspaper quoted CNN founder Ted Turner as charging that “both sides” — meaning Palestinians and Israelis — “are involved in terrorism.” CNN acted quickly to distance itself from Turner as the network filled the screen with the text of CNN's statement separating itself from him: “Ted Turner's views are his own and they do not in any way reflect the views of CNN.”
For more about what Turner said, how CNN highlighted his “clarifying” comments and to see the “Ted Who?” screen shot:http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20020619.asp#2
An excerpt from the June 24 AP dispatch from Jerusalem by Steve Weizman:
CNN's coverage of recent suicide bombings has provoked anger in Israel and led a local cable company to start carrying CNN's chief U.S. competitor, Fox News Channel….
Interviewed on Israel Television, Eason Jordan, CNN's President of newsgathering, said his company strives for fairness….
Told that a recent CNN interview with the family of a Palestinian suicide bomber received more prominence than one with a relative of his victims, 1-year-old Sinai Keinan and her grandmother, Jordan said: “That was a mistake, it should never have happened and I think we subsequently rectified that problem by airing extensively the interview with the Keinan family.”
CNN is airing a series of heavily promoted half-hour specials on Israeli victims of Palestinian terror attacks and Jordan says he has issued a directive ordering staff to “go to extremes” to avoid any impression the company sees moral equivalence between terror victims and their attackers….
Jordan said there was no link between CNN's fresh programming and the possibility that it could lose local markets to Fox.
Israeli criticism intensified last week when Turner was quoted seeming to equate suicide bombings and Israel's military response….
Jordan said the company was taking criticism from both sides, with Palestinian officials he met on Saturday accusing CNN of serving Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon….
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
