What a bad weekend for journalists. First Peter Arnett, a journalist for NBC currently in Baghdad, gave an interview to Iraqi state-run TV in which he said that the US "war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance", thanked the Iraqi government for giving him and other reporters a "degree of freedom which we appreciate", and "it is clear that within the United States there is growing challenge to President Bush about the conduct of the war and also opposition to the war. So our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the United States. It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments. " (See the transcript.) NBC first issued a statement of support, then later realized that they were supporting an idiot, so fired him.
Now Arnett, claiming it was a 'midjudgement', is whining about how he is "still in shock and awe at being fired." He's already been hired again, too, by the staunchly anti-war British tabloid "The Daily Mirror".
I can understand having opinions against the war, and have no problem with stating such opinions. But stating them in a public interview with the government-run TV station of a country that the United States is at war with is awfully close to "giving [the enemy] Aid and Comfort."
Next up on the journalistic idiot parade is Geraldo Rivera (now there's a shock). Rivera, who is embedded with the 101st Airborne, gave his report for Fox News complete with diagrams in the sand of where he was, and where the 10st was going next. The New York Times reports "'At one point, he actually revealed the time of an attack prior to its occurrence,' Lt. Mark Kitchens, a spokesman at Central Command, said yesterday morning." Bye, bye, Rivera.
Posted by Mike at March 31, 2003 11:13 PM