I have been avoiding comment these last couple of days. I felt I had nothing further of substance to add since Wednesday morning. The resignation requires one final comment.
I think Eason Jordan resigned because he knew that if the Davos tape came out it would make the situation worse, not better.
I know there are a number of people involved with the World Economic Forum who think the WEF needs to completely re-think its media/blogging and on/off record policies. It was a great thing that the WEF started a blog this year, inviting conference participants to post their impressions and thoughts. I encouraged them to do this. Unfortunately, the WEF's operating norms are not compatible with the age of the blog. Jordan's demise is the frightening result.
I am amazed that anybody in this day and age still expects a gathering of more than 10 people to remain off the record.
I've been watching the dissussion developing under Jay Rosen's latest post on this. One commentor, who called herself "veteran journo" had some good points:
If he were a "civilian" I could understand the "tempest in a teapot" view but this guy is a journalist who quotes people everyday.
Ditto, for telling stories that CNN hadn't aired. If they hadn't broadcast the story about the Al Jazeera journo forced to eat his shoes, it's because they couldn't get people to talk about it on the record. A news executive can't go passing on those rumours in a semi-public forum. If the standard of proof wasn't good enough to get it on CNN, it 's not good wnough to discuss at a forum in Davos. Maybe at JOrdan's dinner table but not Davos.
Sisyphus asks some good questions on his blog. At Pressthink he goes further:
Does his resignation improve the relationship between the media and the military? Does it make Jordan a martyr? Does it make those journalists that feel the military is "out to get them" less secure, more estranged, and perhaps more hostile?
The tape, and Eason Jordan, would have allowed a full airing of this issue. Pull the skeleton out, shake out the paranoia, shake hands and go back to work.
Jordan's gone. The idea remains.
Good point. Of course the U.S. military is NOT out to get journalists. Nor is "the media" out to get the military. But have individual soldiers at times exercised bad judgment that's worth looking into? Perhaps so, though we don't know for sure due to lack of information. All we have is some claims by some people. Have some journalists gotten carried away by anti-military biases and agendas? Absolutely. The point is, there are clearly some real tensions and disagreements about what's been taking place on the ground in Iraq - and why. As a member of the audience during the now-infamous panel, one thing was very clear to me: bad feeling between U.S. servicepeople and journalists in Iraq is coloring news coverage. No matter where you stand on the war or anything else, you have to recognize that nobody is served by letting this bad feeling fester, supported by much rumor and few facts.
I hope that moving forward, people will have the courage to bring discussions about military-press tensions to the fore, not sweep them under the rug. From here on out, facts about what happens on the ground in Iraq should be the focus. We need to hear the candid, first-hand accounts of journalists who've been doing the day-to-day work in Iraq. I've heard enough from their bosses.
The Bad News View
Cnn and other reporters
Like them are complicit
In undermining our leadersip
Lowering troops moral
Devaluing missions accomplished
And all by acting like our pals
Because they really really care
Because this is a Democracy
And they are so brave to dare
To question Authority
Nobody says you don't evaluate
Or never ever criticize
But if that's all you do
Doesn't that turn it into lies
If you never question the question
If out and out distortions
Are presented without a challenge
Doesn't BS get the larger portion
Of the camera's eye and time
Soldiers are also our citizens
How about some positive
At least every now and then
****
****
The Major Three are also guilty
As far as I'm conerned
As if....if they were on our side
Their neutrality might get burned
Abc Nbc Cbs
Jennings Brokow and Rather
Doesn't it as some point it turn
Into some pretty deep blather
PBS and NPR have always been
Publically funded shows
But as lopsided as they are
I don't know how anyone knows
They swear that they aren't bias
That they have no leftist leanings
Hell they're not even honest about that
They're so busy primping and preening
A lot like those Hollyweired half-wits
Just not so crazy about it
Like if you can pronounce objectivity
How could we ever doubt it
****
****
Quagmire Quagmire Quagmire
No plan No plan No plan
Yawl take out a bunch of hornets
Let's see what you understand
Is every step choreographed
When you aim up that spray
When you carefully aim and shoot
Don't you sort of scoot and pray
You exfiltrate the area
But you come back around
That's what our men are doing
When they go back into towns
They're checking things out
They're making it better
They're making it safer
They're reading their letters
But oh how dare we question you
No dissent amongst the dissenters
Once you've committed to the Dean
Of Academia Nuts they're can be no repenters
They don't have another view
They just flat out hate the president
All they've got is oceons of emotions
And they don't want to hear an argument
That's logical anyway
They're patriotism is off the table
They will let you know that with their
Last breath as long as they are able
Even as they continue to manipulate
And hammer home more despair
Committ their sins of ommission
But they just do it because they care
Because we need our friends back
Good buddys like Germany and France
We don't need to stand tall
We need to learn to sway and prance
But I'll never forget or forgive
The terrorists that want to kill us
And they'll do it anyway they can
With planes trucks or a bus
****
****
Cnn and other reporters
Like them are complicit
In sabotaging our spirit to win
To fight back as we must
These people are mental seditionists
And not worthy of our trust
Neils
11:14 am
09/14/2003
*
transcribed this time
8:26 pm
02/19/2005
Posted by: neilsthepoet | February 19, 2005 at 09:27 PM
A crock o dial tears
and other wrong numbers
****
****
All the fake people
Gather
And give their fake concern
As if there's only some tragic lesson
For the rest of us to learn
Who do not have their gifts
Their light into strategic insight
That it is always only loss
When America enters a fight
America is always making a mistake
America is always wrong
And we're just the mean ol bully
Flexin muscle to prove we're strong
****
****
Or then there's always someplace else
That's just as bad or worse
Like if we never ever made a move
We wouldn't end up in a hearse
All the fake people
Gather
And shed their politically motivated tears
And mix them in with their reservations
Second guessing and narcissistic fears
They love to be against
While saying they support the troops
Like that doesn't ring out hollow and
Come out smelling like day ol dog poop
What a bunch of sanctimonious twits
How low can you go
Feeding off the blood of brave men
Like that somehow proves they know
But they only listen to what they want
What backs up what they already believe
It seems they have a mask for everything
They've even got this one to show they grieve
It always comes back to them
Because that's what they're all about
The nattering naybobs of negativity
Sowing their seeds of doubt
****
****
They love to be against
While saying they support the troops
Like that doesn't ring out hollow and
Come out smelling like day ol dog poop
Neils
8:14 pm
08/03/2003
*
transcribed this time
9:55 am
02/21/2005
Posted by: neilsthepoet | February 21, 2005 at 10:56 AM