A Tale Of Two Talking Heads

Interesting to compare the scandal-ridden resignation of CNN executive Eason Jordan...

"While my CNN colleagues and my friends in the US military know me well enough to know I have never stated, believed, or suspected that US military forces intended to kill people they knew to be journalists, my comments on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not as clear as they should have been.

"I never meant to imply US forces acted with ill intent when US forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologise to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise."

... with the scandal-ridden resignation of bogus White House reporter James D. Guckert:

[Guckert] revealed that he'd used the Gannon name since 2001 and vowed to keep using it.

"Absolutely; it is my professional name,” he said. “I would be throwing away all of the things I built up over the past few years if I stopped using it..."

"Even though it has been very painful,” he said of the current uproar, “lots of opportunities have come forward journalistically. Once all of this blows over, I think it might actually help that I have gotten this attention."

I could care less about Eason Jordan as a person. He's just another corporate exec who has always put his company's stockholder's ahead of the truth.

The truth is, however, that of the 36 journalists and 18 "media support workers" killed in Iraq since the US invasion, at least nine have died as a result of American fire. Add to that the USA's declared intent to use Honduras-style "Death Squads" in Iraq, plus it's open hostility towards Arab media outlets like Al-Jazeera, and the chances are that what Eason Jordan said is quite right (whether he meant it or not).

I'm assuming CNN won't be covering that story any time soon. The White House press corps are also unlikely to ask any difficult questions on the subject.