Slow-breaking news

The slowest-breaking news story of all time is still unfolding—and still hasn't gotten any significant play in the MSM.

I'm referring, of course, to the story that first appeared in Forumblog—the official blog dedicated to covering the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—which reported last Friday that CNN chief Eason Jordan, in a Forum session, accused the US military of targeting journalists for assassination in Iraq (and of actually succeeding in twelve cases).

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.

Due to the nature of the forum, I was able to directly challenge Eason, asking if he had any objective and clear evidence to backup these claims, because if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park. David Gergen was also clearly disturbed and shocked by the allegation that the U.S. would target journalists, foreign or U.S. He had always seen the U.S. military as the providers of safety and rescue for all reporters.

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.

Jordan's been trying to backtrack for a week now, but he only seems to be digging himself in deeper. The session was reportedly videotaped—and both Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were present—so the truth of what was or wasn't said should out eventually.

Captain's Quarters has been all over the story—and has turned up an amazing amount of material, much of it quite damning to Jordan.

The issues—as I see them—are these:

• Either Jordan accused our military of executing journalists or he didn't. The tape (and unimpeachable sources like Rep. Frank and Sen. Dodd) will tell the tale. If he was simply "misunderstood," however, I can't imagine that his remarks would have provoked the controversy described in Forumblog.

• If he's prepared to stand by the allegations—which make Abu Ghraib look like MisterRogers' Neighborhood—then Jordan needs to provide the proof.

• If he has no evidence to back his allegation, then he's irreparably damaged the reputation of a major news outlet and should resign.

But the biggest issue is this: How can a story of this import to journalism—which is now a week stale—have received no MSM coverage whatsoever?

(Unless, of course, you consider The Washington Times editorial page to be part of the MSM. Or this.)

There does seem to be a bit of a double standard at work here.

Imagine if Roger Ailes had been at an international conference and made some comment about, say, journalists in other news organizations collaborating with the Iraqi insurgency so that their cameras can be there when something blows up.

That would be instant, front-page news, wouldn't it?

Or if the president of a famous university made some remarks at a conference about women possibly being genetically inferior to men when it comes to advanced math and science.

Oh, wait, that actually happened …

Anyway, the fact that Jordan seems to be getting a pass on his mendacity just feeds the suspicion that the MSM doesn't apply its rules to its own journalists.

And it makes it a whole lot harder to be a Menshevik.

UPDATE: La Shawn Barber is updating the blogswarm here, here and here. The silence from the mainstream media is still deafening, however.

UPDATE: Sisyphean Musings has been promised a copy of the video by the WEF. It's expected mid-next week. That should settle the matter of what Mr. Jordan said.

UPDATE: The Jordan story goes MSM. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Sunday op-ed page features a column by Jack Kelly, which includes these comments:

The scandalous remarks of Eason Jordan, CNN's top news executive, last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (where Europe's elite goes once a year to sneer at the United States), and the failure of the major media to report them suggest the distortions are deliberate.

Jordan told a panel that the U.S. military had killed a dozen journalists in Iraq, and that they had been deliberately targeted. When challenged, Jordan could provide no evidence to support the charge, and subsequently lied about having made it, though the record shows he had made a similar charge a few months before, and also earlier had falsely accused the Israeli military of targeting journalists.

Jordan's slander has created a firestorm in the blogosphere, but has yet to be mentioned in the "mainstream" media. Gee, I wonder why not.

Well, it's been mentioned now.

Shocking stuff for a newspaper that (to the best of my recollection) has never endorsed a Republican candidate for President. Kelly's column also ran in the
P-G's sister newspaper The Toledo Blade.

Go, Jack! You da man!