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Underground > Switchboard >

NBC sacks "unpatriotic" journalist

17:03 / 31.03.03

NBC has sacked one of its journalists, Peter Arnott after he was interviewed on Iraqi tv talked of how he thought the allies
"war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan. Clearly, the American war planners misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces."

So what do people think? Was Arnott amazingly foolish in comprimising himself by granting an interview to Iraqi state TV? Or does this reprisent a more worrying side of partisan reporting? Do people think Arnott would have been sacked if he had given a similarly 'analytical' interview to al jazeera?

Discuss.

17:58 / 31.03.03

That whole thing is just weird, weird, weird.

Arnott, buddy, there's a war on. Dude. Like it or not, you're on a *side*. If the interviewer shows up in fatigues, this oughtta tell you something.

05:58 / 01.04.03

Can I just add he's just been adopted by The Daily Mirror, the UK's antiwar tabloid. They seem very proud of him.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

06:16 / 01.04.03

[Off-topic] Much as I think most of the Mirror's recent stance is hugely cynical, it is good to actually see an anti-war tabloid, and not something I ever really expected. [/Off-topic]

06:43 / 01.04.03

Can I just add that his last name is spelled Arnett. Now I'll stop being nitpicky and add that one of the surprising things of course is the fact that he was basically a journalistic hero after the first gulf war, when he and 2 other reporters (working for CNN at the time) holed up in a Baghdad hotel and reported by phone on the action the day that war broke out.

Ever since September 11, it seems American journalists have been moved less from impartiality (not that they were really there before) and more towards a mouthpiece for US patriotism. I really disagree with anchors wearing American flag pins on their lapels - that's clearly compromising their impartiality. Remember last year when Dan Rather criticized news culture after 911? Note that he made his criticisms in the British press, not the press he works for (U.S.)

13:56 / 01.04.03

But Arnett claims he wasn't intending to criticize the American military, and I beleive him to a large extent. He was just doing cold-blooded analysis of the events to date.

The problem is that he was doing it on Iraqi state-run tv, which was just stupid. If he had said the same things on Meet the Press, it wouldn't have mattered.

14:25 / 01.04.03

Mirror scoops sacked NBC man

Julia Day
Tuesday April 1, 2003

Peter Arnett, the veteran reporter sacked yesterday by NBC after he claimed that American war plans misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces, has been hired by the Daily Mirror.
In a scathing double-page spread today, New Zealand-born Arnett said he was still in shock at the treatment meted out to him for "telling the truth" in an impromptu interview yesterday with Iraqi TV.

More here

14:25 / 01.04.03

how about if he'd said the same thing on Al Jazeera?

Is a state broadcaster automatically more compromised than an independent? Was Arnett's mistake to give his analyitical opinion or because he expressed it to the non-western media?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

14:32 / 01.04.03

It's worth pointing out that he gave his opinion to a competing news organisation. I doubt they would have been delighted if he'd offered a few candid words to Sky, either.

15:09 / 01.04.03

Indeed.

Making a comment on the record to another news organization than the one that employs you obviously
has ramifications (and implications as to why a reporter might want to make such a comment), but I'm not so certain that it would necessarily lead to instant dismissal, I could of course be wrong.

15:15 / 01.04.03

Actually, judging from the initial response, they wouldn't have minded that so much.

The thing that got 'em was that the media he was interviewed by is owned and controlled by Saddam Hussein (actually, I think it's his son Odai or Uday who owns all the TV, but still). So he was basically giving propaganda ammunition directly to a combatant... and one that's on the "wrong side" as far as NBC is concerned.

Geraldo Rivera, of course, did him one better:

Lapan said Rivera reported details of troop operations by drawing a line in the sand showing where his unit was and where it was going next. Reporters who are "embedded" with U.S. troops are not supposed to disclose details that could help Iraqis figure out their location and plans.

He's getting investigated by the Pentagon for that one. He actually used the sand to draw a map showing troop movements... and broadcast it live on TV. Not *past* troop movements, but *future* ones. Like, two hours ahead of time.

He's currently blaming premature reports of his "ejection" from Iraq on "rats" back at his old network: NBC.

And then again, one journalist actually *has* been ejected:

Philip Smucker, a free-lance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor and Daily Telegraph of London, was ordered out of Iraq on Sunday after the Pentagon said he revealed the location of a Marine unit during a television interview.

17:39 / 01.04.03

I think the Arnett thing is pretty minor, and nothing to get fired over. I can see why they fired him, but is what he said really that big of a deal?

The American Family Association thinks so, at least. They emailed me a petition today calling for the US govt. to revoke his passport.

Since Peter Arnett has elected to become the mouthpiece for the Iraqi regime; I ask that you revoke his passport and let him remain in Iraq. Despite the fact that he has apologized for what he calls a "misjudgment," his comments have not been retracted and are being used in the Moslem world as a tool against the U.S. His comments will make the job of U.S. and British forces much more difficult and possibly cost the lives of coalition forces and innocent Iraqi people.

(and yes, I'm on the AFA mailing list. They're usually just entertaining, not scary.)

18:12 / 01.04.03

Further there are growing reports that so called unilatral reporters, those not embedded within military units ,are being detained and/or mistreated by coalition forces details here. Necessary precaution against guerilla/terrorist tactics, or an active attempt to dissaude reporters from reporting from anything other than an embedded position.

01:01 / 03.04.03

What Arnett said.

02:22 / 03.04.03

Could somebody tell me if Arnett actually *has* an American passport? He's from New Zealand... is he a naturalized US citizen?

Red Cross Iodized Salt

04:06 / 03.04.03

Apparently he is a naturalized US citizen. Which has led to Kentucky senator Jim Bunning calling for Arnett to be tried for treason.

On a total aside, has anyone noticed how the Fox news graphic (particularly in the ads they have on public transport) resemble the 'would you like to know more' segments in Starship Troopers?

09:50 / 11.04.03

Yow. And here's a guy CBS fired for comparing the current mood in the U.S. to that of the mood in Germany during Hitler's rise to power.