I smell a "Freedom of the Press/Wrongful Termination" lawsuit brewing. ---------------------------------------------------- NBC, MSNBC AND NEWS SERVICES March 31 — NBC and MSNBC on Monday said they had terminated their relationship with Peter Arnett after the journalist told state-run Iraqi TV that the U.S.-led coalition’s initial war plan had failed and that reports from Baghdad about civilian casualties had helped antiwar protesters undermine the Bush administration’s strategy. “IT WAS wrong for Mr. Arnett to grant an interview to state controlled Iraqi TV — especially at a time of war — and it was wrong for him to discuss his personal observations and opinions in that interview,” NBC News President Neal Shapiro said in a statement. “Therefore, Peter Arnett will no longer be reporting for NBC News and MSNBC.” Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize reporting in Vietnam for The Associated Press, appeared on NBC’s “Today” show Monday to apologize for his statements. (MSNBC.com is an NBC News-Microsoft joint venture) INTERVIEW CONTENT In the interview, Arnett said his Iraqi friends had told him that there was a growing sense of nationalism and resistance to what the United States and Britain were doing. He said the United States was reappraising the battlefield and delaying the war, maybe for a week, “and rewriting the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan.” “Clearly, the American war plans misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces,” Arnett said during the interview, which was broadcast by Iraq’s satellite television station and monitored by The AP in Egypt. Arnett said it was clear that there was growing opposition to the war within the United States and a growing challenge to President Bush. “Our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the United States,” he said. “It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments.” The interview was broadcast in English and translated by a green military uniform-wearing Iraqi anchor. NBC said Arnett gave the interview when asked shortly after he attended an Iraqi government briefing. The interview quickly made Arnett a target of the war’s supporters. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said on Fox News Channel that she found the interview “nauseating” and accused Arnett of “kowtowing to what clearly is the enemy in this way.” NBC initially backed Arnett’s interview. “His impromptu interview with Iraqi TV was done as a professional courtesy and was similar to other interviews he has done with media outlets from around the world,” NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust said. “His remarks were analytical in nature and were not intended to be anything more. His outstanding reporting on the war speaks for itself.” BACKGROUND SINCE 1991 Arnett garnered much of his prominence from covering the 1991 Gulf War for CNN. But even then the first Bush administration was unhappy with his reporting, suggesting that he had become a conveyor of propaganda. At one point, he was denounced for his reporting about an allied bombing of a baby milk factory in Baghdad that the military said was a biological weapons plant. The U.S. military responded vigorously to the suggestion it had targeted a civilian facility, but Arnett stood by his reporting that the plant’s sole purpose was to make baby formula. Arnett was also the on-air reporter of a 1998 CNN report that accused U.S. forces of using sarin gas on a Laotian village in 1970 to kill U.S. defectors. Two CNN employees were sacked, and Arnett was reprimanded over the report, which the station later retracted. Arnett later left the network. He went to Iraq this year not as an NBC News reporter but as an employee of “National Geographic Explorer.” When other NBC reporters left Baghdad for safety reasons, the network began airing his reports. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
He'll be lucky if he's not prosecuted for treason. (aid and comfort?) He's still in Baghdad though, a city with sizable anti-Saddam population. If I were him, I would stay as far away from Iraq as I can.
That's pretty funny how NBC first backed him 100% and then totally u-turned and fired him. Either the NBC spokesman is full of crap or NBC management felt the pressure and changed their minds. Arnett is an idiot for doing that interview. I guess he gets to join Jane Fonda on the list of shame. He might as well live in Iraq and become one of their top interviewers. When he comes back, I'm sure the public backlash will be in full onslaught. He was used as a propaganda tool. He should be really proud. His interview came across as ripping our side and supporting the Iraqi side even if he didn't intend to.
Yo Clutch, the next person that whines about how Utah runs such a beautiful offense and that the Rockets offense sucks so much, ban 'em!
It might be possible that he had a contract with MSNBC/NBC that limited/controlled his appearances/statements with other media. By talking on Iraqi television, he might have voided the contract himself. There have been instances in the Houston market where television station <i>on-air</i> (reporters/anchors/sports/weather) people <i>left</i> their station, but could not appear on another Houston area station until the date that was agreed upon in their orginal contract. <i>No Compete</i> clause. Without knowing the terms of his contract, it is hard to tell if Arnett has a chance to go for a <i>Freedom of the Press/Wrongful Termination</i> lawsuit.
Also, His interview with Iraqi TV is pure conjecture. He is in Baghdad, how the heck does he know if the war is going to plan or not? He was used as a propaganda tool, he should be smarter then that. DD
FWIW, I heard National Geographic fired him as well. Not the first time he has gone through this. The first Bush administration was pissed with Arnett's reporting on the Gulf War in 1991 for CNN, suggesting he had become a creator of propaganda. Some things never change.
I doubt he's some unwitting victim here. He's a smart guy; I'm sure he knew what he was saying. I think his bias shows pretty strongly there. I don't think he should have been fired though. Well, he was just a stop-gap for NBC, so I don't think it was a big deal for them to fire him. But, I don't think Nat. Geo. should have fired him. Certainly, these statements that "it was wrong" for him to grant an interview to Iraqi television is bull. You know no one would have complained if he gave the interview and said the US was rolling over the Iraqis, he'd have no trouble in the US (though he'd have some in Iraq).
I think he could use the freedom of the press angle if he didn't do an interview with a station that has been airing nothing but propaganda bull****. I am very much a supporter of freedom of the press but Peter Arnett has no room to b**** when he does an interview for a tv station that has been reporting nothing but good news for Iraq since the war started.
I'm not trying to make excuses for Arnett, but aren't there some reporters and crew missing in Baghdad? I wonder if this foolish interview on his part had anything at all to do with that. It seems rather bizarre.
Deckard, Are you implying that the Iraqis said "Do the interview or else?" If so, then he had no choice.....the truth will come out. DD
I find that quite a stretch. He is still free to contact NBC and do interviews as he did this morning, I do not see him being held against his will. When he spoke today, he spoke like a man who knew he f-ed up, which he did. I will go so far as to say there is NO DOUBT that a-hole made those remarks on his own accord and is now paying the price. What will be interesting is the first time that guy shows up to a public venue how he is received.
When is Fox News going to fire Geraldo? Reportedly he's been kicked out of Iraq by US military personnel for giving out tactical information.
I heard that on the AM Radio earlier. I am starting to think the whole "embedded reporter" concept is a bad idea. Are they getting in the way?
I know it's a stretch, and I certainly wouldn't put it past Arnett to put both feet in his mouth and say what he did entirely on his own, but I wouldn't put anything at all past the Iraqi regime, either. It was just a thought. As DD mentioned, if there were anything at all to it, it'll come out sooner or later. I wish we could find out what has happened to the missing journalists. The longer they have been missing, the worse it looks for them.
I think it is a bad idea. One, you have journalists like Geraldo who lack integrity. Two, journalists have gotten in the way of troops. I believe a couple of British journalists who died or are missing were caught in the middle of a firefight. They should not have been there in the first place.
