Monday, July 20, 2009
Update on Detained Journalist Jassam
At the end of May of this year I posted about NPR's dismal track record in covering up the US military's attacks on journalists - especially Ibrahim Jassam. This morning NPR's Quil Lawrence conducted a fairly decent report on Jassam's baseless detention. As Jeremy Scahill has pointed out, there is far more than Jassam's detention to investigate, but for NPR this was a small, though commendable step.
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2 comments:
All I can say is what took them so f...ing long?
Jassam was jailed almost a year ago and actually cleared by the Iraqi court LAST November 30.
Actually, I don't think this is commendable in the least.
At best it demonstrates gross negligence (which I actually doubt) and at worst, they held off on reporting purposely (far more likely).
Contrast that to the immediate (and 24/7) reporting on Roxanna Saberi, who was being held by Iran.
The double standard here is disgusting.
NPR has zero creedibility on this issue. None. Zilch. Nada.
I posted this on the open thread:
Ibrahim Jassam, a reuters Photographer, was arrested September 2, 2008 and cleared of all charges and ordered released because there was no evidence against him on November 30, 2008 by the Iraqi Central Criminal Court.
Photo District Newsreported that he was cleared on Dec 1, 2008, the very next day after he was cleared!!
Contrast that with NPR who are just now getting around to reporting on this.
Unfortunately, there is nothing aberrant about this for NPR. It is the norm. They do this ALL the time: report on important events after they are sure they will no longer have any effect on their bottom line (and that they will not offend the Pentagon, of cours). They did precisely the same thing with the Iraq WMD (NOT!!) story.
Timing is critical in journalism and NPR actually uses it in an insidious and despicable way.
I also noted on the other thread that I would not be surprised at all if the Pentagon has plans to release Jassam soon and that NPR got wind of this.
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