[A-List] News management

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Bear in mind Blair's speech to the Welsh Assembly this week: "we must
never forget...", suggesting more than just a spontaneous and
unsolicited patriotic manoeuvre on the part of CNN.


CNN to carry reminders of US attacks 

Matt Wells, media correspondent 
Thursday November 1, 2001
The Guardian

CNN is to risk accusations of bias by ordering news presenters to end
reports from Afghanistan with a reminder that the Taliban
regime harbours terrorists who supported the September 11 attacks on the
US. The network says it seems "perverse to focus too
much on the casualties or hardship in Afghanistan" without reminding
viewers of its domestic service that up to 5,000 innocent
people died in New York and Washington. 

Some CNN correspondents are understood to be concerned that a
"pro-American stamp" will be put on the end of their reports. But
CNN's executives are concerned that pictures showing misdirected US
missile attacks landing on residential areas or Red Cross
warehouses could be manipulated before they come out of Afghanistan. 

In a memo to staff, obtained by the Guardian, Rick Davis, CNN's head of
standards and practices, says: "As we get enterprising
reports from our correspondents or al-Jazeera inside Afghanistan, we
must continue to make sure that we do not inadvertently seem
to be reporting uncritically from the perspective or vantage of the
Taliban. 

"Also, given the enormity of the toll on innocent human lives in the US,
we must remain careful not to focus excessively on the
casualties and hardships in Afghanistan that will inevitably be a part
of this war, or to forget that it is the Taliban leadership that is
responsible for the situation Afghanistan is now in." 

News presenters on the service that is shown to US viewers will be
required to end each report with a formula such as: "We must
keep in mind, after seeing reports like this, that the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan continues to harbour terrorists who have praised
the September 11 attacks that killed close to 5,000 innocent people in
the US." Alternatively, they can say: "The Pentagon has
repeatedly stressed that it is trying to minimise civilian casualties in
Afghanistan, even as the Taliban regime continues to harbour
terrorists who are connected to the September 11 attacks that claimed
thousands of innocent lives in the US." 

And "if relevant", the presenter can say that "the Pentagon has stressed
that the Taliban continues to harbour the terrorists and the
Taliban forces are reported to be hiding in populated areas and using
civilians as human shields". 

The memo concludes: "Even though it may start sounding rote, it is
important that we make this point each time." Presenters on
CNN International will not be subject to the edict. Walter Isaacson,
chairman of CNN, told the Washington Post: "I want to make
sure we're not used as a propaganda platform. We're entering a period in
which there's a lot more reporting and video from
Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. You want to make sure people understand
that when they see civilian suffering there, it's in the
context of a terrorist attack that caused enormous suffering in the
United States." 

Jim Murphy, executive producer of the CBS Evening News, said: "I
wouldn't order anybody to do anything like that. Our reporters are
smart enough to know it has to be put in context." 

Bill Wheatley, NBC News vice-president, said: "I'd give the American
public more credit, frankly." 

The BBC said it had no plans to include any such reminders on its own
news programmes. 

However, a spokeswoman added: "Correspondents may or may not decide to
put in this sort of detail in their reports to put things in
context."

Full article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,584636,00.html

Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland

michael.keaney@xxxxxx