Re: Dan Kennedy on Reliable Sources

["Sean Smyth" <ssmyth@suscom.net>]

I wrote:
> From what I just heard at the opening of this week's edition of "Reliable
> Sources," the media criticism show with Howard Kurtz of the Washington
Post,
> Dan Kennedy of the Boston Phoenix will be a guest. It seems his appearance
> has to do with his running debate in his online notebook about the Eason
> Jordan/CNN revelations.
>
> Also an early guest on the show is Anthony Shadid, a Washington Post
> reporter who, many may remember, was injured while working in the Middle
> East for the Globe last year.

A quick synopsis:

Jordan said that much of the fuss may have come from people who did not see
or were not familiar with CNN's coverage of the Iraqi regime. He said he
will take the heat and he felt he did the right thing. He pointed out The
New York Times' diary of journalists in Baghdad as an example of compromises
needed to be made in covering such an authoritarian regime. Jordan said he
felt some of the outrage expressed by some was "hypocritical."

Dan Kennedy said he felt CNN did as good as it may have been able to do
under the conditions. He also mentioned that CNN should have considered
pulling out of Baghdad seriously, but would not go as far as saying they
should have indeed done so. He viewed the op-ed piece from Jordan as a
"public service," since it might make people aware of the situation media
organizations face covering many authoritarian governments.

I think anyone who has ever put a byline on a story knows of the compromises
that sometimes need to be made for our professional causes. However, the
general public doesn't seem to be aware of the context of those compromises,
sometimes. It happens on every level, from covering the local high school
basketball team to a supervisor's meeting to covering authoritarian regimes.
I've made some journalistic compromises I'm not too thrilled about, as I
think any reporter has; if there's one good thing that can come out of this
controversy, I hope it's like Dan Kennedy said -- the op-ed piece is a
public service that provides the general public with some context of how we
go about our duties on an everyday basis.