Eason Jordan

I haven't previously commented on the Eason Jordan scandal because honestly it doesn't seem like a very big deal to me. Obviously, since he has now resigned, this scandal has had an effect, but it isn't one I am very comfortable with. I think his remarks at Davos that American Troops were purposefully targeting reporters were foolish, and incorrect. I won't speculate whether it was a mistake he made accidently or a rather shameless means of getting favor from an anti-american audiance. Eason Jordan isn't a man I admire, and the cozzy relationship he and CNN had with Saddam Hussein I believe was an betrayal of journalistic principles. Also, the blogosphere did in fact do good work in uncovering what he said, and researching the statements of other participants. It was a news story, and deserved to be covered. It went a bit beyond that though. The loud cries for his resignation were a bit too much in my opinion. This wasn't RatherGate, it wasn't a news conference he was at, he wasn't reporting anything to the public, it wasn't an attempt to alter the dynamics of an Election and it wasn't an attempt to pass off forged documents. This was simply a guy speaking out of his ass. The whole thing had more of a mob mentality feel to me than any sort of serious discussion into either what actually happened or, and this would have probably interested me, an inquiry into what the ethics of a situation like that are. Glenn has his own comments on this, and has a different view. I don't disagree with what he says, and the best of the bloggers performed well on this story. There was though a lot who were not so useful as well.