[iwar] [fc:CNN.Chief.Orders.'Balance'.in.War.News]

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Date: 2001-10-31 22:17:44


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Subject: [iwar] [fc:CNN.Chief.Orders.'Balance'.in.War.News]
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CNN Chief Orders 'Balance' in War News
Reporters Are Told To Remind Viewers Why U.S. Is Bombing

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 31, 2001; Page C01

The chairman of CNN has ordered his staff to balance images of civilian
devastation in Afghan cities with reminders that the Taliban harbors
murderous terrorists, saying it "seems perverse to focus too much on the
casualties or hardship in Afghanistan."

In a memo to his international correspondents, Walter Isaacson said: "As we
get good reports from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, we must redouble our
efforts to make sure we do not seem to be simply reporting from their
vantage or perspective. We must talk about how the Taliban are using
civilian shields and how the Taliban have harbored the terrorists
responsible for killing close to 5,000 innocent people."

As more errant U.S. bombs have landed in residential areas, causing damage
to such places as a Red Cross warehouse and senior citizens' center, the
resulting television images have fueled criticism of the American war
effort. This has sparked a growing debate, which began with the Osama bin
Laden videotape, about how the media should handle stage-managed pictures
from Afghanistan.

"I want to make sure we're not used as a propaganda platform," Isaacson said
in an interview yesterday.

"We're entering a period in which there's a lot more reporting and video
from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan," he said. "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."

While some CNN correspondents are concerned about having a "pro-America"
stamp on their reports, all the networks are clearly sensitive to charges
that they are playing into enemy hands. After national security adviser
Condoleezza Rice asked the network news chiefs not to show bin Laden
videotapes live and unedited, MSNBC and Fox News did not air the next one
and CNN showed only brief excerpts.

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

Murphy said he doesn't believe "the danger is extremely high that showing
what we know, and covering what the other side purports, is really going to
change the mood of the nation. We know a terrible thing happened, it will
take time to deal with and mistakes will be made along the way. That's war."

NBC News Vice President Bill Wheatley took a similar tack, saying: "I'd give
the American public more credit, frankly. I'm not sure it makes sense to say
every single time you see any pictures from Afghanistan, 'This is as a
result of September 11th.' No one's made any secret of that."

But Fox News Vice President John Moody said the CNN directive is "not at all
a bad thing" because "Americans need to remember what started this. . . . I
think people need a certain amount of context or they obsess on the last 15
minutes of history. A lot of Americans did die."

To be sure, the cable networks, with their American-flag logos, carry hours
of speeches and briefings each day by President Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Tom
Ridge, Ari Fleischer and other administration figures. Few viewers complain
about this coverage being one-sided.

Taliban leaders are courting world sympathy, especially in the Islamic
world, by playing up the bomb damage, even as Pentagon officials dismiss
Afghan claims of 1,000 civilian casualties as wildly exaggerated. And the
issue is hardly a new one. CNN took considerable criticism during the
Persian Gulf War over correspondent Peter Arnett's reports of damage from
Baghdad.

Isaacson's memo said the network, in covering Afghan casualties, should not
"forget it is that country's leaders who are responsible for the situation
Afghanistan is now in."

Said Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism: "It sounds
as though they're worried about people being mad at them more than about
providing the information that is useful."

But Rosenstiel said the networks face a real dilemma, which is "how do you
communicate information that some in your audience might perceive as
sympathetic to the enemy? . . . If people get so mad at you that they tune
you out, you're also failing."

In a second memo, Rick Davis, CNN's head of standards and practices, said it
"may be hard for the correspondent in these dangerous areas to make the
points clearly," so he suggested language for the anchors:

" 'We must keep in mind, after seeing reports like this from
Taliban-controlled areas, that these U.S. military actions are in response
to a terrorist attack that killed close to 5,000 innocent people in the
U.S.' or, 'We must keep in mind, after seeing reports like this, that the
Taliban regime in Afghanistan continues to harbor terrorists who have
praised the September 11 attacks that killed close to 5,000 innocent people
in the U.S.,' or 'The Pentagon has repeatedly stressed that it is trying to
minimize civilian casualties in Afghanistan, even as the Taliban regime
continues to harbor terrorists who are connected to the September 11 attacks
that claimed thousands of innocent lives in the U.S.' . . .

"Even though it may start sounding rote, it is important that we make this
point each time."

But aren't viewers who don't live in caves well aware of the Sept. 11
backdrop?

"People do already know it," Isaacson said yesterday. "We go to Ground Zero
all the time. We cover the memorial services. We cover people's lives that
have been touched. I just want to make sure we keep a sense of balance."

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company

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