NBC Fires Reporter Peter Arnett

Was this fair after their very public defense of his interview on Iraqi TV?

I personally thought his interview was uncalled for and out of line...but NBC spent a lot of time and effort defending him for it just to turn around and fire him for it. ???

By David Bauder, c. Associated Press NEW YORK (March 31) - NBC fired journalist Peter Arnett on Monday, saying it was wrong for him to give an interview with state-run Iraqi TV in which he said the American-led coalition's initial plan for the war had failed because of Iraq's resistance. Arnett called the interview a ''misjudgment'' and apologized. Arnett, on NBC's ''Today'' show on Monday, said he was sorry for his statement but added ''I said over the weekend what we all know about the war.'' ''I want to apologize to the American people for clearly making a misjudgment,'' the New Zealand-born Arnett said. He said he would try to leave Baghdad now, joking ''there's a small island in the South Pacific that I've inhabited that I'll try to swim to.'' NBC defended him Sunday, saying he had given the interview as a professional courtesy and that his remarks were analytical in nature. But by Monday morning the network switched course and, after Arnett spoke with NBC News President Neal Shapiro, said it would no longer work with Arnett. ''It was wrong for Mr. Arnett to grant an interview to state-controlled Iraqi TV, especially at a time of war,'' NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said. ''And it was wrong for him to discuss his personal observations and opinions in that interview.'' Arnett, who won a Pulitzer Prize reporting in Vietnam for The Associated Press, gained much of his prominence from covering the 1991 Gulf War for CNN. One of the few American television reporters left in Baghdad, his reports were frequently aired on NBC and its cable sisters, MSNBC and CNBC. Leaving a second network under a cloud may mark the end of his TV career. Arnett was the on-air reporter of the 1998 CNN report that accused American forces of using sarin nerve gas on a Laotian village in 1970 to kill U.S. defectors. Two CNN employees were sacked and Arnett was reprimanded over the report, which the station later retracted. Arnett left the network when his contract was not renewed. In the Iraqi TV interview, broadcast Sunday by Iraq's satellite television station and monitored by The Associated Press in Egypt, Arnett said his Iraqi friends tell him there is a growing sense of nationalism and resistance to what the United States and Britain are doing. He said the United States is reappraising the battlefield and delaying the war, maybe for a week, ''and rewriting the war plan. The first war plan has failed because of Iraqi resistance. Now they are trying to write another war plan.'' ''Clearly, the American war plans misjudged the determination of the Iraqi forces,'' Arnett said. Arnett said it is clear that within the United States there is growing opposition to the war and a growing challenge to President Bush about the war's conduct. ''Our reports about civilian casualties here, about the resistance of the Iraqi forces, are going back to the United States,'' he said. ''It helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments.'' At a briefing Sunday in Qatar, Gen. Tommy Franks ticked off major achievements of the war campaign, including the advance of troops to within 60 miles of Baghdad. But he found himself answering questions about whether he had enough troops to do the job and denying that coalition forces were stalled. A Republican congresswoman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, told Fox News Channel on Sunday that Arnett's remarks were ''Kafkaesque'' and ''just crazy.'' ''Let's hope that he's being coerced,'' Ros-Lehtinen said. The first Bush administration was unhappy with Arnett's reporting on the Gulf War in 1991 for CNN, suggesting he had become a conveyor of propaganda. Arnett was denounced for reporting that the allies had bombed a baby milk factory in Baghdad when the military said it was a biological weapons plant. Arnett went to Iraq this year not as an NBC News reporter but as an employee of the MSNBC show ''National Geographic Explorer.'' When other NBC reporters left Baghdad for safety reasons, the network began airing his reports. NBC said Monday he wouldn't be reporting for ''National Geographic Explorer,'' either. The Iraqi TV interview was broadcast in English and translated by a uniformed Iraqi anchor. NBC said Arnett gave the interview when asked shortly after he attended an Iraqi government briefing. In the April 5 issue of TV Guide, Arnett said he felt he had found redemption reporting on the current war. ''I was furious with (CNN founder) Ted Turner and (then-CNN chairman) Tom Johnson when they threw me to the wolves after I made them billions risking my life to cover the first Gulf War,'' Arnett told TV Guide. ''Now (Turner and Johnson) are gone, the Iraqis have thrown the CNN crew out of Baghdad, and I'm still here,'' he said. ''Any satisfaction in that? Ha, ha, ha, ha.'' He said the Iraqis allowed him to stay in Baghdad because they respect him and ''see me as a fellow warrior.''

[pritchke]

I don't think it is fair but it is sad because if they are firing people for telling the other sides story it means you are only going to hear a half truth which is almost as bad as a lie.

Hiho Moni. Nice to see ya back.

As for Peter Arnett, he made his choice and will have to live iwth the consequences. NBC is under no obligation to keep him employed. If he causes the network to receive negative or poor reviews they can can him just as fast as CNN canned Connie Chung.

Edit: I heard that he has an offer from the Iraqi Information Ministry...

[ 03-31-2003, 01:19 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Ronn_Bman]

Well, he appologized on NBC's today, and with the next breath justified what he'd done. With a sincere apology, he'd still have a job. He basically apologized for being caught doing something wrong.

Pritch, we aren't talking about his reporting all sides of the issue. He wasn't reporting at all, he was giving a commentary while being interviewed by the state run Iraqi TV during a war. Nothing like helping the Iraqi government's propaganda tool.

Originally posted by MagiK: Hiho Moni. Nice to see ya back. Edit: I heard that he has an offer from the Iraqi Information Ministry...

[img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]
Hiho Magik

LOL on the edit...I doubt he'll take them up on that since their capability to air Iraqi TV went up in smoke this morning.

pritchke,
According to our officials, his remarks were completely unfounded.

From what I have heard from a friend who is in that part of the world, nothing that he said could have been further from the truth...having to adjust to unexpected tactics (i.e. the fake surrenders, suicide taxis, etc) was not a call to re-write the whole plan.

I saw his interview as something to fuel the Iraqi propaganda machine...something that should be done without the assistance of any American citizen.

EDIT: I just thought NBC might stand behind their own words...at least until it came time to renew his contract.

[ 03-31-2003, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Lil Lil ]

[pritchke]

Originally posted by MagiK: If he causes the network to receive negative or poor reviews they can can him just as fast as CNN canned Connie Chung.

NEWS is or should not be about negative, or poor ratings, if it is then they shold just put it on the sci-fi channel. As well just because something gets negative feed back doesn't mean the ratings will be poor, because people love to have things to complain about.

It is possible that his firing may have been warrented if he was not doing his job and what he was doing was a conflict of interest.

[ 03-31-2003, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

Originally posted by pritchke: NEWS is or should not be about negative, or poor ratings, if it is then they shold just put it on the sci-fi channel.

ROFL, there is more truth in that statement than you may have realized.

I'm still waiting to see CNN in the Sci-Fi listings. Oh my! Thank you!

[Timber Loftis]

Well, I do not know everything the guy said. And, while I disagree, fully half of the newspapers are reporting a "stalling" and "rewriting" of the war. So, it's sad he got canned for reporting first what everyone else is reporting now.

[Ronn_Bman]

Originally posted by Timber Loftis: Well, I do not know everything the guy said. And, while I disagree, fully half of the newspapers are reporting a "stalling" and "rewriting" of the war. So, it's sad he got canned for reporting first what everyone else is reporting now.

Again, Timber, he got canned NOT for his reports from Baghdad, but for his interview by Iraqi TV. They interviewed him, and he was more than happy to fulfill their propaganda quota for the day.

The Iraqi government is, and has been, a great fan of the unbiased nature of his work. That, in and of itself, says a lot about his work.

Originally posted by pritchke: NEWS is or should not be about negative, or poor ratings, if it is then they shold just put it on the sci-fi channel. As well just because something gets negative feed back doesn't mean the ratings will be poor, because people love to have things to complain about. It is possible that his firing may have been warrented if he was not doing his job and what he was doing was a conflict of interest.[/QB]

I understand what you are saying, but what you are saying bears no resemblence to the truth about broadcasting reality. NBC is a business, it exists to make money, if Pete makes them loose income, he is gone...period. They are under no onus to keep someone who does this kind of thing.