An Open letter to...
Walter Isaacson, Chairman & CEO CNN News Group
Dear Mr. Isaacson,
Thank you for having your news chief Eason Jordan announce that CNN plans to air a series called ?Victims of Terror? which will focus on Israeli families who have suffered from Islamic homicide bombers. The news item also stated that your reporter has been urged to refrain from airing statements by the terrorists and their families as a counter balance. Though your move is a first step toward ending the inexcusable blurring of perpetrator and victim, I am curious to know what brought about this change in CNN policy: Was it your founder, Ted Turner?s recent remarks equating Israeli self-defense with terrorist suicide bombings that made you consider that your coverage has finally gone overboard? (I know you were quick to disassociate your company from Turner?s remarks. However, Mr. Isaacson, in the minds of millions of viewers Turner still = CNN).
Maybe the millions of protest emails, letters and phone-calls over the past 21 months from irate Jews and Christians influenced your decision? Personally, I think what brought you around to consider more balanced reporting was the good old capitalistic threat known as BOYCOTT, which would hurt your viewer ratings and your corporate ?bottom line?.
Until now your bean counters probably figured there are a billion Muslims in the world of which 300 million are Arabs vs. 13 million Jews of whom barely half are really committed. Obviously, your advertising revenue sympathies are going to lie with the bigger numbers. But then, a little Israeli satellite TV Company announces that it is adding Fox News to its daily broadcast schedule as an alternative to CNN. You also hear reports that some cable companies are to follow suit and have started negotiations with this same competitor, a Rupert Murdoch-owned channel.
You also realize that you no longer have the same monopoly you once had on instant information. The majority of your Arab viewers rely upon Al Jazeera for their news in Arabic and not your little CNN Arabic language spin off. Furthermore, with the increased use of e-mail and internet you no longer have a monopoly on instant news in English either. You know there are tens of millions of viewers out there who know the difference between a freedom fighter and a brainwashed homicide bomber who targets grandmothers and their grandchildren. At present, you are only feeling the small ripples of a few pebbles thrown into your vast corporate pond. Nevertheless, with the ready availability of alternative news sources to reach and influence a wide audience instantly you are afraid that millions of good people out there who know the difference between right and wrong will just turn you off by switching the channel.
Could that be the reason you dispatched Eason Jordan to meet with Israel Minister of Communications Ruby Rivlin? Was it an attempt at damage control? The sequence of these events leads me to come to this conclusion. However, I would certainly like to believe that morality and conscience have led you to turn this new leaf. The real reasons behind your decision to air this series on "Victims of Terror" will only be known after the public examines the CNN Mideast coverage that will follow this series.
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George M. Stanislavski,
An American citizen living in Jerusalem, who still rides buses, goes to synagogue, eats in restaurants and visits hotels.
Walter Isaacson, Chairman & CEO CNN News Group
Dear Mr. Isaacson,
Thank you for having your news chief Eason Jordan announce that CNN plans to air a series called ?Victims of Terror? which will focus on Israeli families who have suffered from Islamic homicide bombers. The news item also stated that your reporter has been urged to refrain from airing statements by the terrorists and their families as a counter balance. Though your move is a first step toward ending the inexcusable blurring of perpetrator and victim, I am curious to know what brought about this change in CNN policy: Was it your founder, Ted Turner?s recent remarks equating Israeli self-defense with terrorist suicide bombings that made you consider that your coverage has finally gone overboard? (I know you were quick to disassociate your company from Turner?s remarks. However, Mr. Isaacson, in the minds of millions of viewers Turner still = CNN).
Maybe the millions of protest emails, letters and phone-calls over the past 21 months from irate Jews and Christians influenced your decision? Personally, I think what brought you around to consider more balanced reporting was the good old capitalistic threat known as BOYCOTT, which would hurt your viewer ratings and your corporate ?bottom line?.
Until now your bean counters probably figured there are a billion Muslims in the world of which 300 million are Arabs vs. 13 million Jews of whom barely half are really committed. Obviously, your advertising revenue sympathies are going to lie with the bigger numbers. But then, a little Israeli satellite TV Company announces that it is adding Fox News to its daily broadcast schedule as an alternative to CNN. You also hear reports that some cable companies are to follow suit and have started negotiations with this same competitor, a Rupert Murdoch-owned channel.
You also realize that you no longer have the same monopoly you once had on instant information. The majority of your Arab viewers rely upon Al Jazeera for their news in Arabic and not your little CNN Arabic language spin off. Furthermore, with the increased use of e-mail and internet you no longer have a monopoly on instant news in English either. You know there are tens of millions of viewers out there who know the difference between a freedom fighter and a brainwashed homicide bomber who targets grandmothers and their grandchildren. At present, you are only feeling the small ripples of a few pebbles thrown into your vast corporate pond. Nevertheless, with the ready availability of alternative news sources to reach and influence a wide audience instantly you are afraid that millions of good people out there who know the difference between right and wrong will just turn you off by switching the channel.
Could that be the reason you dispatched Eason Jordan to meet with Israel Minister of Communications Ruby Rivlin? Was it an attempt at damage control? The sequence of these events leads me to come to this conclusion. However, I would certainly like to believe that morality and conscience have led you to turn this new leaf. The real reasons behind your decision to air this series on "Victims of Terror" will only be known after the public examines the CNN Mideast coverage that will follow this series.
---------------------------
George M. Stanislavski,
An American citizen living in Jerusalem, who still rides buses, goes to synagogue, eats in restaurants and visits hotels.