...Eason Jordan's remarks, as reported, are highly irresponsible and repugnant. But it didn't start with him. The myth about the military targeting journalists in Iraq has a long history, dating back to the Hotel Palestine incident and beyond that to the as-yet unresolved deaths of the ITN crew. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who are willing to think the worst of the US military, and ascribe malicious intent to accidents of war. The head of CNN would appear to be one of them.

The Palestine incident was twice written up, by the Committee to Protect Journalists ("Permission to Fire") and Reporters Without Borders ("Two Murders and a Lie") in biased and sloppy reports that fuel this myth. So when Jordan tells congressmen the military targets journalists, he is only reflecting a view that has been given respectability by deeply concerned professional organizations that have been eagerly seeking out evidence of targeting, and when they can't find it, suggest it must be what happened anyway...

...I am also alarmed that the editor of a major media watchdog publication's web spinoff would cite a report titled "Two Murders and a Lie" (Reporters Without Borders, and apparently without standards) to support Jordan, as well as the similarly flawed "Permission to Fire," (Committee to Protect Journalists) both of which offer selectively reported and distorted views of the Palestine incident that are peppered with inaccuracies and speculation. There is no evidence to support accusations of either murder or lying in the Palestine incident...