Those who couldn't wait to lambast Jill Carroll for statements she made shortly after her release from kidnappers should be ashamed. Irresponsible journalists have no business second guessing Carroll's integrity and broadcasting their defaming conjectures without checking the facts.
So what else is new, right? We should be used to this kind of hack "reporting". Not one of these so-called journalists has half the courage Jill showed by putting herself in danger daily in her quest to tell the Iraqi side of the war story.
Yet, instead of lauding her and celebrating this young woman's release, they maligned her for statements she was coerced to make by her kidnappers and, later, fearing retribution from her captors, in a TV interview (she was promised would not be aired) with the Iraqi Islamic Party. She was further erroneously accused of refusing to travel and cooperate with the U.S. military and U.S. officials.
One can only imagine what Carroll has been through these past months. I doubt she ever dreamed she could be greeted by her professional peers with such disdain.
Maybe the real mistake she made was that she survived. If she hadn't, CNN and MSNBC could have spent days--who knows? maybe weeks!--lauding her as a hero, running hour upon hour of looped Jill Carroll videos, interviewing her friends and distraught family, and elevating her career as a courageous reporter to the level of sainthood. (Imagine the ratings! And what a great distraction from Bushie's problems! Darn that girl. What did she have to go and get released for? Bor-ing. What a drag.)
Honestly. How do these people sleep at night?
Photo credit: FREE AT LAST: Jill Carroll, shortly after her release after 82 days as a hostage in Baghdad. (Scott Peterson/Getty Images)
For an update that is based on facts instead of fantasy, see the following:
- Jill Carroll forced to make propaganda video as price of freedom | csmonitor.com (March 31, 2006)
- Jill Carroll: finally free | csmonitor.com (March 31, 2006)
- Helping Jill interpret Iraq | csmonitor.com (March 31, 2006)
- Almost three months of captivity | csmonitor.com (March 31, 2006)
- Statements from the Monitor and the Carrolls: 'Today is a day of rejoicing' | csmonitor.com (March 31, 2006)
- What it took from the hearts of many people to free Jill Carroll | csmonitor.com (March 31, 2006)
- Jill Carroll statement| csmonitor.com (April 1, 2006)
- Hands Off Jill Carroll
Technorati tags: Jill Carroll, Iraq, hostage, Christian Science Monitor, Allan Enwiya, news, commentary
6 comments:
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES, WORDS OF WISDOM. WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A JOURNALIST? A STRINGER. ONE STORY WRITTEN IN TWO YEARS. GIVE ME A BREAK. TO TELL THE IRAQUI SIDE OF THE STORY. DON'T WE ALREADY KNOW IT AFTER THREE YEARS AND OVER 2,400 U.S. MILITARY DEAD?
AJS
Ignorance is as Ignorance does, as well. And your ignorance is showing. If you recall, Iraqi's weren't the enemy--Saddam was. We attacked a country of no threat to us. GET it? Maybe you had best go back into your Bush Bubble. There aren't too many of you left these days.
YOU'RE MISSINGTHE WHOLE POINT. WE ARE AT WAR, LIKE IT OR NOT. I JUST DON'T SEE PUTTING YOURSELF IN DANGER FOR THE SAKE OF A NEWS REPORT, IF SHE WANTED TO THAT SHE COULD HAVE JOIN THE MILITARY. BUSH HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING ABOUT ME. I SERVED FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS; 1963-1984 AND 1989 ON A RECALL.
AJS
I couldn't disagree more.
Without a vibrant, free press and journalists willing to report on subjects that may put them in danger, we would never know the truth and would be unable to make responsible, informed decisions and opinions about anything.
Without the courage of people like Jill, democracy would not survive. Free speech and freedom of the press are all that stand between the people and totalitarianism. Jill has chosen to serve her country by reporting the truth. Her profession is as necessary, maybe even more so, than the military.
Life, people, nations--nothing is black and white. Bush and others of his ilk try to make us think so in order to manipulate our thinking. It's dangerous stuff. Thank God there are enough people out there like Jill Carroll who DO risk their lives to make sure we have access to the truth.
THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS "FREE PRESS". DO YOU KNOW THAT OVER 97% OF NEWSPAPER PUBLICATIONS ARE OWNED BY ONE PERSON? SO, NOW SHE CAN REPORT THE REAL STORY? WHAT? SHE'S LUCKY SHE CAME BACK WITH HER HEAD. AND WE MAKE OUR DECISIONS BY READING AND WATCHING, NOT BY WHAT ONE PERSON SAYS (BUSH) YOU SAY. YOU ARE THE TYPICAL AMERICAN, TOO EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED, SUCH AS THE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION WHICH IS SUFFOCATING OUR SCHOOL, MEDICAL AND OTHER SERVICES SYSTEMS, YOU PROBABLY SAY LET THEM ALL IN. NO RHYME OR REASON. JUST EMOTIONAL WISHWASH.
AJS
AJ, you contradict yourself and your facts are simply untrue. First, Jill Carroll was a freelance journalist -- she does not work for corporate America. Second, she and others with like integrity are all that keep our press somewhat free. You are correct that most of it is BS, controlled by corporations. That being so, how do you make decisions "BY READING AND WATCHING, NOT BY WHAT ONE PERSON SAYS?" Don't you see the problem?? Third, I have written extensively on the immigration issue, and you obviously have not read what I have written, which tells me that it is YOU who are emotional about things, not I, and you are not ready to participate in any kind of constructive debate. Let's just agree to disagree and move on.
Post a Comment