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HOW A 'FREE PRESS' OPERATES
Veteran
reporter sacked
NEW YORK —NBC fired veteran reporter Peter Arnett Monday, saying it was wrong for him to give an interview with Iraqi TV in which he said the American-led coalition's initial plan for the war had failed because of Iraq's resistance. 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 [non-Jewish-controlled] Iraqi TV, especially at a time of war," NBC spokes-woman 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. 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 patriotism 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 pointed out U.S. claims that civilians killed in an explosion at a downtown Baghdad market were the victims of Iraqi missiles were false, and that the missiles were definitely incoming coalition fire. "President Bush says he is concerned about the Iraqi people, but if Iraqi people are dying in numbers, then American policy will be challenged very strongly," he 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. He said reports from Baghdad on civilians being killed are being shown in the United States, and "it helps those who oppose the war when you challenge the policy to develop their arguments." 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. In the April 5 issue of TV Guide, Arnett said he "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? Arnett has covered 20 wars in his long career and has received numerous awards and citations for his reporting. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists, which tries to locate missing journalists. "I'd like to say from the beginning that the 12 years I've been coming here," Arnett said at the start of his interview, "I've met unfailing courtesy and cooperation, courtesy from your people and cooperation from the Ministry of Information." Last night the ministry building was attacked with a record number of U.S. bombs. Whether it was timed to coincide with the Arnett interview is unclear. Arnett himself remained unharmed. There were no immediate reports of casualties among other foreign journalists during last night's attack.
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