Greenwald's charges center around a documentary made last
year about the democratic uprisings in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain called
“iRevolution: Online Warriors of the Arab
Spring”. The documentary, which
Greenwald describes as “unflinching”, centered on pro-democracy activists in
the tiny kingdom and was highly critical of the heavy-handed government
response, which ultimately put down the democratic uprising. The Bahraini regime was criticized
internationally for their methods, which included the mass arrests of
protesters (including doctors who were attempting to help injured
demonstrators) and the use of deadly force against unarmed and peaceful
protesters. The CNN documentary crew
themselves were even detained at gunpoint by pro-regime forces intent on
disrupting their attempts at telling the story of the pro-democracy activists.
“iRevolution: Online Warriors of
the Arab Spring” would go on to garner critical praise along with a number of
journalism awards. Yet despite this praise, CNN's domestic network would air
the documentary only once, while CNN's international broadcasting arm, CNNi, the
outlet for which “iRevolution: Online Warriors of the Arab Spring” was
originally produced, would not air the documentary at all. The lead journalist on “iRevolution”, Amber
Lyon, complained to CNN's upper management about the network's refusal to air the
documentary. Despite being groomed by
CNN to become one of their star on-air personalities, Lyon was laid off by CNN
earlier this spring after her complaints about CNN's internal censorship became
public.
CNN, of course, has denied any
attempt at censorship, noting that they have aired many stories about the
uprising in Bahrain (just not “iRevolution” apparently). But it is here, and in a companion piece,
that Greenwald lays out his most serious charge against CNN – that CNN has
entered into a number of paid partnerships with governments around the world
and that CNN is allowing these partnerships to color their reporting from and
about these countries.
The CNN “partnerships” with the
governments of countries like Kazakhstan, Georgia and Bahrain has led to the
production of a series of quasi-journalistic fluff pieces: reports that are
meant to look like genuine CNN reporting – using CNN
journalists/personalities - but that in reality are public relations spots that
allow the “partner” countries to put their best foot forward, with no
contrasting viewpoints offered by CNN's stable of journalists. For example, a
series of paid reports aired under the “Eye on Lebanon” banner were touted by
Lebanon's Tourism Minister not for their journalistic merit, but rather as a
way “to market Lebanon as a tourism destination.”
It's not surprising then to note
that CNN has a long-standing partnership arrangement with Bahrain though the Bahrain
Economic Development Board, the governmental agency responsible for promoting
Bahrain to the world. CNN has included Bahrain in their “Eye on...” country
series, among other paid-for network programming. It is not surprising then
that CNN has been reluctant to air a documentary that is so critical of the
Bahrani royal family.
There is an inherent tension
between advertising and journalism, with the open question always being if the
news organization will shy away from coverage that could reflect negatively on
their sponsors. But what Greenwald
describes at CNN is something different, the countries in question aren't
merely buying commercial spots on CNN, they are, in effect, directly paying for
positive coverage of their countries. Worse still, the shelving of
“iRevolution” and the subsequent dismissal of Amber Lyon is troubling evidence
that CNN is willing to let these sponsorships affect their journalistic
judgment beyond the paid-for beauty spots.
It is a troubling accusation to make against what has long been one of
the most-trusted names in modern journalism, and is a sign of how far CNN has
fallen from their own glory days.
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