CNN's chief news executive, Eason Jordan, resigned last night in an effort to quell a bubbling controversy over his remarks about U.S. soldiers killing journalists in Iraq.
No definitive account of what Jordan said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 27 has been made public.
Blah blah a bunch of stuff we've read before
Several CNN staffers say Jordan, who was distraught about the controversy, saw the handwriting on the wall in tendering his resignation. But top executives are also said to have lost patience with the continuing gossip about Jordan, including his affair with Marianne Pearl, widow of the murdered reporter Daniel Pearl, and subsequent marital breakup.
Blogs operated by National Review Online, radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt and commentator Michelle Malkin were among those that began slamming Jordan last week after a Davos attendee posted an online account, but the establishment media was slow to pick up on the controversy.
Note that this column was edited to remove the reference to Marianne Pearl. The Seattle Times is one of the only places the original was posted. I don't know if the reference to his personal life is relevant or not, but it does seem to provide substantial evidence that the Easongate was just the straw that broke the camel's back, rather than any real victory for investigative reporting. It merely gave Eason's masters a means by which to rid themselves of a troublesome underling. |