The Vancouver Scrum

On the move!

Agh! You’re still here? My new site and weblog, ianking.ca is now up and running; new posts are building up over there, never to be mirrored here. Go! What are you waiting for? All the stuff worth keeping has been migrated over to the new server, and I don’t anticipate making any more posts here.

Bloggers and webmasters: Update your links! Simply replace vancouverscrum.blogspot.com with www.ianking.ca in your blogrolls or bookmarks to point to the new site. Old posts will remain on this server for as long as the people at Blogger/Google allow them to remain; unfortunately, I’m not going to bother to come up with any way of converting permalinks on this blog to their corresponding posts on the new site. Yes, I plead laziness. I also realize the irony of switching away from Blogger just it starts to add features that the demanding blog nerds insist upon.

Thanks for reading and linking, and see you over at ianking.ca!

—Ian King, December 13, 2004

Monday, March 31, 2003

 
Following his unceremonious dumping by National Geographic Explorer and NBC, veteran war correspondent Peter Arnett has signed on -- for now -- with the Daily Mirror His first report from Baghdad for the left-leaning London tab is basically his take on his notorious appearance on Iraqi state television. Here's a snippet of his piece:
The right-wing media and politicians are looking for any opportunity to be critical of the reporters who are here, whatever their nationality. I made the misjudgment which gave them the opportunity to do so.

I gave an impromptu interview to Iraqi television feeling that after four months of interviewing hundreds of them it was only professional courtesy to give them a few comments.

That was my Waterloo - bang!...

Some reporters make judgements but that is not my style. I present both sides and report what I see with my own eyes.

I don't blame NBC for their decision because they came under great commercial pressure from the outside.

And I certainly don't believe the White House was responsible for my sacking.

But I want to tell the story as best as I can, which makes it so disappointing to be fired.
Walter Cronkite, who knows a thing or two about war reporting, was not terribly kind to Arnett in this New York Times op-ed piece.

Here's the front cover of the Daily Mirror heralding Arnett's debut with the paper

Arnett's appearance on Iraqi state television and subsequent sacking will be debated endlessly in journalistic circles over the coming weeks. Should he have given the Iraqi propganda machine the interview? Should it really be a firing offence? Stay tuned.
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