Dan Rather in Doha
DOHA, QATAR—The best discussion at the Doha Forum today was the meeting on media and the press. (Yes, I’m a news junkie.) Still, heavy hitters such as Dan Rather, The Washington Post’s Robin Wright, Lebanese writer and professor Ramez Maalouf, and the BBC’s Brian Hanrahan, among others, drew fire from all sides. Accusations of the ...
DOHA, QATAR—The best discussion at the Doha Forum today was the meeting on media and the press. (Yes, I’m a news junkie.) Still, heavy hitters such as Dan Rather, The Washington Post’s Robin Wright, Lebanese writer and professor Ramez Maalouf, and the BBC’s Brian Hanrahan, among others, drew fire from all sides. Accusations of the U.S. media’s negligence to examine claims of WMD prior to the Iraq war were met with a swift rationale from Rather:
DOHA, QATAR—The best discussion at the Doha Forum today was the meeting on media and the press. (Yes, I’m a news junkie.) Still, heavy hitters such as Dan Rather, The Washington Post’s Robin Wright, Lebanese writer and professor Ramez Maalouf, and the BBC’s Brian Hanrahan, among others, drew fire from all sides. Accusations of the U.S. media’s negligence to examine claims of WMD prior to the Iraq war were met with a swift rationale from Rather:
I do not except myself from criticism. We made mistakes…. We strive to reach a high standard, and we failed to reach those standards in the run-up to war. But you cannot underestimate the effect that 9/11 had on the press…. I’m an American. My principal responsibility is to report to the American people. When the country suffers, it will have an effect on our ability to meet our own high standards.
You can’t help but imagine how Katie Couric will handle such sensitive issues.
Another provocative moment came when a U.S. diplomat posed the question to Western broadcasters of whether, had some 9/11-type horrific event happened in say, Cairo, Beirut, or Riyadh, and they found themselves holding a bin Laden tape a few months later, they would air it. With Al Jazeera under fire for doing so in the past, the question addressed some of the subtle claims of double standards. Here’s how some of them replied:
“I think Americans would do something very similar to what Al Jazeera has done. Perhaps show the image without sound.”—Robin Wright
“I would take a look at it. I would ask, ‘Is it news? Are there any new facts or insights? Is there something new about his appearance?’ It wouldn’t be automatic. But I would give it high consideration.”—Dan Rather
"I don’t know. You try to make your rules during peace…not during war time.”—Brian Hanrahan.
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