Posted 12:45 PM by Blah blah

Transcript of Peter Arnett interview on Iraqi TV (CNN). In war the first casualty is always the truth.

Correction: Peter Arnett worked for National Geographic's "Explorer" program (which airs on MSNBC), and NBC had struck a deal with National Geographic for him to cover the war for NBC News. MSNBC has deleted Arnett's Baghdad Diary from its website! I don't think I'll ever watch MSNBC again. Arnett was one of the few Western television reporters remaining in Baghdad providing coverage for a U.S. network.

Here's what National Geographic said about it. I called the National Geographic Society to complain: 800-NGS-LINE (800-647-5463). A person answered the customer service line. I couldn't get through with the NBC and Fox phone lines. I have never called or written a TV show or studio in my life.

Auto Email Reply from NBC

Just got this automatic reply to my letter:

Thank you for your thoughtful comments about Peter Arnett. He will not report for MSNBC again. Granting an interview to Iraqi TV was wrong and the commentary within the interview was disgraceful. As you may know, Arnett did not work directly for MSNBC and NBC. And now he will no longer even appear as an on-scene correspondent.

Sincerely,

Erik Sorenson
President, GM
MSNBC

My Letter to National Geographic Explorer, NBC News, and Fox News

To: Natgeoexplorer@msnbc.com, ngt@nationalgeographic.com, comments@foxnews.com, Today@NBC.com, weekendtoday@nbc.com, Nightly@NBC.com, Dateline@NBC.com, MTP@NBC.com, viewerservices@msnbc.com, countdown@msnbc.com
Subject: Upset at National Geographic and NBC's Firing of Peter Arnett
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2003 12:39:33 -0800 (PST)

Dear National Geographic Explorer, NBC News, Fox News:

I was very upset on reading your story about National Geographic Explorer, NBC, and MSNBC firing Peter Arnett.

For the record, I am a moderate and reluctantly pro-war. I support Blair's vision of the world, not Bush's. I am not rabidly for or against the war.

Yet this obvious flag-waving and censorship of Arnett, a great journalist who is loyal to neither side but the truth, SERIOUSLY bothers me. Also, if you check out MSNBC.com, most of the columnists there with blogs are very pro-war and pro-Bush.

I'm asking my friends to support me on this letter I'm sending to National Geographic, NBC News, and Fox News.

To me, what Peter Arnett said makes me TRUST him more. It's a sign of what makes him a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter. Journalists don't work for the U.S. government. They are not supposed to shade the truth or lie, like diplomats. They are supposed to say what they observe, whether it is favorable or unfavorable to you or NOT! What Arnett said was old news and had been widely reported in the New Yorker, New York Times, and Washington Post. It had been said by former U.S. generals commenting on national TV. People admit that U.S. officials underestimated the extent of Iraqi military resistance. Big deal.

Plus he said there was growing opposition to the war in the U.S. Again---not exactly anything that violates national security. Arnett never reported on secret troop movements, for instance. In fact, if American war planners had listened to Arnett's reporting beforehand, they might have avoided making some of their costly mistakes that we now must confront.

His only "mistake" was saying, on Iraqi TV, things that the U.S. press had been talking about for days! For me, to be able to report facts that might be unfavorable to your country is a sign to ALL Iraqis of the benefit of something we are supposed to have: a free press. That should be a POSITIVE thing and a proud thing for me as an American.

I also notice that most of the columnists for MSNBC, the ones with blogs, such as Glenn Reynolds, are strongly pro-war and pro-Bush.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle: "The interview sent Fox News' John Gibson into an apoplectic fit of moral outrage...'Is he on the Iraqi side?' Gibson demanded...'His comments seem to be supporting the Iraqi regime,' Gibson fumed, adding Arnett 'seems to be encouraging Iraqi resistance.' He ratcheted that up later with this: 'Arnett seemed to cheer the Iraqi resistance.' Gibson's less-than-veiled anti-American wink-wink to viewers continued as he suggested Arnett 'seems to have the run of Iraq.' Later: 'Peter Arnett is live in Baghdad and we may now know why.' "

I am shocked at and ashamed of National Geographic, Fox News, and NBC News. Unless National Geographic and NBC rehire Arnett, my friends and I refuse to watch NBC, MSNBC, and Fox for any more war coverage, and we refuse to read National Geographic because of their obvious pro-war, pro-Bush bias.