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PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. Christian Parenti dares criticize the Ministry of Halliburton.

Fear and Favor at the PBS NewsHour | March 18, 2004 FAIR.org

According to the Voice report, producers for the show suggest that Parenti's mistake was referring to the Halliburton contracts. The Voice quoted NewsHour senior producer Michael Mosettig saying: "This was not reportage, this was giving his opinion, and that's not why we brought him on." Mossetig's deputy, Dan Sagalyn, told the Voice that Parenti's comments lacked "balance."

The remarks seem to have gotten Parenti virtually blacklisted from the show. "I would have liked to have him on again... but because of this it would be very hard," Sagalyn told Cotts. "When you have a loose-cannon experience with somebody, you're going to be wary," Mossetig said.

It would be understandable for the NewsHour to be concerned with the accuracy of comments made by any guest; that would be responsible journalism. But the show is not claiming Parenti said anything inaccurate. Instead, the show seems to be saying that journalists shouldn't give opinions on the show.

[...]

In September 2002 (9/20/02), Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld claimed in an interview with Lehrer that Iraq "threw the [U.N.] inspectors out" in 1998, and that in 1990 Iraq had plans for "invading Saudi Arabia, which they were ready to do." Both assertions are false, and neither was challenged by Lehrer. Despite the fact that hundreds of FAIR activists wrote to the NewsHour to point out Rumsfeld's distortions (see FAIR action alert, 9/20/02), Lehrer made no attempt to correct the record.

Read the entire article: FAIR.org

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