Reporters worked for Saddam and Arafat - but the Media Elite ignored it

First, the Washington press corps became exorcised about the news that a conservative columnist was secretly paid by the Bush Administration to promote its education policy. Next came the news that one or more liberal bloggers who just happened to support Howard Dean's candidacy for U.S. President were actually funded, in part, by the Dean campaign. Cries of "unethical journalism!" abounded. Well, excuse me, but how about the "journalists" in the Arab world who were either on Saddam's or Arafat's payroll? Why hasn't the media seen fit to pursue those secret arrangements and admit that perhaps those payments twisted the coverage of those two thugs by Westeern media?

Regular readers of this blog might remember one of our first posts, which referred to a report from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy that revealed that Arab journalist Hamida Nahnah was clearly influenced in favor of Saddam Hussein's regime by her receipt of Oil-for-Food vouchers. She is found on tape to announce to Saddam's son, Uday," "The campaign to defend Saddam's regime is about to start worldwide, thanks to the support." And a report in today's Jerusalem Post outlines how numerous "reporters" for major Western media have been, in fact, on the payroll of the Palestinian Authority. Palestinian journalist Majida al-Batsh was reporting for the French news agency, Agence France-Presse (AFP) while she was also on the payroll of the PA's official organ, Al-Ayyam. Adel Zanoun eported for AFP while serving as the chief reporter in the Gaza Strip for the PA's Voice of Palestine radio station. And, quoting from the JP report, "The Associated Press also has a journalist – Muhammad Daraghmeh – who works for the PA's Al-Ayyam."

How can we believe that the reporting of these agencies with respect to Saddam and his Iraq, or Arafat and the entire Palestinian Authority, is fair and balanced when there have been so many conflicts of interest? Don't they realize that they are inviting another "CBS Memogate," and a further erosion of thier credibility? ALL of these conflicts, including "journalists" who are paid by the Israeli government, if there are any, must be disclosed and then halted. Reporters, heal thyselves.