Columnist: Fox reporter kidnappings justified

RAW STORY
Published: Friday August 25, 2006

Conservatives are blasting a column circulating on the Internet, reportedly written by Mike Whitney, former program director of the Snohomish County Democrats of Washington State.

In the column, Whitney asks if abducted Fox News journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig should really be considered noncombatants. He writes:

"No one has violated the basic standards of journalistic integrity more consistently than FOX News. Their unwavering support for the war in Iraq demonstrates their blatant disregard for professional evenhandedness and neutrality. Dissenting opinions are scrupulously scrubbed from their broadcasts while the vulgar displays of jingoism and xenophobia are presented as "Fair and Balanced" coverage. On some FOX web sites it’s still possible to find articles which claim that Weapons of Mass Destruction were actually found in Iraq. No wonder nearly 50% of the American people still believe that Saddam posed a threat to our national security and that Bush’s illegal invasion was justified.

"If FOX is an essential part of the state propaganda-system which facilitates the war, then how can we absolve their employees from accountability? Doesn’t that make them legitimate targets for resistance organizations?

"Reporters are given immunity because their work is perceived to be beyond the activities of combatants. That rule cannot be applied to FOX. FOX is the corporate-arm of the war machine; a critical cog in the Pentagon’s information-management strategy. It is as indispensable to the smooth operation of the modern army as any of the high-tech weaponry or space-age gadgetry.

...

"The group which captured the two FOX employees did what they felt they had to do to address the egregious human rights abuses at American gulags at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. When peaceful means for acquiring justice are foreclosed, violence becomes inevitable."

Whitney argues that the captured Fox reporters should be treated as prisoners of war.

Cliff Kincaid, editor at the conservative media watchdog Accuracy In Media, issued a statement today claiming that Whitney's "attack on Fox News represents the pathological hatred that exists on the left for the channel because it dares to give conservatives some airtime."

Accuracy in Media claims that Whitney is "a popular left-wing writer."