Jack Kingston

Charlie Moore, CNN’s producer for Anderson Cooper 360, has a very interesting and intense post regarding their journey as embeds with the Hezbollah in Lebanon.

This is fascinating journalism. I don’t personally watch 360, but I’ve never heard great praise from conservatives that I trust for the show or its contributors. I’ve heard criticism that Anderson seems to overplay his emotions and is a sensationalist, particularly his coverage of Hurricane Katrina. (Note: I’m not leveling these criticisms, just pointing out what I’ve heard from others.)

After reading Charlie’s entry, a few observations:

Anderson is doing a few stand-ups, but the Hezbollah representative leading the tour is telling us it’s time to move on. We tell him we want to talk to some people who lived here, who witnessed what happened. “Not here,” he says. “Maybe at our next stop.”

We’re growing tired of what is now obviously a dog-and-pony show, but we decide to play along, and approach one driver with a few questions. Anderson asks him what kind of casualties he’s seeing, but before he can answer, the ambulance beside us turns on his siren and screeches out, followed by the next ambulance, then the next. It’s a well coordinated and not-so-subtle piece of propaganda that might as well come with a soundtrack titled “Hezbollah Cares.”

And perhaps most frightening (emphasis mine):

The concrete room is dimly lit and dank. Two people on plastic chairs are watching an Arabic news channel. One sits in the corner yelling angry epithets about Israel for the reporters. We wait for the media gaggle to leave, then introduce ourselves. They tell us they’re a mother, her son and his wife. There’s no way to know if it’s true. The conversation follows a familiar pattern:

“Are you scared?”

“No!”

“Will you fight?”

“To the death!”

“Do you hate Israel?”

“Of course, and its mother America!”

This last sentence is a clear indicator of the hatred Israel and her allies are up against in the Middle East. Israel knows all too well the stakes in the Global War on Terrorism. Hezbollah’s hatred is deep and it is frightening.

Many in the blogosphere have questioned why CNN would cater to Hezbollah and help terrorists amplify their propoganda. This post at least should be credited with shedding some light in to CNN’s perspective. We should hope that CNN and other western journalists will retain that clarity in their reporting of this conflict, and will keep the countless attacks on Israel in context with that reporting.

UPDATE (7/25; 8:09 AM): HotAir is talking about this issue here.