PEARL AND SWINE

The movie about beheaded U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl goes on general release next week.It is called "The Mighty Heart." Pearl was executed because he was a journalist seeking truth, trying to expose wrong; In this case a link between Al-Qaeda and the Pakistani security service.That was in 2002.

This year alone,and it's only June, over 50 journalists and their assistants have been killed. Nearly 130 have been jailed and in a new form of terror against the press, nearly 70 so-called cyberdissidents have been imprisoned. Just take a look at where the assassinations continue to occur. (Note:a special thanks to the CPJ for the statistics):
RUSSIA: Under Vladimir Putin, 11 journalists have been murdered in the last five years. None of the cases has been solved.
PAKISTAN:Eight (including Pearl) killed over five years.
IRAQ:115 Iraqi journalists, 72 per cent categorized as murder, including reporters killed because they were women.
COLOMBIA:40 murdered in the last five years.

Few of the names are a famous as Pearl's but they all stood for pursuit of truth and died for it.

Someone should tell the CBS Evening News what truth in journalism means and explain that half-truths and innuendos might get higher ratings but insult all of those whom we remember lying in their graves having tried to tell the truth.

The story I'm talking about ran high in the line-up on June 11. Clearly it was a CBS attention-grabber. It sounded like there had been a dramatic new development in the hunt for a cure for Alzheimer's. In this newscast all the data about this pitiful disease was good.At least that's the spin CBS gave it. I thought I mis-heard. Did he say "might"? Did he say "could"? If so the whole story would be a gross over-hyped distortion, a desk-designed sleight of hand. So I went to the transcript. Be disgusted along with me if you believe in truth, and weep with me at a dishevelled network that'll get the audiences'attention at any price...as long as it does cost them their lives. (The capitals in the following edited extract are mine.)

CBS:For the first time, scientists are TARGETING what THEY BELIEVE MAY be a root cause of Alzheimer's: brain damage from clumps of a protein called beta-amyloid.

“We COULD be QUITE CLOSE to slowing or stopping the progression of disease,” said Dr. Paul Aisen of Georgetown University said.

There's other PROMISING news: Improvements have been made in diagnosing the disease through brain scans and blood tests.

Doctors BELIEVE THEY WILL ONE DAY approach Alzheimer's the way they do heart disease — by identifying who is at risk and prescribing drugs and lifestyle changes to keep them healthy." CBS News, June 11, 2007.

That is not journalism. It is cynical exaggeration, speculation and manipulation of a story that has no cold,hard facts. And the credibility of journalists sinks a little lower.

This is not what Daniel Pearl died for. Nor did those other brave, dead souls who held the sword of truth in our name.