Daryn Kagan defends CNN Mideast editor, fired last week for Twitter message
July 12, 2010, by Rodney Ho
A CNN senior editor for Mideast Affairs lost her job last week after a Twitter message in which she expressed respect for a Lebanese cleric the U.S. considered a terrorist.
Octavia Nasr’s later apology on Twitter clarifying her original note didn’t help save her job.
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Atlanta-based Daryn Kagan, who left CNN in 2006 to start her own good news operation, fired off a vehement defense of her former colleague last Thursday. Here’s an excerpt:
Here’s the inside scoop for you: Inside CNN, this woman isn’t some firebrand extremist. She is simply, “Octavia,” one of the most delightful, smart women you can have the pleasure to know. I am proud to call her my friend. As someone who was born in Lebanon, fluent not only in 3 languages, but fluent in both Western and Arab cultures, she is a brilliant asset in putting news from the Mideast in perspective. As CNN struggles to figure out what it is these days, it does hang onto the idea of original reporting. Few could do this better than Octavia. When I was a CNN anchor, I was so thankful that her desk was just over my right shoulder. New tape from Osama bin Laden? Terrorist suspect arrested? War? Factions? Threatening chatter on insurgent websites? No one could put this into perspective better than Octavia.
Do not be fooled. To let her go is a huge loss to CNN.
Kagan contends CNN runs on fear, fear of offending people.
It’s CNN’s bigger problem that CNN wants to deny reality. I, too, used to drink the Kool-Aid that it was a top journalism operation that reports without bias. Now that I’m outside the walls of traditional media, I know there is no such thing. Every single person who walks through those doors comes with their own life experience, values, point of view, and yes, unavoidable bias. That’s not a bad thing, unless, of course, you pretend it’s not true. CNN thinks by quickly pulling the trigger on one woman’s 140 character thought it shows the world, “We don’t think like that.”
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About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
