From: pnmideast@igc.apc.org
Newsgroups: alt.discrimination
Date: 08 Sep 92 22:56 PDT
Subject: Kissinger & Rather Are Criticized
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1522100007:000:4097
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!pnmideast    Sep  8 22:56:00 1992


From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Kissinger & Rather Are Criticized

/* Written 11:18 pm  Aug 30, 1992 by peacenet in cdp:justice.comm */
/* ---------- "Kissinger & Rather Are Criticized" ---------- */
From: <peacenet>
Subject: Kissinger & Rather Are Criticized

From amuhammad Sun Aug 30 16:48:37 1992 From: Askia Muhammad
<amuhammad>

FROM CAPITOL HILL/8-27-92

CBS News, Kissinger, Rather Should Apologize

by Askia Muhammad

     Racial intolerance is surely on the rise. Race-hate-related

violence has, sadly, also increased.

     Unfortunately, however, unless those accused of racially

insensitive acts are Black, the acts are too often unreported,

under-reported, overlooked, or considered "not newsworthy."

     Consider the remarks recently of the Treasury Secretary

Nicholas Brady, speaking ON-THE-RECORD at the Godfrey Sperling

Breakfast in Washington, with more than two dozen reporters

present. The Bush Cabinet Secretary referred to Japanese people

as "Japs" in his speech that Thursday morning...a throwback to

1940s insensitivity.

     The sad thing is that only one reporter chose to even report

the insult. I guess it was one of those "you had to be there"

kind-of-events.  But when Rep. Norman Mineta (D-CA)--a

Congressmember who is of Japanese descent--called editors at the

New York Times, and Washington Post concerning the omission of

the insult in their published reports, Post editors said the

paper published: "everything we considered newsworthy."

     But that's not even the worst case scenario. Suppose the

offending parties are news editors themselves?

     Suppose CNN Anchor Bernard Shaw (who is Black) spoke at,

say...a Nation of Islam Dinner, and told the audience: "...you

can't really believe anything a White person says," how long

before Mr. Shaw would be in the unemployment line?

     Consider the patently offensive remarks recently by former

Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in his role as a CBS News

analyst at a June 3rd Jerusalem Foundation dinner in New York,

moderated by his "boss" CBS Evening News Managing Editor Dan

Rather. Sec. Kissinger, who sits on the CBS Board of Directors,

was joined on a panel at the $250 per-plate dinner by Mr. Rather

and long-time CBS News consultant and "in-house wise man" Fouad

Ajami.

     Well, former Secretary Kissinger (who is Jewish) joked at

the June 3rd dinner: "...you can't really believe anything an

Arab says." His sidekick Prof. Ajami (Lebanese-born) drew laughs

by making fun of Bedouin Arabs, belittling the Palestinian cause,

and by repeatedly proclaiming that Arabs were incapable of

practicing Democracy, all without surprise or retraction from

Rather who was moderator..."chairman, really of the evening,"

according to organizers.

     In fact, despite  numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions

to the contrary, Mr. Rather said that "many of us celebrate" 25

years of Jerusalem "under united Israeli rule." Not even the U.S.

recognizes Jerusalem as the "undivided" and "eternal" capital of

the Jewish state Israel.

     The entire Kissinger-Ajami-Rather-flap was discovered by the

media-watch group F.A.I.R.--Fairness and Accuracy In Media--and

first reported in an op-ed article in the San Francisco Examiner

by syndicated columnists Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon. Messrs.

Cohen and Solomon reported the insults after FAIR associate Sam

Husseini listened to a tape of the Jerusalem Foundation Dinner,

and examined a transcript of the more than 10,000 words of

unmitigated praise for Israel, along with continuing mockery of

Arabs...So much for "objectivity" and "even-handedness."

     At the very least Sec. Kissinger, Prof. Ajami and Mr. Rather

should apologize, not just to Arabs and other fair-minded people

who are insulted by their odious conduct, but they should also

apologize to the viewers of CBS News who presume that they are

receiving reports from open-minded balanced reports, edited by

officials who don't have a personal ax to grind. Or maybe the CBS

News should be labeled as personal opinions, or maybe as

propaganda.