"The Fairfax Press and SBS TV, aided by the ABC, have been obsessed with the story of Australian Commandos involved in a botched raid that resulted in the unintentional killing of five Afghan civilians last year - but that is another story. Meanwhile, it would appear that ABC cameraman Paul Moran’s role in selling the Iraq war that has caused so much death and destruction has slipped under the radar."
The Australian public, including Mrs Shelley Kovco, the widow of Australian soldier, Private Jake Kovco, have a right to know about Moran's activities.
Extract:
www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/library/wf-202.htm
The Man Who Sold the War
Meet John Rendon, Bush's general in the propaganda war
Rolling Stone/Nov. 17, 2005
James Bamford's November 17th, 2005 profile of John Rendon, "The Man Who Sold the War," (RS988) won the 2006 National Magazine Award in the reporting category.
For the worldwide broadcast rights, Sethna contacted Paul Moran, an Australian freelancer who frequently worked for the Australian Broadcasting Corp. "I think I've got something that you would be interested in," he told Moran, who was living in Bahrain. Sethna knew he could count on the trim, thirty-eight-year-old journalist: A former INC employee in the Middle East, Moran had also been on Rendon's payroll for years in "information operations," working with Sethna at the company's London office on Catherine Place, near Buckingham Palace.
------------------------------------------------
STORY:
You are welcome to leave your comments or feedback, either positive or negative, about this story at www.onlineopinion.com.au
Unlike the Fairfax Press, SBS and ABC, we welcome an open debate on Australia's defence and national security issues.
On Line Opinion - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10968&page=0
Wilkie or Wilkie not ask for an ABC inquiry?
By Sasha Uzunov - Tuesday, 14 September 2010 !
Ex-Australian Army officer turned independent politician Andrew Wilkie is regarded as a brave man who resigned as an intelligence analyst over the 2003 Iraq War. He is now in a unique position as a member of the newly formed ALP-Green-Independents-federal coalition government to call for an inquiry into the controversial ABC TV camera man Paul Moran who was killed in Iraq.
Wilkie resigned as an analyst with the Office of National Assessment (ONA), an intelligence organisation that directly services Australia’s Prime Minister, disagreeing with claims made by the then Howard government about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the reasons for going to war.
One of those killed in that war was Paul Moran, who helped to publicise the WMD story, which we now know was a complete fabrication. Wilkie has the opportunity to press for a parliamentary inquiry into the ABC’s employment of Moran and possible conflict of interest.
Moran, 39, was killed on March 22, 2003 by a car bomb while covering the war in Northern Iraq for the tax payer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC TV). He was an Adelaide-raised freelance cameraman who worked on and off for the ABC as well as US public relations firm Rendon, which had ties to the CIA and the Bush Administration.
Walkely Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Colin James, of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, was the first to break the story about Moran’s shadowy past when he attended Moran’s wake in Adelaide.
He talked to relatives who revealed that Moran had a James Bond other life.
“For a freelance cameraman, Moran sure had some incredible access to US State Department officials in Washington,” Mr James said. “How many freelancers get to play games of social tennis with US diplomats?”
Moran had worked for Rendon for more than a decade in places like the Middle East and Kosovo, pushing US government spin while doing freelance work for the ABC TV as a combat cameraman.
On November 17, 2005 prominent American journalist, academic and former US Navy intelligence analyst James Bamford wrote in the influential American magazine Rolling Stone a detailed account of Moran’s work with Rendon and its link to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its selling of the Iraq War to the American public.
The controversy surrounding Moran stems from his exclusive story about an Iraqi defector who had knowledge about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program. A Rendon colleague gave him the scoop which turned out to be false, but was a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq, according to Bamford.
The Australian cameraman also helped to set up a television station for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was established by the US as an opposition group to the Saddam Hussein regime.
In 2006 the then ABC’s Managing Director, Mr Russell Balding, was approached and asked if he would launch an internal inquiry into the Moran allegations. Mr Shane Wells, his spokesman, said there would be no comment. The Moran story remains a hot potato.
Feisty, tough Maltese-Australian journalist, Monica Attard, host of the ABC’s Media Watch, dared to criticise then ABC TV news boss Max Uechtritz in his refusal to answer questions about Moran.
"The story was followed up by some parts of the media, but not by the ABC. It should have been." ("Death in Baghdad", Media Watch, April 14, 2003.)
The irony of all this is Uechtritz, now with Al Jazeera network, complained to The Age newspaper on June 30, 2003 about freedom of speech after coming under attack from the then Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, for alleged biased reporting by the ABC over the Iraq war.
“It is the duty of independent journalists in a robust democracy to question everything,” Uechtritz wrote. “The senator seems to think the media's duty in time of war is to fall meekly into line with the government of the day.”
Uechtritz was contacted at his Al Jazeera email address for comment on Moran but after many months there has been no response.
Last year, Sally Neighbour, a self-appointed national security expert who was employed as an ABC reporter while working for The Australian a commercially owned newspaper, ran a story about Moran without any reference to the CIA allegations and quoted fellow ABC journalist Mark Corcoran, a hugely respected journalist and genuine media tough guy who previously served in the Royal Australian Navy and super secret Defence Signals Directorate.
Neighbour wrote:
"Why has there been no investigation into the murder?" asks Mark Corcoran, presenter and veteran reporter with ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program. "As of December 2009, I have still not seen any evidence of an investigation, either formally or informally, by any Australian official."
Mr Chris Warren, the Federal Secretary of the Media Entertainment Alliance of Australia (Australian Journalists Association) has asked Australia's Federal Attorney-General to investigate Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, and his links to UN-listed terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam, as the mastermind who allegedly ordered the car bomb that killed Moran..
The Moran case has been linked by some ABC reporters to the highly emotive Balibo Five, Australian-based newsmen and crew killed by Indonesian troops during the 1975 takeover of East Timor. But the Balibo Five had no links to a foreign intelligence agency and launching a war crimes trial against Mullah Krekar could backfire.
It could open up a can of worms. Under the Geneva Convention, journalists in war zones are afforded some protection as non-combatants. However:
Article 29 - A person can only be considered a spy when, acting clandestinely or on false pretences, he obtains or endeavours to obtain information in the zone of operations of a belligerent with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party.
Thus, soldiers not wearing a disguise who have penetrated into the zone of operations of the hostile army, for the purpose of obtaining information, are not considered spies. Similarly, the following are not considered spies: soldiers and civilians carrying out their mission openly, entrusted with the delivery of despatches intended either for their own army or for the enemy's army. To this class belong likewise persons sent in balloons for the purpose of carrying despatches and, generally, of maintaining communications between the different parts of an army or a territory.
The definition of a spy given in this Article remains completely valid since the Geneva Convention contains no similar provision. However, a spy is also a protected person in so far as he conforms to the definition given in Article 4 of the Fourth Convention. Under Article 5 of the Convention, the spy may nevertheless be deprived temporarily of certain rights, particularly the right of communication.
Article 30 - A spy taken in the act shall not be punished without previous trial.
Moran was “killed in action” by a car bomb; he was neither surrendering nor was he captured. The next question is do we prosecute enemy combatants who have killed Australian soldiers during the heat of battle, ranging from the Boer War to the present Afghanistan conflict?
Should we now ask that the Vietnamese communist government hand over the Viet Cong guerrillas and hard core NVA soldiers for prosecution over the 18 Australian soldiers killed in action during the legendary Battle of Long Tan in 1966?
Furthermore, critics call the Iraq War launched by the United States in 2003 “illegal”. Wilkie resigned from ONA because of his opposition to that war. Assuming that the Iraq war is illegal, does Moran’s involvement in “selling” that war which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqis as well as US/Coalition troops being killed, constitute a crime?
Under the Nuremberg Principles established in the wake of Nazi War Crimes Trial of 1946, Principle VI states:
The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:
a)Crimes against peace:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).
If you believe that the Iraq War was justified, then Moran deserves to be honoured as a hero killed in action in the global war on terror; he should have been given a state funeral just like any other Australian soldier, police officer or intelligence operative killed in action in a warzone.
The irony is that if Eric Campbell, the ABC reporter who was wounded during the car bomb that killed Moran, had been the one killed, the case of a war crime for killing a journalist could be justified.
The Fairfax Press and SBS TV have been obsessed with the story of Australian Commandos involved in a botched raid that resulted in the unintentional killing of five Afghan civilians last year - but that is another story. Meanwhile, it would appear that Moran’s role in selling a war that has caused so much death and destruction has slipped under the radar. Attard was brave in airing on Media Watch the Moran story.
Wilkie has the power to call for an inquiry into Moran’s activities.
(end)
About the Author
Sasha Uzunov graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia, in 1991. He enlisted in the Australian Regular Army as a soldier in 1995 and was allocated to infantry. He served two peacekeeping tours in East Timor (1999 and 2001). In 2002 he returned to civilian life as a photo journalist and film maker and has worked in The Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. His documentary film Timor Tour of Duty made its international debut in New York in October 2009. He blogs at Team Uzunov.
Other articles by this Author - online opinion
» Scrutinising the media's scrutiny of defence - March 30, 2010
» Reporting on the reporters - February 4, 2010
» Scotland the brave, Ulster the unsure? - December 23, 2009
» Greens win the war but lose defence - November 24, 2009
» Afghan dress code - September 30, 2009
------------------------------
Recent story
www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1008/S00486/commandos-pay-political-price.htm
Commandos Pay Political Price? Scoop News
www.scoop.co.nz
COMMANDOS PAY POLITICAL PRICE? By Sasha Uzunov
Australian commandos involved in a botched raid which resulted in 5 civilian deaths in Afghanistan could face courts martial because of intense political pressure from the media... read on...
Showing posts with label ABC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABC. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
SBS Dateline get it wrong on Afghan story
Post Script to my story: Scrutinising the media's scrutiny of defence
www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2853029.htm
22 March 2010
In Search of Zahir Khan.
The ABC TV's Media Watch program did a take down on SBS TV's Dateline story about the Afghan scandal as reported by Sophie McNeill. Absolutely hilarious stuff up. The identity of an Afghan man, Zahir Khan, was confused with someone else over an interview concerning a botched raid by Australian Commandos which resulted in the death of 5 children in February 2009.
SOPHIE McNEILL MISSING IN ACTION?
Will the real Zahir Khan please stand up?
Old Dateline website blurb about Sophie McNeill once read: www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10004
“Pick, arguably, the most dangerous region in the world today and that’s where you'll find Sophie McNeill.”
But not according to Media Watch www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2853029.htm
Sophie McNeill was in Australia when the story broke, and she stayed there. She couldn't have travelled safely to the remote village in Oruzgan where the killings took place. So instead, she explained to her viewers, Dateline turned for help to a producer it had worked with in Afghanistan before, called Fazel Reshad.
TEAM UZUNOV guarantee, when we do a big story we will go to the source, including on the spot in Afghanistan!
More on Sophie McNeill:
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10004
Reporting on the Reporters - Online Opinion
and
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10227
Scrutinising the media's scrutiny of defence
www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2853029.htm
22 March 2010
In Search of Zahir Khan.
The ABC TV's Media Watch program did a take down on SBS TV's Dateline story about the Afghan scandal as reported by Sophie McNeill. Absolutely hilarious stuff up. The identity of an Afghan man, Zahir Khan, was confused with someone else over an interview concerning a botched raid by Australian Commandos which resulted in the death of 5 children in February 2009.
SOPHIE McNEILL MISSING IN ACTION?
Will the real Zahir Khan please stand up?
Old Dateline website blurb about Sophie McNeill once read: www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10004
“Pick, arguably, the most dangerous region in the world today and that’s where you'll find Sophie McNeill.”
But not according to Media Watch www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s2853029.htm
Sophie McNeill was in Australia when the story broke, and she stayed there. She couldn't have travelled safely to the remote village in Oruzgan where the killings took place. So instead, she explained to her viewers, Dateline turned for help to a producer it had worked with in Afghanistan before, called Fazel Reshad.
TEAM UZUNOV guarantee, when we do a big story we will go to the source, including on the spot in Afghanistan!
More on Sophie McNeill:
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10004
Reporting on the Reporters - Online Opinion
and
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10227
Scrutinising the media's scrutiny of defence
Monday, February 15, 2010
Tony Jones & ABC running scared on defence debate?
Tony Jones & ABC running scared on defence debate?
by Sasha Uzunov
The host of the ABC TV's Lateline and Q & A programs, Tony Jones, has a reputation for being a media tough guy, who is willing to ask tough questions and scrutinise delicate issues. But it would appear that both Jones and the ABC are petrified by an email campaign organised by Vietnam Veterans over military superannuation.
Brigadier Neil Weekes (retired), a Vietnam War hero who won a Military Cross for bravery during the famous Battles of Coral/Balmoral in 1968, has revealed:
"I have just received a call from the Executive Producer of the ABC Q&A Show, asking me to contact the veteran community with a request to stop sending any more emails on the DFDB/DFRDB issues. In particular he has asked that we stop sending "nasty" emails to Tony Jones.
"He told me that the ABC has received more than 1,000 emails on the DFDB/DFRDB topics, that the ABC is aware that this is an organised email campaign and that once a question has been posted once, there is little point in repeating it. He advised that, while he is personally interested in the topic, he cannot guarantee that any of our questions will receive a hearing tonight."
In 2004 on Lateline Tony Jones played hardball with Liberal political head kicker Tony Abbott over his alleged secret meeting with Catholic Cardinal George Pell to discuss government policy. There were overtones of a dark conspiracy between the Abbott and the Catholic Priest. There were dark overtones of a Dan Brown Davinci Code Conspiracy. It was actually more high farce on Jones’ part. But when it comes to defence experts, Jones’ blowtorch is nowhere to be seen.
In this day and age, where ABC journalists openly question Jesus, the Prophet Muhammed and the Buddha, big name Fairfax journalist and "war expert" Paul McGeough is above scrutiny.
In a remarkable email, Jonathan Holmes the host of the ABC TV's Media Watch program revealed:
"Paul McGeough, who you so snidely deride, has probably spent more time in the “Afghan war zone” – and in Iraq, for that matter – than any other Australian journalist – including you. The fact that he doesn’t have a military background is to my mind entirely irrelevant."
Trying to extract information from ABC and SBS journalists is like having your sore wisdom teeth pulled: its is very painfull but very necessary. In trying to discuss defence and national security issues over the past couple of years I have encountered either silence or a haughty manner from our public funded journalists.
Media tough guy Peter Charley has a reputation for speaking his mind. As Executive Producer of ABC TV program Lateline in 2006 he issued this statement to me over my criticism of why Lateline was reluctant to open up Australia’s defence debate:
“It is neither wise nor clever to suggest that "little ol' Lateline” is "afraid" to have anyone on the program…” (Friday 13 January 2006, email).
The rhetorical question is why is it not wise or clever?
---
Backrgound:
http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009/10/abc-media-watch-responds.html
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
ABC MEDIA WATCH RESPONDS
TEAM UZUNOV POLICY IS TO OPEN UP AUSTRALIA'S DEFENCE DEBATE.
Therefore, we encourage diversity of opinion on ths issue
The host of the ABC TV's Media Watch, Jonathan Holmes, responds to the TEAM UZUNOV story: ABC-Fairfax hissy fit at Afghan news.
MEDIA WATCH DEFENDS PAUL McGEOUGH
“ABC and Fairfax big name reporters spit the dummy over not being able to navigate through Afghan warzone without a helping hand from the ADF...”
Not on Media Watch, they didn’t. No ABC journalist was quoted complaining about ADF media policy on our program. Nor was ABC News. The only ‘big name journalist” who was quoted was Ian McPhedran, defence correspondent for News Ltd. And he was complaining about the lack of access to Australian troops on the ground, not about his inability to ‘navigate through Afghan warzones”.
The same complaint as John Martinkus makes in his New Matilda piece.
Paul McGeough, who you so snidely deride, has probably spent more time in the “Afghan war zone” – and in Iraq, for that matter – than any other Australian journalist – including you. The fact that he doesn’t have a military background is to my mind entirely irrelevant.
- Jonathan Holmes
----------------------------------------------
TEAM UZUNOV RESPONSE:
PUT DEFENCE DEBATE TO THE PUBLIC
Thank your for your prompt and frank reply..
But asking Paul McGeough why he didnt volunteer for military service is highly relevant, much in the same way we would scrutinise medical doctors, mechanics, etc over their "qualifications."
The general public has an interest in the issue, which is why it keeps me in print and above the poverty-line! (freelanceer's attempt at humour!)
It only seems journalists without actual military experience who oppose such scrutiny. If it is irrelevant why not put it to the test? Why not ask the public?
Why do certain sections of the media, namely ABC Media Watch, avoid this issue? Is it because by opening up this debate to the public that big name reporters at the ABC will have their lucrative business of writing books and appearing on television threantened?
Furthermore, when McGeough refuses to answer the question put to him but then complains when politicians deny him information it is hypocritical. It is a case of wanting to have his cake and eat it too.
Mate (Jonathan Holmes), you're a big name ABC reporter and you sounded as though you were upset at the ADF denying reporters info....Therefore my story is correct...
I can supply you previously published stories with quotes from your former colleagues Chris Masters and Max Uechtritz and their "views" on military service....
link: www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9078
MEDIA WATCH (Jonathan Holmes): News Ltd is not the same as Fairfax. Or hadn’t you noticed?
TEAM UZUNOV: I wasnt focusing on News Ltd but Fairfax.... You're forgetting Cynthia Banham's gabfest at ANU..
A WORD FROM JO PUCCINI, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF MEDIA WATCH:
Thanks for your email Sasha. I appreciate your perspective.
(end)
------------------------------------------------
http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
MEDIA HISSY FIT AT AFGHAN NEWS
WAR & PEACE INCORPORATED
By Sasha Uzunov
Australia’s big name journalists who write on defence and national security issues have the double advantage of making a lot of money as well as indirectly influencing government policy but without having to face the electors.
However, in recent times certain sections of the media have been chucking a hissy fit at the Australian Defence Forces and its public relations arm for allegedly denying journalists access to combat troop operations in Afghanistan.
read on...
by Sasha Uzunov
The host of the ABC TV's Lateline and Q & A programs, Tony Jones, has a reputation for being a media tough guy, who is willing to ask tough questions and scrutinise delicate issues. But it would appear that both Jones and the ABC are petrified by an email campaign organised by Vietnam Veterans over military superannuation.
Brigadier Neil Weekes (retired), a Vietnam War hero who won a Military Cross for bravery during the famous Battles of Coral/Balmoral in 1968, has revealed:
"I have just received a call from the Executive Producer of the ABC Q&A Show, asking me to contact the veteran community with a request to stop sending any more emails on the DFDB/DFRDB issues. In particular he has asked that we stop sending "nasty" emails to Tony Jones.
"He told me that the ABC has received more than 1,000 emails on the DFDB/DFRDB topics, that the ABC is aware that this is an organised email campaign and that once a question has been posted once, there is little point in repeating it. He advised that, while he is personally interested in the topic, he cannot guarantee that any of our questions will receive a hearing tonight."
In 2004 on Lateline Tony Jones played hardball with Liberal political head kicker Tony Abbott over his alleged secret meeting with Catholic Cardinal George Pell to discuss government policy. There were overtones of a dark conspiracy between the Abbott and the Catholic Priest. There were dark overtones of a Dan Brown Davinci Code Conspiracy. It was actually more high farce on Jones’ part. But when it comes to defence experts, Jones’ blowtorch is nowhere to be seen.
In this day and age, where ABC journalists openly question Jesus, the Prophet Muhammed and the Buddha, big name Fairfax journalist and "war expert" Paul McGeough is above scrutiny.
In a remarkable email, Jonathan Holmes the host of the ABC TV's Media Watch program revealed:
"Paul McGeough, who you so snidely deride, has probably spent more time in the “Afghan war zone” – and in Iraq, for that matter – than any other Australian journalist – including you. The fact that he doesn’t have a military background is to my mind entirely irrelevant."
Trying to extract information from ABC and SBS journalists is like having your sore wisdom teeth pulled: its is very painfull but very necessary. In trying to discuss defence and national security issues over the past couple of years I have encountered either silence or a haughty manner from our public funded journalists.
Media tough guy Peter Charley has a reputation for speaking his mind. As Executive Producer of ABC TV program Lateline in 2006 he issued this statement to me over my criticism of why Lateline was reluctant to open up Australia’s defence debate:
“It is neither wise nor clever to suggest that "little ol' Lateline” is "afraid" to have anyone on the program…” (Friday 13 January 2006, email).
The rhetorical question is why is it not wise or clever?
---
Backrgound:
http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009/10/abc-media-watch-responds.html
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
ABC MEDIA WATCH RESPONDS
TEAM UZUNOV POLICY IS TO OPEN UP AUSTRALIA'S DEFENCE DEBATE.
Therefore, we encourage diversity of opinion on ths issue
The host of the ABC TV's Media Watch, Jonathan Holmes, responds to the TEAM UZUNOV story: ABC-Fairfax hissy fit at Afghan news.
MEDIA WATCH DEFENDS PAUL McGEOUGH
“ABC and Fairfax big name reporters spit the dummy over not being able to navigate through Afghan warzone without a helping hand from the ADF...”
Not on Media Watch, they didn’t. No ABC journalist was quoted complaining about ADF media policy on our program. Nor was ABC News. The only ‘big name journalist” who was quoted was Ian McPhedran, defence correspondent for News Ltd. And he was complaining about the lack of access to Australian troops on the ground, not about his inability to ‘navigate through Afghan warzones”.
The same complaint as John Martinkus makes in his New Matilda piece.
Paul McGeough, who you so snidely deride, has probably spent more time in the “Afghan war zone” – and in Iraq, for that matter – than any other Australian journalist – including you. The fact that he doesn’t have a military background is to my mind entirely irrelevant.
- Jonathan Holmes
----------------------------------------------
TEAM UZUNOV RESPONSE:
PUT DEFENCE DEBATE TO THE PUBLIC
Thank your for your prompt and frank reply..
But asking Paul McGeough why he didnt volunteer for military service is highly relevant, much in the same way we would scrutinise medical doctors, mechanics, etc over their "qualifications."
The general public has an interest in the issue, which is why it keeps me in print and above the poverty-line! (freelanceer's attempt at humour!)
It only seems journalists without actual military experience who oppose such scrutiny. If it is irrelevant why not put it to the test? Why not ask the public?
Why do certain sections of the media, namely ABC Media Watch, avoid this issue? Is it because by opening up this debate to the public that big name reporters at the ABC will have their lucrative business of writing books and appearing on television threantened?
Furthermore, when McGeough refuses to answer the question put to him but then complains when politicians deny him information it is hypocritical. It is a case of wanting to have his cake and eat it too.
Mate (Jonathan Holmes), you're a big name ABC reporter and you sounded as though you were upset at the ADF denying reporters info....Therefore my story is correct...
I can supply you previously published stories with quotes from your former colleagues Chris Masters and Max Uechtritz and their "views" on military service....
link: www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9078
MEDIA WATCH (Jonathan Holmes): News Ltd is not the same as Fairfax. Or hadn’t you noticed?
TEAM UZUNOV: I wasnt focusing on News Ltd but Fairfax.... You're forgetting Cynthia Banham's gabfest at ANU..
A WORD FROM JO PUCCINI, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF MEDIA WATCH:
Thanks for your email Sasha. I appreciate your perspective.
(end)
------------------------------------------------
http://teamuzunovmedia.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
MEDIA HISSY FIT AT AFGHAN NEWS
WAR & PEACE INCORPORATED
By Sasha Uzunov
Australia’s big name journalists who write on defence and national security issues have the double advantage of making a lot of money as well as indirectly influencing government policy but without having to face the electors.
However, in recent times certain sections of the media have been chucking a hissy fit at the Australian Defence Forces and its public relations arm for allegedly denying journalists access to combat troop operations in Afghanistan.
read on...
Thursday, February 04, 2010
With a new Australian television ratings season about to kick-off, the search for the next Jana Wendt, super reporter, continues...
ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10004&page=0
Reporting on the reporters
By Sasha Uzunov - Thursday, 4 February 2010
With a new television ratings season dawning on the horizon, some of Australia’s heavy hitters in television journalism, no doubt, have been in search of the Holy Grail that is to find the next Jana Wendt. One media boss might have struck gold in the shape of SBS TV Dateline reporter Sophie McNeill.
Wendt in her heyday - the late 1980s and early 90s - was unbeatable. She is a highly educated woman who speaks many languages and could out-interview some of the big names of politics and celebrity. Her nickname was the perfumed steam-roller and she picked up a Gold Logie as Australia’s top television celebrity in 1992.
Legendary news bosses Peter Meakin and John Westacott made their names at the Nine Network when Wendt was hosting the A Current Affair program.
Since Wendt’s retirement, Nine has focused its attention on current ACA host Tracy Grimshaw, who is a formidable interviewer in her own right, to carry the torch. But Wendt and Grimshaw are as different as chalk and cheese. Grimshaw recently went head to head with foulmouthed Scottish chef Gordon Ramsay, with the result that the tough guy lost
Meakin, after a bitter falling out with Nine, took his bag of tricks to the Seven Network. At first the beautiful, blue-eyed brunette Naomi Robson was the host of Today Tonight, Seven’s answer to A Current Affair, and began to beat Nine at its own game. In a takedown over a cannibal story in West Papua, Robson was left with egg on her face in 2006. The Seven network counter-claimed that she was set up.
Reporter Anna Coren was poached from the Nine network and filled the breech at Today Tonight. Coren was sent, wearing a flak jacket, into the short lived Israel-Lebanese Hezbollah war. But Coren had other ambitions and left for US media giant CNN.
Coren, who was the subject of many send ups by comedy team The Chaser from ABC TV, had this to say about her war reporting: “The highlight was going to Israel and covering the war against Hezbollah. It was fascinating being in a place where air-raid sirens were going off all the time and rockets were falling; it makes you feel very alive being in that particular environment."
So that now brings us to Sophie McNeill, video-journalist with SBS TV Dateline program. McNeill was in Afghanistan last year reporting from the frontlines about alleged civilian casualties caused by Australian soldiers.
In 2008 she was named Young Australian Journalist of the Year and is an accomplished film maker.
In fact her rise has been meteoric. She was hailed as child prodigy and a wiz kid way back in 2003 by George Negus, legendary reporter, on his ABC TV show George Negus Tonight:
Sophie McNeill is a remarkable young woman who's been a political activist and social campaigner since the age of nine. When she was 15 she went, alone, to Timor and produced a self-funded documentary (Awaiting Freedom) that received national praise. Earlier this year she produced another on the death of a detainee asylum-seeker. Sophie is now 18 and studying politics at Curtin University in Western Australia. … working in Sydney as an investigative journalist for the SBS programme “Insight”.
Negus is now the host of SBS TV's Dateline program. In 2008 McNeill requested that I not contact her to discuss media issues, including Afghanistan. She has no previous military experience.
Her boss is the veteran, wily and street smart Peter Charley, who replaced “Iron” Mike Carey as Executive Producer of Dateline in 2007. Charley was previously EP of the ABC TV’s Lateline. Carey told me that Charley is a close personal friend of his.
Charley has a reputation for speaking his mind. (As EP of Lateline he issued this warning to me over my criticism of why Lateline was reluctant to open up Australia’s defence debate: “It is neither wise nor clever to suggest that "little ol' Lateline” is "afraid" to have anyone on the program…” (Friday January 13, 2006, email). Why is it not wise nor clever?)
I had observed that Lateline had only used one Australian journalist with actual military experience to comment on defence issues and that was legendary newsman Gerald Stone, the founding producer of Australia’s version of 60 Minutes on the Nine Network in 1979 and a former US Army officer. You would think that Stone would have been utilised more often and other journalists with military experience given a chance to speak on Lateline.
In 2004 Lateline host Tony Jones played hardball with Liberal political head kicker Tony Abbott over his alleged secret meeting with Catholic Cardinal George Pell to discuss government policy. There were overtones of a dark conspiracy between the Abbott and the Catholic Priest. It was actually more high farce on Jones’ part. But when it comes to defence experts, Jones’ blowtorch is nowhere to be seen.
Ironically, Charley served his apprenticeship as a producer under the master Gerald Stone on a failed show called Real Life on the Seven Network in 1992-93. Charley is an award winning journalist but has never served in the military.
I have spent years studying Stone’s playbook. In all seriousness the man is a genius, whether you like or dislike tabloid TV news. You have to give him his dues. The great man is now Non-executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the SBS Board.
In the late 1970s Stone probably sensed an Australian society needing strong masculine heroes to fill the void left by the controversial Vietnam War which had overturned traditional stereotypes. He recruited three journalists, Ray Martin, Ian Leslie and George Negus. As canny Mark Day, a newspaperman of the old school, observed:
I guess we can blame Gerald Stone and George Negus for the emergence of the celebrity journalist - at least in Australia.
Stone was executive producer of the Nine (TV network) clone of CBS’s 60 Minutes when it launched here in 1979 with the premise that the reporter was the story.
George, along with Ray Martin and Ian Leslie were sent into war zones, deep jungles, and dark places in search of ripper yarns, and the cameras tracked them tracking down the story.
George, coat slung over his shoulder, embraced this role with a particular gusto, adding his idiosyncratic commentary into which he wove his personal beliefs.
It wasn’t long before George was a bigger celeb than any of the news makers he pursued, even after being savaged by the likes of Margaret Thatcher.
Negus was dubbed the Balmain Cowboy after a tough working class inner Sydney suburb because of his macho image, even though he never served in Vietnam but was a school teacher who dabbled in journalism and later became a press secretary to a politician, Lionel Murphy.
But with the resurgence of the Anzac Legend and in particular a new respect for those who serve in uniform, where does that leave the war reporter in society’s eyes after having fulfilled the role of surrogate “warrior” stereotype during the 1970s and 80s?
Rival Australian television networks, in a game of one-upmanship, have inadvertently brought the notion of the warrior-as-reporter to the surface. A famous case involved veteran Nine Network reporter Jim Waley wearing a the flak jacket in Iraq in 2004 as opposed to his competitor Adrian Brown of the Seven Network who did not. Both were metres away from each other in Baghdad.
Australian soldier Mark Donaldson’s award of the Victoria Cross medal for bravery in Afghanistan has now well and truly put an end to the era of the media tough guy as society’s hero. Perhaps this is where McNeill fits in. Women can also be seen as brave role models.
Maybe Charley, in taking his master’s game plan and tweaking it for the 21 century, could be onto a big winner in the form of McNeill.
The Dateline website blurb about McNeill once read:
“Pick, arguably, the most dangerous region in the world today and that’s where you'll find Sophie McNeill.”
The current big star of Dateline is reporter Mark Davis. Davis, a former lawyer turned video journalist without military experience, has his own unique style of going into war zones carrying his own camera, which stays focused on himself most of the time. This style has earned him pop-star status but SBS TV insiders say that there may not be room for two big stars at Dateline. The word is McNeill maybe given her own current affairs show at SBS or even head hunted by a commercial network, perhaps CNN.
Time will tell.
(end)
ON LINE OPINION - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10004&page=0
Reporting on the reporters
By Sasha Uzunov - Thursday, 4 February 2010
With a new television ratings season dawning on the horizon, some of Australia’s heavy hitters in television journalism, no doubt, have been in search of the Holy Grail that is to find the next Jana Wendt. One media boss might have struck gold in the shape of SBS TV Dateline reporter Sophie McNeill.
Wendt in her heyday - the late 1980s and early 90s - was unbeatable. She is a highly educated woman who speaks many languages and could out-interview some of the big names of politics and celebrity. Her nickname was the perfumed steam-roller and she picked up a Gold Logie as Australia’s top television celebrity in 1992.
Legendary news bosses Peter Meakin and John Westacott made their names at the Nine Network when Wendt was hosting the A Current Affair program.
Since Wendt’s retirement, Nine has focused its attention on current ACA host Tracy Grimshaw, who is a formidable interviewer in her own right, to carry the torch. But Wendt and Grimshaw are as different as chalk and cheese. Grimshaw recently went head to head with foulmouthed Scottish chef Gordon Ramsay, with the result that the tough guy lost
Meakin, after a bitter falling out with Nine, took his bag of tricks to the Seven Network. At first the beautiful, blue-eyed brunette Naomi Robson was the host of Today Tonight, Seven’s answer to A Current Affair, and began to beat Nine at its own game. In a takedown over a cannibal story in West Papua, Robson was left with egg on her face in 2006. The Seven network counter-claimed that she was set up.
Reporter Anna Coren was poached from the Nine network and filled the breech at Today Tonight. Coren was sent, wearing a flak jacket, into the short lived Israel-Lebanese Hezbollah war. But Coren had other ambitions and left for US media giant CNN.
Coren, who was the subject of many send ups by comedy team The Chaser from ABC TV, had this to say about her war reporting: “The highlight was going to Israel and covering the war against Hezbollah. It was fascinating being in a place where air-raid sirens were going off all the time and rockets were falling; it makes you feel very alive being in that particular environment."
So that now brings us to Sophie McNeill, video-journalist with SBS TV Dateline program. McNeill was in Afghanistan last year reporting from the frontlines about alleged civilian casualties caused by Australian soldiers.
In 2008 she was named Young Australian Journalist of the Year and is an accomplished film maker.
In fact her rise has been meteoric. She was hailed as child prodigy and a wiz kid way back in 2003 by George Negus, legendary reporter, on his ABC TV show George Negus Tonight:
Sophie McNeill is a remarkable young woman who's been a political activist and social campaigner since the age of nine. When she was 15 she went, alone, to Timor and produced a self-funded documentary (Awaiting Freedom) that received national praise. Earlier this year she produced another on the death of a detainee asylum-seeker. Sophie is now 18 and studying politics at Curtin University in Western Australia. … working in Sydney as an investigative journalist for the SBS programme “Insight”.
Negus is now the host of SBS TV's Dateline program. In 2008 McNeill requested that I not contact her to discuss media issues, including Afghanistan. She has no previous military experience.
Her boss is the veteran, wily and street smart Peter Charley, who replaced “Iron” Mike Carey as Executive Producer of Dateline in 2007. Charley was previously EP of the ABC TV’s Lateline. Carey told me that Charley is a close personal friend of his.
Charley has a reputation for speaking his mind. (As EP of Lateline he issued this warning to me over my criticism of why Lateline was reluctant to open up Australia’s defence debate: “It is neither wise nor clever to suggest that "little ol' Lateline” is "afraid" to have anyone on the program…” (Friday January 13, 2006, email). Why is it not wise nor clever?)
I had observed that Lateline had only used one Australian journalist with actual military experience to comment on defence issues and that was legendary newsman Gerald Stone, the founding producer of Australia’s version of 60 Minutes on the Nine Network in 1979 and a former US Army officer. You would think that Stone would have been utilised more often and other journalists with military experience given a chance to speak on Lateline.
In 2004 Lateline host Tony Jones played hardball with Liberal political head kicker Tony Abbott over his alleged secret meeting with Catholic Cardinal George Pell to discuss government policy. There were overtones of a dark conspiracy between the Abbott and the Catholic Priest. It was actually more high farce on Jones’ part. But when it comes to defence experts, Jones’ blowtorch is nowhere to be seen.
Ironically, Charley served his apprenticeship as a producer under the master Gerald Stone on a failed show called Real Life on the Seven Network in 1992-93. Charley is an award winning journalist but has never served in the military.
I have spent years studying Stone’s playbook. In all seriousness the man is a genius, whether you like or dislike tabloid TV news. You have to give him his dues. The great man is now Non-executive Director and Deputy Chairman of the SBS Board.
In the late 1970s Stone probably sensed an Australian society needing strong masculine heroes to fill the void left by the controversial Vietnam War which had overturned traditional stereotypes. He recruited three journalists, Ray Martin, Ian Leslie and George Negus. As canny Mark Day, a newspaperman of the old school, observed:
I guess we can blame Gerald Stone and George Negus for the emergence of the celebrity journalist - at least in Australia.
Stone was executive producer of the Nine (TV network) clone of CBS’s 60 Minutes when it launched here in 1979 with the premise that the reporter was the story.
George, along with Ray Martin and Ian Leslie were sent into war zones, deep jungles, and dark places in search of ripper yarns, and the cameras tracked them tracking down the story.
George, coat slung over his shoulder, embraced this role with a particular gusto, adding his idiosyncratic commentary into which he wove his personal beliefs.
It wasn’t long before George was a bigger celeb than any of the news makers he pursued, even after being savaged by the likes of Margaret Thatcher.
Negus was dubbed the Balmain Cowboy after a tough working class inner Sydney suburb because of his macho image, even though he never served in Vietnam but was a school teacher who dabbled in journalism and later became a press secretary to a politician, Lionel Murphy.
But with the resurgence of the Anzac Legend and in particular a new respect for those who serve in uniform, where does that leave the war reporter in society’s eyes after having fulfilled the role of surrogate “warrior” stereotype during the 1970s and 80s?
Rival Australian television networks, in a game of one-upmanship, have inadvertently brought the notion of the warrior-as-reporter to the surface. A famous case involved veteran Nine Network reporter Jim Waley wearing a the flak jacket in Iraq in 2004 as opposed to his competitor Adrian Brown of the Seven Network who did not. Both were metres away from each other in Baghdad.
Australian soldier Mark Donaldson’s award of the Victoria Cross medal for bravery in Afghanistan has now well and truly put an end to the era of the media tough guy as society’s hero. Perhaps this is where McNeill fits in. Women can also be seen as brave role models.
Maybe Charley, in taking his master’s game plan and tweaking it for the 21 century, could be onto a big winner in the form of McNeill.
The Dateline website blurb about McNeill once read:
“Pick, arguably, the most dangerous region in the world today and that’s where you'll find Sophie McNeill.”
The current big star of Dateline is reporter Mark Davis. Davis, a former lawyer turned video journalist without military experience, has his own unique style of going into war zones carrying his own camera, which stays focused on himself most of the time. This style has earned him pop-star status but SBS TV insiders say that there may not be room for two big stars at Dateline. The word is McNeill maybe given her own current affairs show at SBS or even head hunted by a commercial network, perhaps CNN.
Time will tell.
(end)
Tuesday, December 08, 2009
CONTROVERISAL CIA CAMERAMAN
Exclusive: AFP HASN'T BEEN ASKED TO INVESTIGATE MORAN MURDER
By Sasha Uzunov
Australia’s leading journalists have called upon the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to launch extradition proceedings against an Iraqi Kurd living in Norway and allegedly the mastermind behind the killing of controversial Australian cameraman Paul Moran in Iraq 2003 but strangely the AFP has not been formally asked to investigate.
Mr Chris Warren, the Federal Secretary of the Media Entertainment Alliance of Australia (Australian Journalists Association) has asked the Federal Attorney General to investigate Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, and his links to UN-listed terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam.
But an AFP spokeswoman told TEAM UZUNOV today:
"The AFP treats all allegations of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity as serious matters. The AFP decides whether to investigate an alleged offence after evaluating a formal referral and supporting evidence.
"At this stage the AFP has not received a formal referral concerning the death of Mr Moran and therefore has not commenced an investigation. Any referral received by the AFP will be assessed in accordance with the AFP's Case Categorisation and Prioritisation Model.
"The AFP does not initiate investigations based on media reports alone. Allegations of war crimes committed overseas give rise to complex legal and factual issues that require careful consideration by law enforcement agencies before deciding to commence an investigation."
Sally Neighbour, a self-appointed security expert and reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who moonlights for The Australian newspaper ,quotes another ABC colleague Mark Corcoran who said:
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/terror-kingpin-escapes-retribution/story-e6frg6so-1225807138976
"`Why has there been no investigation into the murder?" asks Mark Corcoran, presenter and veteran reporter with ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program. "As of December 2009, I have still not seen any evidence of an investigation, either formally or informally, by any Australian official."
Corcoran is a highly respected figure, who served in the Australian Navy and the super secret Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) before entering journalism.
Calling for a murder trial may in fact open up a can of worms. It may reveal some uncomfortable truths about Moran’s activities.
Moran, 39, was killed on March 22, 2003 by a car bomb while covering the war in Northern Iraq for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV. He was an Adelaide-raised freelance cameraman who worked on and off for the ABC as well as US public relations firm Rendon, which had ties to the CIA and the Bush Administration.
Walkely Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Colin James, of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, was the first to break the story about Moran’s shadowy past when he attended Moran’s wake in Adelaide.
He talked to relatives who revealed that Moran had a James Bond other life.
“For a freelance cameraman, Moran sure had some incredible access to US State Department officials in Washington,” Mr James said. “How many freelancers get to play games of social tennis with US diplomats?”
Moran had worked for Rendon for over a decade in places like the Middle East and Kosovo, pushing US government spin while doing freelance work for the ABC TV as a combat cameraman.
On November 17, 2005 prominent American journalist, academic and former US Navy intelligence analyst James Bamford wrote in the influential American magazine Rolling Stone a detailed account of Moran’s work with Rendon and its link to the CIA and its selling of the Iraq
The controversy surrounding Moran stems from his exclusive story about an Iraqi defector who had knowledge about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program. A Rendon colleague gave him the scoop which turned out to be false, but was a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq, according to Bamford.
The Australian cameraman also helped to set up a television station for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was established by the US as an opposition group to the Saddam Hussein regime.
In January 2003 I was hired as a photographer for Canadian war reporter Scott Taylor (www.espritdecorps.ca) and we tracked down Mr Gaan Latis, who was recruited by the INC to become a member of a US trained exile army à la Bay of Pigs.
US advisors had set up a training camp at the Taszar Army base in Kaposvar, Hungary. Each new recruit was paid US$3,000. But the plan failed when there were not enough suitable candidates. We went to the army base in Kaposvar and were stopped at the front gate and were threatened with having our cameras confiscated.
I had a front page photo of the Taszar base published in Canada’s national newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen (January 24, 2003), and Esprit de Corp Magazine (February 2003) along with Taylor’s revelations of the exile Iraqi Army in training.
For six years I have been following the Moran story and attempted to gain access to information from the ABC.
Ms Joan McKain, the ABC’s Freedon Of Information Coordinator, in a letter dated July 10, 2007, rejected my request for Moran’s personnel file under Section 41 (1) of the Freedom Of Information Act.
The Act spells out that any documents affecting personal privacy are considered exempt if their disclosure under this Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased person).
Instead, Ms McKain released a different document, a draft reply from then ABC TV News boss, Mr Max Uechtritz, given to ABC program Media Watch, dated April 14, 2003, about Paul Moran.
Mr Uechtritz, in his reply to ABC program Media Watch aired on April 14, 2003, wrote: “The ABC is not in the habit of following up Adelaide Advertiser stories.”
The Media Watch program had chastised the ABC and Uechtritz: “The story was followed up by some parts of the media, but not by the ABC. It should have been.” (Death in Bagdad, April 14, 2003 episode).
The irony of all this is Mr Uechtritz complained to The Age newspaper on June 30, 2003 about freedom of speech after coming under attack from the then Australian Federal Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, for alleged biased reporting by the ABC over the Iraq war.
“It is the duty of independent journalists in a robust democracy to question everything, “Mr Uechtritz wrote. “The senator seems to think the media's duty in time of war is to fall meekly into line with the government of the day.”
But it appears this does not apply to journalists scrutinising Paul Moran! Mr Uechtritz is now a news editor with Al Jazeera, Arabic news network.
In 2006 the ABC’s then Managing Director, Mr Russell Balding, was approached and asked if he would launch an internal inquiry into the Moran allegations. Mr Shane Wells, his spokesman, said there would be no comment.
Moran's covert behaviour had placed all western journalists under suspicion and under danger in war zones. However, I do not condone violence aimed at someone if they are a journalist or an intelligence operative.
I was working in the Balkans in 2002-03 when I was falsely accused by a local Macedonian reporter of being a CIA spy. Later I was pulled off a bus by Macedonian guards and held at gunpoint on the border with Serbia and kicked out of the country. I had to convince the authorities I was not a spy before I was allowed to return to Macedonia.
I know first hand of the danger that journalists face because of the paranoia caused by people such as Moran and others. The cold hard reality is war journalism is a cuththroat business; there is no universal fraternity with members helping each other.
Perhaps a murder trial would finally allow a proper examination of the colourful life and death of Paul Moran.
(end)
Links:
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/terror-kingpin-escapes-retribution/story-e6frg6so-1225807138976
The Australian newspaper, Terror Kingpin Escapes retribution
www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8868453/james_bamford_replies/
James Bamford, Rolling Stone magazine
www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/library/wf-202.htm
James Bamford, Rolling Stone magazine
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8075&page=0
On Line Opinion - James Bond other life
www.back-to-iraq.com/2003/09/yet-more-on-paul-moran.php
Yet more on Paul Moran,by Christopher Allbritton
www.prwatch.org/node/5509
The First Casualty
by Paul Rouse on November 30, 2006
By Sasha Uzunov
Australia’s leading journalists have called upon the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to launch extradition proceedings against an Iraqi Kurd living in Norway and allegedly the mastermind behind the killing of controversial Australian cameraman Paul Moran in Iraq 2003 but strangely the AFP has not been formally asked to investigate.
Mr Chris Warren, the Federal Secretary of the Media Entertainment Alliance of Australia (Australian Journalists Association) has asked the Federal Attorney General to investigate Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, and his links to UN-listed terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam.
But an AFP spokeswoman told TEAM UZUNOV today:
"The AFP treats all allegations of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity as serious matters. The AFP decides whether to investigate an alleged offence after evaluating a formal referral and supporting evidence.
"At this stage the AFP has not received a formal referral concerning the death of Mr Moran and therefore has not commenced an investigation. Any referral received by the AFP will be assessed in accordance with the AFP's Case Categorisation and Prioritisation Model.
"The AFP does not initiate investigations based on media reports alone. Allegations of war crimes committed overseas give rise to complex legal and factual issues that require careful consideration by law enforcement agencies before deciding to commence an investigation."
Sally Neighbour, a self-appointed security expert and reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who moonlights for The Australian newspaper ,quotes another ABC colleague Mark Corcoran who said:
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/terror-kingpin-escapes-retribution/story-e6frg6so-1225807138976
"`Why has there been no investigation into the murder?" asks Mark Corcoran, presenter and veteran reporter with ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program. "As of December 2009, I have still not seen any evidence of an investigation, either formally or informally, by any Australian official."
Corcoran is a highly respected figure, who served in the Australian Navy and the super secret Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) before entering journalism.
Calling for a murder trial may in fact open up a can of worms. It may reveal some uncomfortable truths about Moran’s activities.
Moran, 39, was killed on March 22, 2003 by a car bomb while covering the war in Northern Iraq for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV. He was an Adelaide-raised freelance cameraman who worked on and off for the ABC as well as US public relations firm Rendon, which had ties to the CIA and the Bush Administration.
Walkely Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Colin James, of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, was the first to break the story about Moran’s shadowy past when he attended Moran’s wake in Adelaide.
He talked to relatives who revealed that Moran had a James Bond other life.
“For a freelance cameraman, Moran sure had some incredible access to US State Department officials in Washington,” Mr James said. “How many freelancers get to play games of social tennis with US diplomats?”
Moran had worked for Rendon for over a decade in places like the Middle East and Kosovo, pushing US government spin while doing freelance work for the ABC TV as a combat cameraman.
On November 17, 2005 prominent American journalist, academic and former US Navy intelligence analyst James Bamford wrote in the influential American magazine Rolling Stone a detailed account of Moran’s work with Rendon and its link to the CIA and its selling of the Iraq
The controversy surrounding Moran stems from his exclusive story about an Iraqi defector who had knowledge about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program. A Rendon colleague gave him the scoop which turned out to be false, but was a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq, according to Bamford.
The Australian cameraman also helped to set up a television station for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was established by the US as an opposition group to the Saddam Hussein regime.
In January 2003 I was hired as a photographer for Canadian war reporter Scott Taylor (www.espritdecorps.ca) and we tracked down Mr Gaan Latis, who was recruited by the INC to become a member of a US trained exile army à la Bay of Pigs.
US advisors had set up a training camp at the Taszar Army base in Kaposvar, Hungary. Each new recruit was paid US$3,000. But the plan failed when there were not enough suitable candidates. We went to the army base in Kaposvar and were stopped at the front gate and were threatened with having our cameras confiscated.
I had a front page photo of the Taszar base published in Canada’s national newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen (January 24, 2003), and Esprit de Corp Magazine (February 2003) along with Taylor’s revelations of the exile Iraqi Army in training.
For six years I have been following the Moran story and attempted to gain access to information from the ABC.
Ms Joan McKain, the ABC’s Freedon Of Information Coordinator, in a letter dated July 10, 2007, rejected my request for Moran’s personnel file under Section 41 (1) of the Freedom Of Information Act.
The Act spells out that any documents affecting personal privacy are considered exempt if their disclosure under this Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased person).
Instead, Ms McKain released a different document, a draft reply from then ABC TV News boss, Mr Max Uechtritz, given to ABC program Media Watch, dated April 14, 2003, about Paul Moran.
Mr Uechtritz, in his reply to ABC program Media Watch aired on April 14, 2003, wrote: “The ABC is not in the habit of following up Adelaide Advertiser stories.”
The Media Watch program had chastised the ABC and Uechtritz: “The story was followed up by some parts of the media, but not by the ABC. It should have been.” (Death in Bagdad, April 14, 2003 episode).
The irony of all this is Mr Uechtritz complained to The Age newspaper on June 30, 2003 about freedom of speech after coming under attack from the then Australian Federal Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, for alleged biased reporting by the ABC over the Iraq war.
“It is the duty of independent journalists in a robust democracy to question everything, “Mr Uechtritz wrote. “The senator seems to think the media's duty in time of war is to fall meekly into line with the government of the day.”
But it appears this does not apply to journalists scrutinising Paul Moran! Mr Uechtritz is now a news editor with Al Jazeera, Arabic news network.
In 2006 the ABC’s then Managing Director, Mr Russell Balding, was approached and asked if he would launch an internal inquiry into the Moran allegations. Mr Shane Wells, his spokesman, said there would be no comment.
Moran's covert behaviour had placed all western journalists under suspicion and under danger in war zones. However, I do not condone violence aimed at someone if they are a journalist or an intelligence operative.
I was working in the Balkans in 2002-03 when I was falsely accused by a local Macedonian reporter of being a CIA spy. Later I was pulled off a bus by Macedonian guards and held at gunpoint on the border with Serbia and kicked out of the country. I had to convince the authorities I was not a spy before I was allowed to return to Macedonia.
I know first hand of the danger that journalists face because of the paranoia caused by people such as Moran and others. The cold hard reality is war journalism is a cuththroat business; there is no universal fraternity with members helping each other.
Perhaps a murder trial would finally allow a proper examination of the colourful life and death of Paul Moran.
(end)
Links:
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/terror-kingpin-escapes-retribution/story-e6frg6so-1225807138976
The Australian newspaper, Terror Kingpin Escapes retribution
www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8868453/james_bamford_replies/
James Bamford, Rolling Stone magazine
www.pierretristam.com/Bobst/library/wf-202.htm
James Bamford, Rolling Stone magazine
www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8075&page=0
On Line Opinion - James Bond other life
www.back-to-iraq.com/2003/09/yet-more-on-paul-moran.php
Yet more on Paul Moran,by Christopher Allbritton
www.prwatch.org/node/5509
The First Casualty
by Paul Rouse on November 30, 2006
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
A JAMES BOND OTHER LIFE
ABC TV rejects FOI request for information on man who "sold the Iraq War"On-Line Opinion - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=8075&page=0
28 October, 2008
A JAMES BOND OTHER LIFE
by Sasha Uzunov
There are moves to have ex-politicians banned from sitting on the board of the ABC, in an attempt to de-politicise and maintain the independence and integrity of Australia’s public broadcaster.
But the ABC has some internal unfinished business it needs to take care of: an issue it has deliberately swept under the carpet for the past five years in the hope that the public will forget the life and death of controversial ABC TV cameraman Paul Moran.
Last year the ABC rejected a Freedom of Information request for access to the personnel file of the late Paul Moran, a cameraman accused of having links to the United States Central Intelligence Agency.
Moran, 39, was killed on March 22, 2003 by a car bomb while covering the war in Northern Iraq for ABC TV. He was an Adelaide-raised freelance cameraman who worked on and off for the ABC as well as US public relations firm Rendon, which had ties to the CIA and the Bush Administration.
Walkely Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Colin James, of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, was the first to break the story about Moran’s shadowy past when he attended Moran’s wake in Adelaide.
He talked to relatives who revealed that Moran had a James Bond other life.
“For a freelance cameraman, Moran sure had some incredible access to US State Department officials in Washington,” Mr James said. “How many freelancers get to play games of social tennis with US diplomats?”
Moran had worked for Rendon for over a decade in places like the Middle East and Kosovo, pushing US government spin while doing freelance work for the ABC TV as a combat cameraman.
On November 17, 2005 prominent American journalist, academic and former US Navy intelligence analyst James Bamford wrote in the influential American magazine Rolling Stone a detailed account of Moran’s work with Rendon and its link to the CIA and its selling of the Iraq War to the US public.
The controversy surrounding Moran stems from his exclusive story about an Iraqi defector who had knowledge about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program. A Rendon colleague gave him the scoop which turned out to be false, but was a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq, according to Bamford.
The Australian cameraman also helped to set up a television station for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was established by the US as an opposition group to the Saddam Hussein regime.
In January 2003 I was hired as a photographer for Canadian war reporter Scott Taylor (http://www.espritdecorps.ca/) and we tracked down Mr Gaan Latis, who was recruited by the INC to become a member of a US trained exile army à la Bay of Pigs.
US advisors had set up a training camp at the Taszar Army base in Kaposvar, Hungary. Each new recruit was paid US$3,000. But the plan failed when there were not enough suitable candidates. We went to the army base in Kaposvar and were stopped at the front gate and were threatened with having our cameras confiscated.
I had a front page photo of the Taszar base published in Canada’s national newspaper, The Ottawa Citizen (January 24, 2003), and Esprit de Corp Magazine (February 2003) along with Taylor’s revelations of the exile Iraqi Army in training.
For five years I have been following the Moran story and attempted to gain access to information from the ABC.
Ms Joan McKain, the ABC’s FOI Coordinator, in a letter dated July 10, 2007, rejected my request for Moran’s personnel file under Section 41 (1) of the FOI Act.
The Act spells out that any documents affecting personal privacy are considered exempt if their disclosure under this Act would involve the unreasonable disclosure of personal information about any person (including a deceased person).
Instead, Ms McKain released a different document, a draft reply from then ABC TV News boss, Mr Max Uechtritz, given to ABC program Media Watch, dated April 14, 2003, about Paul Moran.
Mr Uechtritz, in his reply to ABC program Media Watch aired on April 14, 2003, wrote: “The ABC is not in the habit of following up Adelaide Advertiser stories.”
The Media Watch program had chastised the ABC and Uechtritz: “The story was followed up by some parts of the media, but not by the ABC. It should have been.” (Death in Bagdad, April 14, 2003 episode).
The irony of all this is Mr Uechtritz complained to The Age newspaper on June 30, 2003 about freedom of speech after coming under attack from the then Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, for alleged biased reporting by the ABC over the Iraq war.
“It is the duty of independent journalists in a robust democracy to question everything, “Mr Uechtritz wrote. “The senator seems to think the media's duty in time of war is to fall meekly into line with the government of the day.”
But it appears this does not apply to journalists scrutinising Paul Moran!
In 2006 the ABC’s then Managing Director, Mr Russell Balding, was approached and asked if he would launch an internal inquiry into the Moran allegations. Mr Shane Wells, his spokesman, said there would be no comment.
The ABC needs to shake off the public perception that it is a closed society and a law onto itself. Australia’s taxpayers need to have a national public broadcaster with no skeletons still rattling in the closet.
(end)
Other On Line Opinion articles by Sasha Uzunov
» A superpower by default? - October 13, 2008
» Is Rudd the real McCoy on defence? - September 30, 2008
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