CNN censorship scandal: western media (mis)reporting for NATO - interview

CNN has edited out part of an interview with Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin that focused on the situation in Syria. The final edition of Tuesday’s program hosted by Christiane Amanpour lacks his answers to some key questions relating to the settlement of the Syrian crisis. Afshin Rattansi, an award-winning journalist, who launched one of the Middle East's first international satellite TV stations, talked with our source about the controversial issue.

CNN has edited out part of an interview with Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin that focused on the situation in Syria. The final edition of Tuesday’s program hosted by Christiane Amanpour lacks his answers to some key questions relating to the settlement of the Syrian crisis. One of the questions cut out by CNN journalists concerned President Bashar al Assad’s role after the start of the transition period. “This is something for Syrians to decide”, Vitaly Churkin said in the full version of the interview posted on the website of the Russian Embassy to the United Nations.

He added that President Assad is supported by ‘a large segment of the Syrian population’. Therefore, Syrians should be allowed to decide what kind of path they need to bring the conflict to an end.

The US TV channel also dropped the diplomat’s remarks deploring any preconditions by the Syrian opposition for the Geneva Two peace conference. Mr.Churkin dismissed them as inadmissible.

Besides, CNN cut out the Ambassador’s statements on the Syrian opposition, which is trying to hamper humanitarian activities in the country. Vitaly Churkin said, specifically, that a high-level working party is currently holding consultations in Geneva to deal with the humanitarian situation in Syria.

The Ambassador also pointed to a curious fact that was also omitted in the final version of his interview. According to Mr.Churkin, every time people leave a besieged area, they move to the territories controlled by the government. In his opinion, this tells volumes about WHOM the Syrian population is relying on, including for providing humanitarian support.

First of all, could you comment briefly on the fact that the Russian diplomat’s interview was censored, and answers to some key questions were cut out? What’s your take on this?

It is another sign of disaster for mainstream media. The entire Syrian conflict has been covered on this particular network CNN in a drumbeat-to-war type of idea of journalism. Christiane Amanpour, of course it was her show that Vitaly Churckin’s remarks were cut from, this is obviously a kind of censorship Amanpour has formed during the Yugoslav war apparently, she is reputed to have walked out of Yugoslavia’s main TV network to have her makeup applied, knowing that NATO were going to bomb it, so she hasn’t changed, she presumably has a degree of blame being an anchor of this program, completely wrong as a matter of morality because of people’s lives in Syria, so many tens of thousands have died in this conflict and it is a matter of poor judgment with regard to journalism.

Why is this kind of censorship allowed? Does this mean that US media is actually not free?

Throughout the Syrian conflict and let alone the conflict in Libya, the big corporations that have been responsible and are responsible for the way most people in NATO countries get their news have done exactly what any Atlanticist, NATO supporting general or politician would want them to do. There is very little descent from the view that it is important for NATO to bomb countries into a subservient to their ideas of freedom, of their ideas of culture and their ideas of liberty. So, it is yet another example of the way media companies will deliberately try and subvert the message for their own purpose.

Is this the first time CNN is accused of censorship? Were there similar cases in the past?

I held a relatively senior role in the London office of CNN. I was a copy editor, the person last in charge of things going out on the CNN international news and it was obvious during my time with CNN that the journalists nearly copy and paste what they see on Reuters and other big news agencies. So, CNN news journalists they can’t be blamed for deliberately trying to subvert news, they just mainly drawn operators as it were doing copy and pasting what other agencies do.

However, when it comes to flagship programs like Amanpour this is obviously a case of editing out a senior United Nations diplomat for a purpose that it is clear, that in fact president Assad should have no role, that somehow Russia doesn’t believe he should have a role, and that there is no possible way that Al-Qaeda related rebels had been supported by CNN throughout the conflict.

CNN censors Russian Ambassador to UN assessment of Syrian rebel activities

The US CNN TV channel has dropped from its interview with the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations his appeal for the need to take into account the will of the Syrian people, who mostly support the incumbent President Bashar al-Assad, and also Churkin's statement that the Syrian opposition is stonewalling humanitarian activities, the ITAR-TASS news agency reports.

The interview is accessible on the CNN website. The final edition of the programme by a prominent host Christiane Amanpour lacks Churkin's answers to some key questions, one of which was about Assad's role after the start of the transition period.

"This is for Syrians to decide", Churkin said in the full version of the interview, which has been posted on the website of the Russian Embassy to the United Nations. According to Churkin, "the reality is that many Syrians, in fact the better part of the Syrian population, back up President Assad, and this should also be taken into account".

"So, let's launch a dialogue and make it possible for Syrians to make their own choice of the path towards ending the conflict", the diplomat said.

CNN has likewise dropped Vitaly Churkin's remarks that any preconditions by the Syrian opposition for the Geneva-2 conference are inadmissible. Geneva-2 is due to kick off on January 22nd . The opposition earlier made certain demands even when the date of the expected conference was only being agreed.

Vitaly Churkin deplored the fact in a conversation with the ITAR-TASS news agency that CNN had broadcast a downsized version of his interview. He claims that CNN has dropped "the more acute issues" of a Syrian settlement.

CNN has, besides, cut out the Russian Ambassador's assessment of the rebels' activities, as well as moves by the countries that support rebels as regards the provision of assistance for the population of Syria. The Russian diplomat said specifically that a high level working party is currently holding consultations in Geneva to react to the humanitarian situation in Syria.

Churkin also said that there is leverage over Damascus concerning humanitarian issues, but "nobody knows who actually influences the hundreds or at least dozens of armed groups" preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the Syrian population. "We must find out what these countries are, and they should assume responsibility for settling problems with the groups in question so the latter will not hinder the evacuation of the population from besieged areas. The opposition has prevented the evacuation of people from such areas on several occasions in recent months, whereas the government in Damascus was prepared to move people out", the Russian Ambassador to the UN said.

He also pointed out a curious fact that had also been dropped from the broadcast version of the interview. According to Churkin, "each time that the population leaves a besieged area, they move to territories under Syrian government control". "I think this speaks volumes about who the population pin their hopes on as regards the provision of humanitarian assistance", the diplomat said.

Alexei Mukhin, General Director of the Centre for Political Information in interview to our source said:

"The US media, probably, guided by patriotic considerations, are trying to support the country’s leadership, which, to put it mildly, has lost face during its efforts aimed at settling the Syrian crisis. And now it has got involved in the information confrontation with Russia, aiming to help Washington to save face. I believe that such moves – once the public, including the world public becomes aware of them - are compromising the US media, which are considered to be exemplary from the point of democracy and freedom of speech. I believe that such moves are doing damage to the US, undermining its reputation, which has already been tarnished."