# Christane Amanpour, White House intimidation and a total BITCH from Fox News. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 16, 2003, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882 "2003-09-16T03:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/61 "2003-09-16T21:03:57Z")
Right. Go back and read the thread, with particular emphasis on how CNN lied about the quality of their information. They _knew_ but pretended like they had to rely on defectors. Personally, I don’t care how hard it is to kiss whatever dictator’s ass you have to kiss to get a bureau in his little hell hole. If CNN likes defector stories so much, why didn’t they just pull out and rely on them? Instead, they covered up personal knowledge to keep the butchers happy. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/62 "2003-09-16T22:05:38Z")
Yeah, I seem to remember responding to all of those arguments. So what’s your point? That you continue to disagree with me? ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/63 "2003-09-16T22:22:35Z")
Really? Your memory sucks. Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty, since you’ve been nice enough to fall into my little logical trap. The OP starts out critical of the White House for unspecified intimidation of the media. It proceeds into spewing vitriol at GWB for the unspecified intimidation. Then, calls Fox News “Pravda” for some spokeswoman making an offhanded comment. Meanwhile, over at CNN some years ago in Baghdad… A high ranking official in Iraq – hell, one of the highest – told CNN he was planning on killing someone. CNN… _crickets_ Back to what you were saying? ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/64 "2003-09-16T23:05:31Z")
Is it just me, or has Beagle gone totally off the deep end? ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/65 "2003-09-16T23:06:39Z")
Just you. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/66 "2003-09-16T23:15:29Z")
By the way, do you remember what happened when “A high ranking official in Iraq – hell, one of the highest – told CNN he was planning on killing someone”? What happened was that the CNN reporter went directly to the King of Jordan and warned him that Uday was planning to assassinate his two brothers-in-law, who had defected to Jordan. Wow, taking a threat of violence to the authorities. What a fucking asshole, huh? ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/67 "2003-09-16T23:16:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Linear Crack \* > \*\*Oh my god. She’s like an english Janet Reno. You’re gross. > \*\* This is factually incorrect. Amanpour is totally smokin’. ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/68 "2003-09-16T23:21:11Z")
Coming from you, Brutus, I take that as the highest possible compliment. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/69 "2003-09-16T23:22:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Beagle \* > **Personally, I don’t care how hard it is to kiss whatever dictator’s ass you have to kiss to get a bureau in his little hell hole.** Indeed. The correct thing would have been for CNN to ask the hard questions and report the facts they had learned. If this meant their sources faced reprisal, then so be it. The people have a right to know. Attempt to limit the reprisal as much as possible, but get the info out. Bunch of fucking cowards. Of course they would have lost their White House press passes, or been relegated to “the third row”, their raised hands ignored, and been refused interviews with pretty much everyone in the Administration, but those fucking dictator’s hell holes aren’t worth being in anyway. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/70 "2003-09-16T23:36:32Z")
I don’t think CNN was intimidated by the WH as it was by dat ol’ debbil, money. Like any number of spineless Democrats who stampeded in panic for fear of being seen as unpatriotic, CNN didn’t dare cop an attitude, especially since Faux already has a headlock on the jingo crowd. Nonetheless, watching Faux News step on it’s dick by rushing to scream “Smoking gun!” everytime somebody found a buried can of Raid…now that was a hoot! ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/71 "2003-09-16T23:39:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Larry Mudd \* > I just popped in to say that I want to bear Christiane Amanpour’s children. > > She’s so freakin’ hot. Preferably muzzled, right? Works for me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Age_Quod_Agis)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2003, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/72 "2003-09-16T23:43:27Z")
> [@](#): > > _Mtgman:_ > Of course they would have lost their White House press passes, or been relegated to “the third row”, their raised hands ignored, and been refused interviews with pretty much everyone in the Administration . . . . I’d rather hear about Saddam’s atrocities only intermittently than have someone killed to get me that information, but this whining about Bush “intimidating” the news media is crap. Does anybody really think the White House would _ever_ revoke CNN’s credentials, or would refuse to put people on CNN for interviews, or would refuse to respond to their questions? If criticizing Bush were grounds for revocation of press passes, then why is Helen Thomas still there? Surely CNN is no less a player in the news market than Helen Thomas. Fact is that the White House needs CNN as much as CNN needs the White House. Unfortunately, Christiana Amanpour is resorting to the Dennis Rodman school of self-promotion: say something outrageous to keep your name in the news. And she’s not even good looking. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/73 "2003-09-17T00:01:45Z")
Actually revoking press passes is pretty rare, and I don’t think they’d do that to Helen Thomas. [Here is what they did do](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A55451-2003Mar7¬Found=true) > [@](#): > > "A long-running Washington tradition apparently ended last night when, for the first time in memory, the doyenne of the White House press corps was not called on in a presidential press conference. > > "Syndicated columnist Helen Thomas, who has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, was relegated to the third row in last night’s East Room event and – if the memory of press corps veterans is accurate – received her first presidential snub. . . . > > "For four decades the White House correspondent for United Press International, Mrs. Thomas, 82, has in recent months harangued Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, asking how President Bush can slaughter innocent Iraqis in a quest for oil. > > "Now syndicated by Hearst Newspapers, Mrs. Thomas has also denounced Mr. Bush outside the confines of the White House briefing room. ‘This is the worst president ever,’ Mrs. Thomas told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif., in January. ‘He is the worst president in all of American history.’ > > “Also snubbed by Mr. Bush at last night’s news conference was Mike Allen of The Washington Post, the second consecutive time that the president has skipped over The Post’s correspondent, who was seated last night in the front row.” > > Now that’s hardball. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Age Quod Agis_ > **Does anybody really think the White House would ever revoke CNN’s credentials, or would refuse to put people on CNN for interviews, or would refuse to respond to their questions?** Well, we’ve got evidence that they’ve done at least one of those things. And that is just what I had handy. Maybe some of our more journalistically-inclined dopers has more info. The thread **Billdo** mentioned was very interesting. **Jonathan Chance** was once a member of the Press Corps and gave some very insightful input. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Age_Quod_Agis)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/74 "2003-09-17T01:06:08Z")
> [@](#): > > _Mtgman:_ > Well, we’ve got evidence that they’ve done at least one of those things. Respectfully, if that’s what was scaring the beejeezus out of CNN – that they didn’t take a question from Helen Thomas on one occasion, and didn’t take a question from Mike Allen on (gasp!) _two consecutive occasions_ – then it looks to me like CNN has responded to a pretty small threat by falling over and crying for their mommies. ---
**Author:** ![Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d07c76/32.png) [@Age\_Quod\_Agis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Age_Quod_Agis)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/75 "2003-09-17T01:15:26Z")
I just remembered that this post is in the Pit. Given our location, and the tenor of the rest of the discussion, should I have replaced “Respectfully” with “Fuck”? I hope I haven’t broken a rule here. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/76 "2003-09-17T13:44:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brutus \* > \*\*Miracle of miracles! MSNBC’s viewer has been found! \*\* Here’s another. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/77 "2003-09-17T14:07:32Z")
CNN “took it to the King of Jordan?” That’s some mighty fine spur of the moment half-assed diplomacy by CNN to keep their bureau in Baghdad. Silly me, I thought something like that would be [newsworthy](http://journalism.wlu.edu/Knightcom/5-5-03.html). I did see a wonderful CNN report on Saddam’s birthday from their bureau in Baghdad. That makes all the lying about murder worthwhile to me. Correct me if I’m wrong **minty** , but I believe the subjects in question _were_ murdered? Maybe it was tortured and murdered? Anyway, good try CNN. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/78 "2003-09-17T15:07:29Z")
Can I ask for clarification here: are people suggesting the ‘not reporting’ of known atrocities (by CNN) is in some way a justification of, or a sign of their support for, the same atrocities? Is that the position being supported here? Just so I know. ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/79 "2003-09-17T15:33:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Aro \* > \*\*Can I ask for clarification here: > are people suggesting the ‘not reporting’ of known atrocities (by CNN) is in some way a justification of, or a sign of their support for, the same atrocities? > > Is that the position being supported here? Just so I know. \*\* Funny you mention that. There is one paragraph in the link I just posted I SO wish I’d written. > [@](#): > > The issue here isn’t the depravity of Saddam’s Iraq. It’s whether the accommodations CNN made to stay there so compromised its operations that its reporting was fatally corrupted: Jordan’s staff, he told The Washington Post, wouldn’t “report anything that jeopardized people’s lives.” What was left? Did CNN suppress the most fundamental truths about the regime? Was that equivalent to CBS retaining its Berlin bureau in 1943 in exchange for silence on the Holocaust? ---
**Author:** ![Beagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Beagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beagle)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882/80 "2003-09-17T15:47:59Z")
I did, OTOH, say this in that GD thread (sarcasm removed for clarity)… > [@](#): > > If CNN had pulled out of Iraq and focused their investigative reporters on the brutal regime… The journalist agrees with me, by the way. > [@](#): > > Why didn’t CNN simply shutter its bureau and redouble its reporting on Iraq from unhindered vantage points in neighboring countries? > > Jordan insists CNN did fine, and notes that its bureau was shut a half-dozen times and 10 correspondents either expelled or refused entry. > > Maybe. But he also assured Poynter Institute ethicist Bob Steele that the cases in his column were the only horror stories he held back. > > That is nonsense. If those were the only atrocities CNN’s staff knew about they weren’t looking very hard. Since CNN wouldn’t air what its chief already knew, its reporters would hardly go digging for more. Plainly, CNN decided it couldn’t report torture safely — safely for its staff and sources, safely for its corporate presence. Once again, my sarcasm may obscure the underlying point… I really have improved on that since then. :smack: > [@](#): > > By 1998, when the article was published, by Jordan’s own admission, CNN had intimate personal knowledge about Uday’s brutality. Yet, they still report through “defectors.” Of course, everyone accepted what defectors had to say about WMDs in Iraq. That’s just as good as saying, “we personally know that Uday is a murderous bastard.” :dubious: That goes right to the fundamental nature of the regime. They, themselves, were under constant threat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christane-amanpour-white-house-intimidation-and-a-total-bitch-from-fox-news/201882.md?page=5)