The neocon link to the ABC News scandal

[babylonsister]

The neocon link to the ABC News scandal


As predicted yesterday, the scandal over disgraced ex-ABC News consultant Alexis Debat continues to spin out of control, with major implications for the way that Americans have been getting their news about the flashpoints that could determine war or peace in the Persian Gulf and South Asia.

The story first broke in Debat's native France, but here at home Laura Rozen continues to lead the pack on the coverage. Writing online today for Mother Jones, she exposes that there were long-time, serious questions about Debat by some at ABC News -- yet those questions never stopped star investigative reporter Brian Ross from airing sensational and inflamatory articles about U.S. meddling in Iran and the hunt for Osama bin Laden, using Debat as a prime source. Writes Rozen:

Interviews with journalists, think tank associates, and a former government official indicate that there were warning signs about Debat for years—even within the network itself. Two journalists familiar with Debat's work point to ABC chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross not only as the victim of Debat's alleged deceptions, but as an enabler, who has promoted sensational stories—including some that Debat brought the network—at the expense at times of rigorous journalism standards.

She notes two Ross ABC "scoops" on Pakistan that were either corrected or instantly denounced as false by Pakistani officials.

In the meantime, little attention had been paid to the French journal Politique Internationale -- which published Debat's bogus "interviews" with Barack Obama, as well as Hillary Clinton, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, former Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

But the French magazine deserves closer scrutiny. In continuing to connect the dots between Debat and the push for a neoconservative agenda that includes ratcheting up war tensions with Iran, it turns out that a prominent member of the neocon movement has served as editor of Politique Internationale for much of this decade.

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http://www.attytood.com/2007/09/the_neocon_link_to_the_abc_new.html