The Fox News Angle
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Exclusive commentary by CK Rairden
Mar 26, 2004
A funny thing happened on the way to the 9/11-commission coronation of Richard Clarke. FOX News reporter Jim Angle changed the course of the hearings, and perhaps history. In dramatic fashion, roughly two hours before would-be star witness Richard Clarke was to testify, the reporter released both transcripts and a tape recording from a conference call interview with Clarke from August 2002 on the FOX News Channel. The bombshell release had Clarke praising the Bush plan to fight terrorism, and that contradicted much of what Clarke had already said in interviews and would soon testify to under oath.
The 2002 comments by Clarke were earth shattering considering his ‘World Tour’ to promote his book “Against All Enemies” was full throttle with radio, television and print interviews. Clarke also had a scheduled stop at the 9/11 hearings where his book had already been waved to cameras and touted by some committee members as a sort of ‘holy gospel’ on their perceived failures of the president to fight terrorism. Many in the mainstream media had given Clarke rock star treatment, and even though that treatment continued, the Angle tape recording gave much needed background context on Clarke.
Some chose to ignore it, but many others did not.
The scoop was so important that FOX News broke into Sandy Berger’s testimony at the commission at roughly 11:35am EST on Wednesday with Jim Angle explaining on camera live where the recording came from and how it came to be released. It was an incredible scoop for FOX News and Jim Angle and playing the tape caused a bit of a stir among the media and a credibility gap for Clarke for many observers.
And with good reason, the first entry from the 2002 conference call attributed to Clarke was enough to discredit him among many critics. Clarke began on the tape, “Actually, I've got about seven points, let me just go through them quickly. Um, the first point, I think the overall point is, there was no plan on Al Qaeda that was passed from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration.”
No plan from Clinton passed to Bush. That’s not the news that had been reported.
Angle not only had the transcript but the self-proclaimed ‘pack rat’ obviously had archived the tape and had a clear audio recording of Clarke praising the president’s policies with such direct statements as “[the Administration process is to] add to the existing Clinton strategy and to increase CIA resources, for example, for covert action, five-fold, to go after Al Qaeda.” Clarke concluded his prepared statements on the tape with yet another striking contradiction, “[The Administration] then changed the strategy from one of rollback with Al Qaeda over the course [of] five years, which it had been, to a new strategy that called for the rapid elimination of al Qaeda.”
Not exactly what Clarke had been saying for the last week.
Angle explained that the comments came from an interview where Clarke knew he was being taped but the interview was considered “on background.” That is an arrangement used often by the media where the source (in this case Richard Clarke) provides information to reporters on the condition of anonymity. At the time, the National Security Council (NSC) asked that his quotes be attributed to an unnamed official. Angle later explained that the NSC lifted that restriction and gave FOX News permission to run the tape, and release the transcripts.
And that’s just what they did on Wednesday morning.
That infuriated committee member and former Senator Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) who let loose with this scathing denouncement during the hearings. “All of us who have provided background briefings for the press before should beware," Kerrey opined, “Fox should say 'occasionally fair and balanced' after putting something like this out, because they violated a serious trust.” It was difficult to take that seriously though as the democrats on the committee had already used Clarke’s ‘for profit’ best selling book as a virtual factual guide for questioning of other witnesses.
Jim Angle deserved praise for the thorough job he did on this matter, not criticism. Sure the tape was exactly what the White House wanted released to discredit Clarke, but in reality it was Clarke in his own words discrediting himself. It didn’t even come close to leveling the playing field as Clarke’s book and interviews had been touted in the media for 48 hours prior to Angle’s bombshell release. No reporter worth his salt who had the tape and sought and received permission to release it would sit on the story.
CBS White House correspondent Bill Plante agreed telling the USA Today, “If [Jim Angle] held on to the tape, God bless him. I wish my records were that good.” NBC's Andrea Mitchell agreed also telling the USA Today, “[Angle was] right to pursue the story.” And clearly these two veteran reporters are correct, and Bob Kerrey was wrong. With a week of incredible interviews, a 60 Minutes infomercial and gotcha journalism stories Jim Angle procured a most important piece of information that allowed the public to decide for themselves whether or not Richard Clarke has any credibility.
Jim Angle trumped the slick marketing of 60 Minutes, and interviews with Richard Clarke by Larry King, PBS and TIME magazine with what can only be described as an incredible record keeping system and a tough as nails work ethic.
And Angle accomplished this with a mono telephone interview tape from nearly 18 months ago.
taken from washingtondispatch.com (great site)
Posted by Josh at March 27, 2004 12:53 AM | TrackBack