CNN Backs Novak
Rejecting Jay Rosen‘s suggestion, CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein and CNN Newsgroup President Jim Walton yesterday backed Bob Novak and promised that Novak would remain as an on-air contributor while the Plame leak investigation continues.
It was, perhaps not surprisingly, the first question Klein and Walton faced during a Q&A during the ongoing Summer TV press tour: “Why does Robert Novak continue to be employed by CNN?”
Klein responded: “It would be awfully presumptuous of us to take steps against a guy and his career based on second, third, fourth-hand reporting.”
Then Walton faced his own grilling: “We can expect to see Novak on your air for a long time to come?” He responded “Yes.”
“You had a discussion with him, you understand what happened? You don’t see a problem for your organization?” the critic continued.
“I think we need to be careful how I answer that question,” Walton responded.
“When Bob Novak wrote that column he wrote it for the Chicago Sun-Times. And I was not privy to who his sources were…that did not go through the editorial process at CNN. He has broken no laws and he has distinguished himself as a journalist for many, many years… He brings a different voice to our air.”
Walton was further asked whether the Novak/Plame “furor” was a problem for CNN, and he said that “as a news organization you stand up to the heat sometimes. We as a…journalistic organization need to be very careful about decisions we make and the influences to those decisions,” he said, adding that CNN strives to
Then, in a strange aside for a network that earlier this year saw Eason Jordan disappear after a blog-based controversy, Walter added that CNN tries to “make the best decision, the right decision, not based on the amount of noise coming in…from outside.”
> Cousin TVNewser rounds up some other quotes of support.
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