A statement from the Monitor (Abducted Journalist NAMED)

[MADem]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0110/p10s01-woiq.html
Jill Carroll, a freelance writer currently on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, was abducted in western Baghdad on Saturday morning, local time. Her Iraqi interpreter was fatally wounded in the kidnapping. Her Iraqi driver escaped unharmed.

...Jill, 28, is an established journalist who has been reporting from the Middle East for Jordanian, Italian, and other news organizations over the past three years. In recent months, the Monitor has tapped into her professionalism, energy, and fair reporting on the Iraqi scene. It was her drive to gather direct and accurate views from political leaders that took her into western Baghdad's Adil neighborhood on Saturday morning.

[thinkingwoman]

1. Good on the Christian Science Monitor!!

Truth, what a concept.

[54anickel]

2. Was afraid of that. So, next question is who is really behind her

abduction? She seemed to do more to uncover the dis-information spread by the US propagandists than to threaten any "insurgent" movement.

[MADem]

4. Well, CSM has been on thin ice with the gubmint over there

One of their correspondents was booted out of Iraq by the 'coalition authorities' for being too forthcoming, sort of a-la-Geraldo awhile back (see here: http://editorandpublisher.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&expire=&urlID=5827282&fb=Y&partnerID=60 ). They are viewed with suspicion, mainly because they fail to toe the party line in their reportage. Not too many happy/glad stories about cheerful people and schools being built in that paper.

I have the sense that someone leaned on them to muzzle this story up to now, but I can't prove it--you have to wonder what dire warnings might have been communicated. If you had access to Lexis/Nexis, you knew who she was within moments of the event...only slightly longer if you relied on Google and used advance search features.

Wonder if the lamestream will finally put lovely Jill up on the tee vee screens? Perhaps they are hoping she will be shoved to the rear by Alito, DeLay, Abramoff, et.al??

The timing of this release is just BULLSHIT to me. But then, I am a suspicious old coot.

[Garbo 2004]

5. More likely it was in keeping with this post by a friend of hers at kos:

The first 24-48 hours are critical, and American news organizations tend to not want publicity, at least during that period. It can make it much more dangerous for her and difficult to secure her release.

European news organizations often approach this issue differently, however, and will make an annoucement earlier, especially if they feel that the nationality of the reporter is likely to decrease the threat to his or her life. That is not the case here.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/7/115145/2252

[MADem]

6. I'm not gonna get into a big discussion of what alleged friends are

saying, but the frigging horse was totally out of the barn within moments of her abduction. The only people helped by keeping this story in the dark was BushCo. Ya know CNN headline news? They have the same thing over there, and her name was IN ROTATION on at least TWO CHANNELS within an hour after the abduction--and that includes here in good ole 'Murkah for those who get that there Ay-Rab channel. Every idiot in every coffee bar with a dish on the roof from Damascus to Baghdad to Amman to Mekkah knew her damn name. So sorry, that ABSURD notion that hiding the name from AMERICANS somehow protects her does not pass my smell test. When the state-run Commie Chinese paper prints the name, but it is censored here, well....who is the freedom hater????

But, who benefits?? Over the weekend, there was nothing much going on over here, save the DeLay letter, and how long can anyone beat that old drum??? If this story broke late Saturday, it would have merited news stories on Sunday--perhaps MSNBC might have even preempted reruns of HEADLINERS AND LEGENDS and DARK HEART/IRON HAND to cover it....and we can't have THAT, can we? Especially since she is such a lovely girl...and any search of B-role video archives by all the cable outlets will likely give us a few moving shots of her as well. She didn't sit in the hotel like others--that lady plopped on hijab and got her ass OUT THERE.

Do read some of her work. Like I have said, she is no BUSHCO shill. She calls it as she sees it, her reporting is tight, fact-based, and well-constructed. She knows how to strip out ideology, and get to the essential features of the situation--and what she reported was not the 'yippy doodah' good-news-horseshit. It was the real deal...

I hope they cut her loose. She's a treasure.

[Garbo 2004]

12. I've read Carroll's work. You're not the only one who has. I've also read

her sister's blog which featured Carroll's work and travels. That blog was taken down on Saturday. Although she had/has a public venue to publicize her sister's plight, instead she took the blog down. Perhaps she too was part of the plot to dump the story to spare Bushco some bad PR?

I've also read the blog of an anon Iraqi journalist friend of Carroll's (he had mentioned her months before) including his Saturday article where he wrote of his desperate fear for his friend (who he did not identify) who had been kidnapped, what a great person she is, that she was a friend of the Iraqis and pled for her release. By Sunday he had removed that article.

As ridiculous as it sounds to you, it may just be that these people removed that material in a sincere attempt to protect their sibling/friend in the first critical hours after her kidnapping.

As it is, the AP told Editor and Publisher, "It has been not uncommon in the past for news organizations and other companies to make requests to hold off reporting for a short time if they think it would help recover a kidnapped individual." http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001808253 While Carroll's reported for a number of media outlets in her time in Iraq, her American citizenship and current employment with a publication called The Christian Science Monitor might not be regarded as a plus among certain factions there, regardless what she wrote. I noted at the time that Sunday's UK Telegraph story seemed to emphasize her freelance status although they undoubtedly knew she was reporting for the CSM.

Besides, the story did break on Saturday on the US wires, although her identity and/or affiliation was largely, but not absolutely, unspecified in local reports. The AP wire, just one of several sources from which many news organizations draw their news, has a wide reach. Local outlets do not only get their news from the NYT, WaPo, LA Times or CNN.

IMO you vastly overestimate MSNBC if you seriously entertain the thought they would interrupt their stale weekend programming to cover in any significant fashion Carroll's kidnapping and the issues it highlights. Michael Jackson fainting and hospitalized for exhaustion or hot breaking news from Aruba, maybe. But an American journalist kidnapped in Iraq? Perhaps a mention at the news break.

I doubt the media would have given this story significant coverage even if they went with all the info this weekend. And what's the coverage been since the CSM said, ok go? They're into flash and distraction under the guise of news, not focusing on matters of actual substance like Carroll did. Jeez, they still spend hours covering that damn Aruba thing and the guy who disappeared off a cruise ship and there hasn't been any "news" about them in months. If Carroll had disappeared from a cruise ship, Abrams, Cosby and Susteren would be there. Today after Carroll's identity was good to go, CNN's main evening news show, Anderson Cooper 360, spent more time on what constitutes a "medically indcuced coma" than on Carroll's story which was little more than a brief footnote. This morning on CNN? A brief live report from Baghdad where the reporter repeated excerpts from the print story released Monday. Then on to more important news like Howard Stern's show on Sirius and how many times he dropped the "F bomb."

One thing we do agree on, Carroll's an absolute jewel of a reporter. A true journalist. She was friends with Marla Ruzicka and wrote eloquently of her. I'm amazed at the courage and dedication of these two young women and what they've accomplished with their lives at such a young age. My sincere hope is that Carroll will be safely released and returned to her friends, family and to us who need to continue to hear voices like hers.

[MADem]

13. We were the only ones kept in the dark

This story was covered overseas. I saw the reports on the arab channels over at my pal's house, who pays for the arabic tier. They said her name. The Italians were reporting it as well--I detailed a few of the links here--they are not in English, though: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2026862&mesg_id=2032160

It is entirely possible that the delay had something to do with the mosque raid (I posted that in LBN about an hour ago, it is sinking like a stone) but that happened SATURDAY, with no positive result, yet anyway. After that raid, her name came out everywhere but here in the good old USA. It took two more days before we got the word.

This morning, I heard on MSNBC before Imus started up that "US security personnel" had "suggested" (that was the word tossed out) to the US MEDIA in Baghdad that they not report it. Of course, if you are a family member, or even a reporter, and you know and care about this young woman, how else are you going to take that "suggestion?" Is it a suggestion, or something a little more forceful? And no one else held on to the story like the Americans did, as I noted in my other post. Whatever the reason, the effect was censorship of a supposedly free press.

Of course, now that Alito is on the hot seat, a little diversion and dilution never hurts.

I don't believe a damn thing in the media anymore. They've BS'd us once too often, and the delay here, which did not match the delay elsewhere (RAI TV had her name out Sunday morning) doesn't pass the smell test. The initial, childish excuse that because she worked for the "Christian" Science Monitor (among others) her situation might be more problematic is just foolish--like 'terrists' don't know how to google, or they had no clue as to her employer BEFORE they snatched her, or something.

FWIW, CBS did a decent story on the event, but of course, they are 'damned liberal media'--print and video here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/09/iraq/main1193458.shtml

[Garbo 2004]

16. Well others held the name, but not the story, here in the US. It was on

the wires and picked up by various outlets. Also Britain pubs and Reporters Without Borders held the identity but reported the story. (And yes I saw the Italian Republica article after it came out and others.)

But since you think the delay was staged managed by the media for nefarious reasons other than the CSM's request and don't trust them (understandably) to carry actual news, I don't understand why you seem to think that they would have given her story immediate full court press this weekend if only release of her name hadn't been delayed. That they would push aside all their crap infotainment stories and dedicate a significant portion of their airtime to the story. That she would be the media's new Laci Peterson, whose story is still getting coverage even now in midst of the Alito hearings. Or that the timely release of the story would have some major impact on the public. I just don't see that this story would get any more significant attention this weekend than they are giving it now.

It's not like this story in full on Saturday or Sunday would have the impact of say, the NYT carrying the NSA spying story in 2004 before the election instead of now when the story was going to come out in a book anyway. That was effectively censorship for political purposes with the collaboration of a major media outlet that had previously carried water for the Administration. That's a HUGE story, one of many huge stories the media chose not to cover, where the American public was kept in the dark with significant consequence. Even now CBS has not run its Niger story, another story put on hold before the 2004 election.

This story, however tragic to those involved, is just not on the same level of consequence, regardless of when it went public and by whom. We've been intentionally kept in the dark about far greater matters. I just think this was a sincere but ineffective attempt by the CSM (not known for being in the pocket of Bushco) and some others to hold a story for a couple days in the hopes it might help a reporter.

[MADem]

17. Please read the links I cited--they date from 7 GEN (7 January)

...and they INCLUDE HER NAME. That was my POINT in posting them. State TV in Italy named her, fachrissake. We got nothing until the LATE AFTERNOON OF THE 9th over here. Two full days. I read Italian and Spanish, among other languages, and make it a point to go over the Euro news at the weekend, because we don't get the shit the rest of the world gets.

I did note today that the Alito hearings, when the going got tough for him, was "broken into" to show B roll of lovely Jill and repeat her story. Convenient. Let's empathize with the pretty captured girl, and pay no attention to the asshole getting roasted by Russ Feingold or Chuck Schumer.

Call me paranoid...but I smelled a rat. The story was held to do that mosque raid, and that is all well and good (I posted a story on that at LBN, sank like a stone with zero comment) but that raid happened SATURDAY NIGHT.

Right after that, it all broke, in Europe, Asia, southwest Asia....but not in the "land of the free." The agreement with the press was to wait until after they raided that mosque. After that, all bets were off. I heard her name on the Arab channels. EVERYONE KNEW. But not us, in the land of a vigorous, open press? Makes Cuba look cutting edge, frankly...

As I said elsewhere, the CSM has been on thin ice with the coalition authorities. They had a reporter tossed out of Iraq a while back--if you don't think they are TIMID as a consequence, perhaps you need to rethink. They are in no position to gripe to the gubmint, else they could suffer worse consequences...like lose all access and be declared Al Jazeera Lite.

PLUS, and this is significant, she is simply a stringer for them--a freelancer, with no cash, no body armor, no security detail, no dedicated car and driver--a piecework worker. She hires her own car, her own driver, her own translator, and does not have access to network resources like the bigwigs. She gets by on her wits...and an abaya.

She also works for ANSA in Italy, and they cut the story loose right after the mosque raid. Literally moments.

Whatever.

[Garbo 2004]

19. Jeez, again, I read articles on Sat and Sunday, both foreign and domestic.

As I previously mentioned, I was aware of articles that fully identified her (Italy's Republica, for example) and others that didn't. You're not the only one that peruses European and other foreign news sites.

But apparently you ignored I'd mentioned that and seem to assume no one else can possibly be "informed" but you. And congrats on being a polyglot. So am I. It is nice, isn't it?

But again, it's not the case that there were NO US reports of the kidnapping on the 7th and 8th. The US media does not solely consist of the NYT, WaPo and LA Times or network TV. The majority of news in local outlets is picked up via the wires, AP, UPI, Reuters. And the story was picked up by local newspapers and TV stations. So they didn't name her and that's their horrific crime?

Even Reporters Without Borders, HQ'd in France, reported the story but held her name until the CSM went public. I guess they're either idiots (since undoubtedly they knew the name was out there) or conspiring against the vast American public to keep them even dumber and uninformed than they already are. Gotta watch out for those French.

BTW, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the US simply took advantage of the kidnapping to provide a cover/excuse for the raid on the mosque.

But did/do you have this much outrage when the NYT held the NSA story past the election and only published it now because they were going to be scooped by their own reporter's book? Or is it that this kidnapping can be personalized to an attractive sympathetic individual, much as was the appeal for the Laci Peterson, et. al. stories?

As far as conspiracies the NYT/NSA is a honkin huge verified smoking cannon, the real deal and a true high crime and misdeanor for both gov't and the press. The temporary holding of the full story of a kidnapping in Iraq is a popgun by comparison. All conspiracies (and conspiracy theories) are not created equal or have equal significance and impact.

Now gotta run and catch up on Le Monde. Perhaps with some tea and a nice madeleine. LOL

[MADem]

20. OK, you seem to be losing the point of my initial irritation at the media

and other censors over here in the USA. My irritation was with the fact that her name was withheld here in the US way beyond the holding of the name in Europe. HER NAME!!! One more time, HER NAME. I am FULLY AWARE that the story was out sooner WITHOUT THE NAME over here, it came out about a day after it hit the rest of the world, but the NAME was withheld for many more days--only here in the US. THAT is my GRIPE.

Enablers on the American WEB were self-censoring based on "anonymous" assertions, well after state TV in Italy, every paper on the wire service she worked for over there, the Red Chinese, and two Arab channels (for starters) had it--as though the "terrists" only read US political websites or our lousy American papers. The CSM "proprietary attitude" towards a freelancer was fine to a point (the mosque raid), but once the horse was out of the barn in Europe, what purpose was served by withholding the name (and as a consequence, PICTURES, and especially all that very well shot NBC b-roll of her) until it could be used as a distractor, say, when Alito was on the hot seat...or as a diversion for something else. Past the point that the name was out overseas, all it did was make the US look like what it actually is--a police state with a government-controlled media. And that is something I find both DISTURBING, and SAD.

And yes, I DID have that much outrage when the NYT held the NSA story. WTF does THAT have to do with this issue? Why did you throw out something that has nothing the fuck to do with this matter, beyond the fact that it is yet another case of censorship that sucks, with hubris, outrage, and a tone of accusation???? Like I am on the NYT payroll or something???? And why are you being snarky with the polyglot comment, the Laci Petersen bullshit, and about my reading the Euro press? I lived over there for years and years and years, it's like my hometown papers. You decide what I am all about, put me on trial, and convict me.

And really, no where do I claim to have a monopoly on information--I don't get it. I have a point of view about how this story was handled. I have done the best I can to demonstrate two things---that information was withheld here in the US, POINTLESSLY, and that other agencies, to include government run media elsewhere, went with the full story far sooner than we did. I find that troubling. Instead of addressing that issue, you give me Laci Petersen, make assumptions about my views towards the French, and insults.

You are getting all pissed off at me simply because I have a different take on this matter, and being rather rude, too. It's like civil discussion cannot occur...so I am done. Good evening.

[fed-up]

3. two more stories

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001808253Abduction of American Reporter in Iraq Blacked Out By U.S. News Outlets
By Joe Strupp

Published: January 09, 2006 3:05 PM ET
NEW YORK The abduction of a Christian Science Monitor reporter in Iraq on Saturday was not disclosed by major U.S. media outlets for nearly two days after the Monitor requested that the incident, and the reporter's name and affiliation, be withheld. A translator was killed in the incident and the reporter, now identified by the Monitor as Jill Carroll, is still being held.

Numerous foreign news outlets and several leading wire services disclosed the incident--and in a few cases, the reporter's name. Such stories did not appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and other U.S. papers and their Web sites.

The Associated Press ran at least one story out of Baghdad, but without the newspaper or reporter's name, and it did not appear in any major newspapers Sunday or Monday. AP held off all further reports at the request of the Monitor, which did not release the information until this afternoon. Jay Jostyn, a Monitor spokesman, told E&P it acted now--sending an email to news organizations after 2:30 p.m. and with a story on its Web site at 3:00 P.M.--because the story had by now circulated via 40 to 50 outlets abroad....

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/01/09/D8F1CABG1.html
Iraqis Look for Kidnapped U.S. Journalist

[MADem]

21. Well, there's my point! Land of the free is the land of the CENSORED!

I figured out very near the incident who it was--simply because I had a situational awareness of who was over there at the the time. But the gubmint leaned on the CSM and forced them (under pain of what??? We won't rescue yer stringer???) to use their good offices to hold the story...and even after their little mosque raid on SATURDAY EVENING (the evening following her SATURDAY MORNING abduction), the story still languished. Unfairly, IMO.

I want this kid back alive, safe and sound. But holding back her name prevents one thing, and one thing only--a bit of good ole American OUTRAGE. Let's all focus on ALITO, and ignore Jill...Alito is an ugly little troll, but he is Monkey's pal...Jill is young, bright, energetic...and we must IGNORE her and her plight--unless there is a bad blip in the ALITO hearings, then the media can break in and give us a "non-news" report about the fact that she was taken DAYS AGO.

UNFAIR assessment? Where is the coverage? Not enough, IMO. They use her when ALITO is in hot water....the Italians, et. al., did not do that.

All that dull, dead, no-news Sunday newstime....WASTED.

Others' mileage may vary....

[Zodiak]

7. Who kidnapped her?

Their guys or our guys? Will we ever know?

[MADem]

8. She is very well respected for one so (relatively) young

She is as gutsy as Rather was in Viet Nam. She does not report from the roof of the Al Rashid, or phone it in based on what the busboy is saying, she tosses on the old bedsheet and gets her butt out there. She is not stupid, she is careful, and she is not one to take excessive risks or go off on ill-planned adventures.

I cannot imagine that anyone who actually has read what she has written could see any point, benefit or advantage in taking her, from either side. She simply tells the TRUTH, and paints a complete picture.

[Zodiak]

9. If she tells the truth

I can think of one side of this war that might have a problem with it.

[MADem]

10. Go read her stuff, seriously

There is no way you can call it anything other than good reporting.

She's an argument for the quality education one can get at state university systems...

[54anickel]

11. Was thinking the same thing...the same lil idgit that wanted to bomb

Al-Jazeera - for not towing the line. Iraq sure seems like a very dangerous place for any "real" journalist. Hasn't there been some 30 journalists kidnapped since this mess started? Would be interesting to review the list and whether or not any of them were "friendly" to this administration. I wouldn't be surprised if it's not some black-ops doings - but we'll probably never know. Geez, I HATE being this suspicious of what is supposed to be my own damned country!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

14. Reporter abducted in Iraq...Christian Science Monitor Reporter

Freelance reporter who appeared on MSNBC and was critical of Bush*s war :( this stinks.



http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0110/p01s04-woiq.html
BAGHDAD AND PARIS – Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist currently on assignment for The Christian Science Monitor, was abducted by unknown gunmen in Baghdad Saturday morning. Her Iraqi interpreter was killed during the kidnapping.
"I saw a group of people coming as if they had come from the sky," recalled Ms. Carroll's driver, who survived the attack. "One guy attracted my attention. He jumped in front of me screaming, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!' with his left hand up and a pistol in his right hand."

One of the kidnappers pulled the driver from the car, jumped in, and drove away with several others huddled around Carroll and her interpreter, said the driver, who asked not to be identified. "They didn't give me any time to even put the car in neutral," he recounted.

The body of the interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, 32, was later found in the same neighborhood. He had been shot twice in the head, law enforcement officials said. There has been no word yet on Carroll's whereabouts.


more....

[MakeItSo]

15. 3 makes a story

Christian Science Monitor reporter kidnapped by unknowns (Message push: Now the Islamofascists are attacking "Christians")

Award-winning Guardian reporter is hooded and detained (by US soldiers), his reels of documentary video is confisgated and remains missing

New York Times reporter is allegedly "mugged" in a safe area of DC by criminals who neglected to take either his watch or his ring


I suppose the story should be this: What the hell is going on?

[nofoil]

18. In Yesterday's Wash. Post too...

This story was in yesterday's Washington Post as well, with names and photos:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010902078.html

Let's hope and pray that she is being treated with compassion. She's so young...