Atlanta Constitution 7/8/98
Critics inside and out question why executive Richard Kaplan, reporter Peter Arnett got to keep their jobs. By Phil Moer TVWriTER
Despite extraordinary efforts at disclosure, a retraction and apologies, CNN`s Operation Tailwind debacle refuses to die.
CNN staffers and outside critics continue to express concerns about the role of two key players: CNN-US President Richard Kaplan, who launched the "NewsStand" program, which aired the report alleging the use of nerve gas on American defectors during the Vietnam War, and correspondent Peter Arnett, the oncamera reporter.
On Tuesday, Arnett was to fly to Atlanta from his vacation in Oregon for a late meeting with CNN Chairman Tom Johnson. Johnson is reviewing Arnett's role in the Tailwind report to determine whether his reprimand, issued Thursday, is sufficient.
In a conference call Tuesday morning with about 150 CNN employees, Johnson expressed full confidence in Kaplan and said he would not be leaving.
"This is a big blow. This one really hurts ... a major, self-inflicted wound," ,Johnson told The Associated Press on Tuesday, referring to the damage to CNN's reputation, built over 18 years. Johnson said he has made telephone calls of apology to the members of the Special Forces team that carried out a 1970 mission in Laos called Operation Tailwind. In other developments Tuesday: Johnson told CNN staffers he has named Richard Davis, vice president of Washington public affairs programming, as executive vice president of editorial standards and practices, a new office set up to try to prevent a recurrence of such an incident.
Johnson also told CNN staffers that he had tendered his resignation over Tailwind twice to CNN founder Ted Turner, but that Turner had rejected it. Johnson said Turner was "certainly deeply regretting this" and has been in daily communication on the handling of the retraction and its fallout.
April Oliver, one of three CNN producers who lost jobs because of the Tailwind story, said she initially asked for an hour for a more in-depth report on Tailwind that would have included more of the other side, but was told it would appear as a segment on "NewsStand." The story aired in less than 20 minutes on "NewStand's" debut episode.
CNN: Arnett's role is under fire.
Johnson and Kaplan have decided not to attend the Television Critics Association meeting Friday in Pasadena, Calif.
On June 7, a report on "NewsStand: CNN & Time" alleged that in 1970, U.S. military forces dropped sarin nerve gas on U . S. defectors and civilians in Laos. Almost immediately, participants and critics charged CNN with journalistic malfeasance, and Johnson soon asked an outside attorney to investigate. On Thursday, CNN retracted the story and apologized to viewers and military personnel. A "NewsStand" follow-up Sunday aired CNN outtakes of some of the Tailwind interviews, an extremely rare break with TV news tradition of not showing outtakes.
But CNN staffers still peppered Johnson with tough questions during three in-house conference calls he held Monday and Tuesday with hundreds of them. Johnson fielded questions - so pointed they might have been considered insubordinate under other circumstances - as to why Kaplan, who has a reputation as a hands-on manager, had not resigned. Johnson expressed confidence in Kaplan and said he would not be leaving CNN.
"I considered resigning," Kaplan said Saturday on CNN's "Reliable Sources." But he said he had been misled by the show's producers and senior staff. "I really didn't have an opportunity to get to the truth of it."
"If he's claiming that he's not in the loop, then he should have been in the loop," Oliver, who lives in Washington, said Tuesday. "I wasn't in Atlanta when the piece was assembled, but my editor told me Rick was beaming from ear to ear. No one suggested the piece was tilted."
Retired Maj. Gen. Perry M. Smith, CNN's military adviser who resigned in protest over the Tailwind report, said Tuesday that Kaplan should go.
"This is the most egregious piece of journalism in the history of American television," Smith said. "CNN has gotten rid of the lieutenants and majors, but the generals still haven't been disciplined. Until that happens, CNN hasn't gotten to closure."
If Johnson's comments Tuesday seemed to settle Kaplan's status, Arnett's position is increasingly unclear. A Pulitzer Prize winner for reporting during the Vietnam War, Arnett was the only Western correspondent in Iraq for much of the Persian Gulf War. With Christiane Amanpour, he ranks at the very top of CNN's corps of correspondents.
Now some wonder whether Arnett's prestige might have shielded him from more serious consequences, allegations that Johnson is looking into.
"I was the lead reporter, no question," Oliver said. "I wrote the script. But he [Arnett] would not have been a part of this if he did not believe in it."
Arnett conducted three of the interviews, including one with a Tailwind pilot who said he dropped tear gas, not nerve gas. That interview did not air in the initial report but was used in Sunday's follow-up on "NewsStand." Arnett and Oliver shared a joint byline as co-authors of Time magazine's report on Tailwind.
Arnett, who joined one of the CNN phone conferences Monday from his vacation in Oregon, said he had contributed very little reporting of the Tailwind report.
Nevertheless, Kaplan called Arnett's reprimand "within a hair of actually being a dismissal." Kaplan defended Arnett on "Reliable Sources," saying the reporter relied on Oliver's notes and research.
Johnson said Tuesday that Arnett "went beyond simply reading a script. Peter has been reprimanded and I would say reprimanded quite forcibly."
Smith said Arnett's byline in Time is damaging no matter what the truth is. "If he didn't write the story, his byline is dishonest," Smith said. "If he did, he has to take responsibility.
"The military in general will not feel that CNN has completed this action until Peter Arnett has left the scene," Smith said.
The Washington Post reported that Arnett, in his CNN conference call Monday, said he was "not going to let my reputation go down the tubes" over the report.
Arnett was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
When asked what he should have done differently, Johnson said he should have made sure that CNN's Pentagon correspondent and its military analyst were included in the story.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.