Rececca MacKinnon organized the Kennedy School conference on bloggers and journalism a couple of weeks ago; I got to know her slightly in that capacity. Right after the conference she went to Davos to participate in the Global Economic Forum, where she wound up in the middle of the controversy over Eason Jordan’s accusation that the American military in Iraq targets journalists for assassination.
Today Rebecca answered Hugh Hewitt’s questions about the Jordan affair. Rebecca is appropriately cautious in her responses, given that she has neither notes nor access to a recording of the event. Given that, and with numerous disclaimers and qualifiers omitted, here are the highlights of her answers:
Q: First, was Rony’s account “accurate” in the sense that it would have been a responsible filing from any journalist working for, say, a big paper?
A: … So to answer your question: yes, Rony’s initial blog post was “accurate” in the sense that several of us in the room have corroborated his account.
Q: Did Mr. Jordan offer the idea that American military forces had “targeted” journalists before Representative Frank entered the conversation?
A: My recollection is that he did.
Q: Q: Rony believes that David Gergen was distressed by Mr. Jordan’s remarks.
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