CNN’s Octavia Nasr Leaving Network praise of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah

CNN Fires Editor after Expressing Sadness over Sayyed Fadlullah’s Death

Hanan Awarekeh

08/07/2010 “Freedom of speech” is the first amendment in the US constitution and it prohibits any violation to the freedom of the press. Based on this right, a CNN editor expressed her sadness for the death of Lebanese Shiite cleric Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlullah by posting a simple note on Twitter. However this note led to lose her job as an editor responsible for Middle Eastern coverage.

CNN Channel, one of the most prominent American media, has violated the first amendment after it fired Octavia Nasr for posting a note on Twitter expressing admiration for the late Ayatollah Fadlulah.

Nasr later apologized for her tweet, but CNN's senior vice president for international newsgathering, Parisa Khosravi, said Wednesday that Nasr's credibility had been compromised.

The Atlanta-based Nasr is a Lebanese journalist who worked at CNN for 20 years, starting as an assignment editor on the international desk. Her job was mostly off the air, but she occasionally would appear as an onscreen analyst during discussions of Middle Eastern news.

Grand Ayatollah Fadlullah died Sunday after a long illness and many people and figures from Lebanon and all over the Arab and Muslim world took part in his funeral on Tuesday.

In a Twitter posting over the weekend, Nasr said “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlullah... One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”

Nasr’s remarks drew fire from the Honest Reporting media watchdog, which asked on its Web site, “Is Nasr a Hezbollah sympathizer? This is disturbing enough given that the group is designated a terrorist organization by the US and is committed to the destruction of Israel.”

CNN issued a statement on Tuesday calling it an error in judgment for Nasr to write such a simplistic tweet.

Nasr later said in a blog that she had been referring to Fadlullah's attitude toward women's rights. His eminence had issued edicts banning so-called "honor killing" of women and giving women their rights as Islam says.

She wrote that Fadlullah was "revered across borders yet designated a terrorist. Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It's something I deeply regret."

But Khosravi said in a memo Wednesday that she spoke with Nasr and "we have decided that she will be leaving the company."


CNN’s Octavia Nasr Leaving Network After Controversial Hezbollah Tweet

by Steve Krakauer | 3:38 pm, July 7th, 2010

In the latest case of new media (or oversharing) gone wrong, CNN’s Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr is leaving the company following the controversy caused by her tweet in praise of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah

Mediaite has the internal memo, which says “we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised.”

Nasr tweeted this weekend: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.”

After a blog post expanding on her position, CNN promised the issue was “serious” and would “be dealt with accordingly.” That’s apparently her exit from CNN. Here’s an internal memo obtained by Mediaite:

From Parisa Khosravi – SVP CNN International Newsgathering
I had a conversation with Octavia this morning and I want to share with you that we have decided that she will be leaving the company. As you know, her tweet over the weekend created a wide reaction. As she has stated in her blog on CNN.com, she fully accepts that she should not have made such a simplistic comment without any context whatsoever. However, at this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward.
As a colleague and friend we’re going to miss seeing Octavia everyday. She has been an extremely dedicated and committed part of our team. We thank Octavia for all of her hard work and we certainly wish her all the best.
Parisa.

Nasr has been with CNN for 20 years.

Angry Arab Comment

The dismissal of Octavia Nasr proves this:

1) no matter how much you grovel and how much you insult Arabs and Muslims in the US, as Nasr has largely due to her ignorance of Middle East and Islamic affairs, it will never be enough. Unless you advocate the Likudnik positions as Fouad Ajami has, you will be suspect of you are of Arab origin;

2) Israeli orientalists rule supreme in US popular media. We may know that Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah has no position whatsoever in Hizbullah, but US media still insist that he is Hizbullah's leader.

3) Octavia Nasr does not deserve our support or tears. She has played a lousy job inside CNN. Of course, she is first and foremost unqualified but she has started her "journalistic" work at LBC TV when it was a mere tool of the Lebanese Forces during the war years. I discussed this once with CNN's Bernard Shaw and he expressed surprise and said that at CNN they thought that LBC TV stands for a state-run TV named Lebanese Broadcasting Company. The CNN's Middle East correspondents did not think highly of Nasr and some expressed that privately to me.

4) In the US, you may only expressed sympathy and admiration for Jewish and Christian religious figures. Muslim religious figures are all a bunch of terrorists, Sunnis and Shi`ites alike, regardless of views.

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