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Firing Followed E-Mailed Love Notes

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Nigeria Charged Koinange Paid Rebels for News

CNN Africa correspondent¬†Jeff Koinange’s¬†dismissal followed a reprimand for using his company e-mail account to continue an affair with a woman who subsequently published many of the messages on her blog, the woman,Marianne Briner, wrote last week on the blog,¬†“Distant ‘Lovers.'”

CNN

Jeff Koinange


Meanwhile, Briner’s own motivations have been questioned by Kenyan journalists who noted that Briner, a Swiss national who did business in Kenya, had testified in 2005 that she had a secret relationship with¬†Daniel arap Moi, president of Kenya from 1978 to 2002, a claim Moi strongly denied.

A Kenyan photojournalist in England,¬†Gitau wa Njenga,¬†wrote¬†on the Journal-isms message board that “I nearly suffered a similar fate as Koinange after a brief encounter with Marianne” Briner. He called her “a dangerous woman.”

Peter Makori, a Kenyan journalist in the United States, said of the Moi charge, “She had made the claims first implicating several ministers. However, later, she was to implicate Moi. When she implicated Moi, many Kenyans did not believe her earlier claims on the other ministers….because she came out as a sex predator targeting top guys in government,” he told Journal-isms.

A young Marianne Briner


On Thursday, two days after news of Koinange’s firing was¬†reported¬†in Journal-isms, Briner wrote:

“Many of you (yesterday there have been more than 4.500 entries to this blog) would like to make me responsible that CNN decided to ‘fire’ Jeff.

“I can assure you that this is one aspect of the case. I have been informed that the real reasons behind this have been his Nigeria Report and the legal problems CNN had with the Nigerian Government because of this.

“I have been told by a close friend of [Anderson]Cooper¬†that CNN is monitoring all correspondence of their personalities and when they went into his email-exchange to arrange for the meeting with these Nigerian rebels, they also came across his correspondence with me (more than 1.000 emails cannot be overseen).

“CNN does not allow private correspondence via their [official] computers and all emails Jeff had sent to me and I to him went via jeff.koinange@turner.com – the official channel of CNN. Jeff should have known that this could one day create a problem. But obviously he did not regard this [as] serious.”

Briner refers to a March 6 blog item on a Kenyan¬†Web site¬†called kumekucha in which Briner’s e-mail to CNN Worldwide President¬†Jim Walton¬†was reproduced. The author of the blog called Koinange “the Kenyan date rape journalist.”

Briner wrote, “After I had written the letter to the CNN-President and after the Date-Rape Article appeared in the Kumekucha -Blog, Jeff wrote to me on March 8:

“‘… I have been ‘reprimanded’ by CNN from emailing anything other than the ‘basics’ ….. it’s causing them great concern…..’

“And in a second message he wrote the same day:

“…. ‘it’s causing all kinds of ripple-effects around the world and I’m starting to get phone calls from all over the place asking about the “Date-Rape” ….. I know you’ve responded but the damage has been done.'”

The Nigerian reference is to a story in which, as CNN’s¬†John Roberts¬†reported on the Feb. 18¬†“This Week at War,” “Nigerian militants released 24 Filipino sailors that they had held captive for nearly a month. It came just days after CNN’s Jeff Koinange discovered the hostages deep in the Niger Delta and showed them to the world. And it also followed scathing criticism of Jeff’s reporting by the Nigerian government.

Koinange said on the show, “We literally just rented a boat in the port of Wari in southern Nigeria and just were in the – in the swamp for about an hour-and-a-half. And before we knew it, we were surrounded by masked men shooting at us, demanding who we were. After we identified ourselves, they took us on deep into the swamps to one of their hideouts and literally paraded these 24 Filipino hostages right in front of us.”

Roberts continued, “the Nigerian information minister made a very serious allegation about CNN’s reporting, including accusations that CNN staffers paid to have the self-described rebel group put on a show for our camera.

“CNN did not pay for or stage any part of the report. The only money that ever changed hands in gathering this story was the standard rental for a motor boat and captain- that was about $700; and the standard fee to a local freelance journalist, who we call a fixer, for his help in the reporting and translation, about $150 a day for that for three days.

“CNN does not pay for interviews.”

In her e-mail to Walton, Briner quoted Koinange: “Of course I had to pay certain people to get the story – but everything was done in agreement with CNN and in accordance with their usual standards – but you do not get such a story without bribing – you know how the world and especially in Nigeria functions – you have to have financial resources – but at the end it was worth it- CNN has its story and I have my ‘fame’ ……)”

CNN spokeswoman¬†Christa Robinson¬†told Journal-isms on June 5 that “Jeff Koinange’s departure had nothing to do with his reporting from the Nigeria Delta.”

Koinange, who other reporters say remains in Johannesburg, South Africa, has been unavailable for comment. Briner has written that she is in a “secret location in Spain.”

The brief bio of Briner for her 2006 book,¬†“The Shining Star in Darkness,” describes her this way:

“Marianne Briner grew up in Germany. She later moved to Switzerland where she married a Swiss psychologist and politician, Dr.¬†Frederik Briner. Using her strong contacts in the private and corporate circles, she founded her consultancy company – BAK – in 1987. BAK was soon to become involved in projects across Africa, but mostly in Kenya. Her vocal refusal to get involved in the thriving corruption in Kenya earned her an ‘Enemy of the State’ status. She was forced out of Kenya and subjected to repeated death threats from The Squad. Eventually, she went to live in a secret location in Spain.”

Briner wrote about the 1990 killing of Kenya’s minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation, Dr.¬†Robert Ouko. She is shown in a 13-minute BBCstory¬†from March 2, 2005, on the investigation into the killing.

In her e-mail to Walton, Briner wrote that she sent Koinange a press release about her book last August.

“Jeff replied immediately and proposed to have an interview with CNN in Atlanta and to present the book in Inside-Africa.

“Soon after he started to call me and things changed to very private and personal matters.”

 

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“NBC Nightly News” Boosts Interns of Color

NBC News, embarrassed last year by the¬†disclosure¬†that its summer internship class at “NBC Nightly News” had no students of color,¬†pledged¬†then to reach out to the journalist of color organizations to help fix the problem.

 

 

This year, spokeswoman¬†Barbara Levin¬†told Journal-isms, “While not all of this year’s intern class [has] started yet (schools let out a different times) – we are expecting seven, of which four are diverse.” She said three are African American and one is Asian American. Two came from the National Association of Black Journalists, she said.

 

Last year, NBC said, candidates for the unpaid summer internships were interviewed by phone, and candidates were evaluated by the strength of their resumes and essays. “The process is colorblind,” Levin said then.

But¬†Brian Williams, managing editor and anchor of the “Nightly News,” wrote subsequently, “I have spoken to¬†Steve Capus, the President of NBC News, and going forward, racial diversity will now also be a factor in our unpaid summer internship program, because our newsrooms have to better reflect our society.”

NBC News pledged then to “do its own internship recruitment program with each minority journalist association.”

 

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Columnist Sees Democrats Vacillating on War

“The Democrats still blink,” Boston Globe columnist¬†Derrick Z. Jackson¬†wroteMonday morning about Sunday’s Democratic presidential debate in Manchester, N.H. “Debate moderator¬†Wolf Blitzer¬†asked¬†Dennis Kucinich¬†if he would try to knock off¬†Osama bin Laden¬†with a missile even if it would kill some innocent civilians.

 

“Kucinich said, ‘I don’t think that a president of the United States who believes in peace and who wants to create peace in the world is going to be using assassination as a tool.’

 

“. . . A few moments later, Blitzer asked the candidates to raise their hands if they would authorize an assassination even if ‘innocent civilians would die.’

 

“The rest of the Democrats crawled into a hole of vacillation.

“Yes, we lost 3,000 people during 9/11. But between 64,000 and 600,000 Iraqi civilians are now dead because of our invasion and the resulting civil war.

“Are we not done killing innocents in the name of bin Laden,¬†Saddam Hussein, and weapons of mass destruction?

“By their vacillation, the Democrats still say no. The Republicans are laughing.”

On her Fox News site on Monday, host¬†Greta Van Susteren¬†wrote¬†of the debate, “my only complaint: Did CNN have to use only white men to do it?

“I noticed a full page ad in the New York Times announcing¬†Wolf¬†[Blitzer],¬†Larry[King],¬†Lou Dobbs,¬†Anderson Cooper¬†and¬†John Roberts. Yikes! Would CNN not notice or not care? I don’t know which is worse. How about a woman? A Hispanic? An African American? When FOX did its debate,¬†Wendell Goler¬†?¢?? an African American ?¢?? played a prominent role.” Before the debate, CNN did have Blitzer discussing the developments with two analysts who were both African American, Democrat¬†Donna Brazile¬†and Republican¬†J.C. Watts.

Van Susteren added, “The Democratic candidates on the stage snubbed FOX and its partner the Congressional Black Caucus in favor of CNN and its five white guys. What’s with that?”

On Friday, Sen.¬†Joe Biden¬†of Delaware “called out fellow Democrats for bowing out of [the] Sept. 23 Detroit debate co-sponsored by Fox News Channel and the Congressional Black Caucus,”¬†Beverley Wang¬†reported¬†for the Associated Press.

 

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L.A. Times Iraq Reporter Leaves for N.Y. Times

Solomon Moore

Solomon Moore, a foreign correspondent at the Los Angeles Times who spent 18 months in Iraq, is among the 60 news employees who are leaving after the paper offered buyouts. He is joining the New York Times.

 

“Solomon has been hired by The Times, and started June 1. He will work for National, out of our LA bureau, covering a national criminal justice beat,”¬†Catherine Mathis, spokeswoman for the New York paper, told Journal-isms.

Moore, who “helped uncover the ties between official security forces and sectarian death squads” in Iraq, according to a Saturday¬†story¬†by¬†James Rainey, was one of several who shared their¬†reflections¬†with readers. However, Moore told Journal-isms the timing of his departure was merely coincidental with those leaving because they took buyouts.

“My love of the biz probably started in high school with me reading my father’s New York Times subscription every morning,” wrote Moore, 36. “And believe it or not, I first started thinking about being a foreign correspondent when I was 16 and watched a movie called ‘Salvador,’ by¬†Oliver Stone. The movie is about this reporter who chucks everything and drives from New York to El Salvador to report on U.S. involvement in death squad killings. The reporter has no money, no power, no gun; he’s not even a particularly virtuous fellow. But he’s able to shake up the status quo just by the force of his questions, just by hewing to the truth. I loved that idea and still do.”

Gayle Pollard-Terry, real estate reporter and former editorial writer, recalled a dash for safety during the 1992 riots. Sports columnist J.A. Adande and Calendar section columnist Al Martinez said goodbye in their own columns.

The decision to lay off Martinez after 35 years at the paper provoked the loudest outcry from readers, Rainey wrote. “The news provoked at least 300 e-mails, phone calls and letters of protest. By week’s end,” editor¬†James E. O’Shea¬†”had met with the 77-year-old Martinez to try to reach an accommodation to bring the column back, at least part-time.

“Martinez has a stage play in the works – a conversation between four generations of military veterans “arguing over whose war was best.”

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Threatened, Jailed Women Journalists Honored

Lydia Cacho

“A Mexican journalist who travels with guards because of ongoing threats to her life, a group of women reporters who every day risk their lives to cover the war in Iraq and an Ethiopian publisher who gave birth to a son while confined to a vermin-infested jail cell for her work are the recipients of this year’s International Women’s Media Foundation Courage in Journalism Awards,” the foundationannounced¬†on Thursday.

 

The Mexican is¬†Lydia Cacho, 43, correspondent for CIMAC news agency and feature writer for Dia Siete magazine in Mexico. “Cacho, a journalist for more than two decades, has endured numerous death threats because of her work reporting on domestic violence, organized crime and political corruption. In 2004, Cacho published ‘The Devils of Eden,’ a book based on her research on child pornography among Mexican politicians and businessmen. A year later, she was arrested on libel charges and driven to a jail 20 hours from her home in Cancun, with officers hinting that there was a plan to rape her,” the foundation said.

Serkalem Fasil


The Ethiopian is¬†Serkalem Fasil, 26, “one of 14 editors and reporters of independent and privately-owned newspapers arrested after publishing articles critical of the government’s actions during the May 2005 parliamentary elections. The journalists were accused of genocide and treason, charges that could bring life imprisonment or the death penalty. While in jail, Fasil gave birth to and cared for a son, who was premature and underweight due to inhumane conditions and lack of proper medical attention,” the foundation said.

Nancy A. Youssef¬†reported¬†Thursday for McClatchy Newspapers that¬†Shatha al Awsy, Zaineb Obeid, Huda Ahmed, Ban Adil Sarhan, Alaa Majeed¬†andSahar Issa¬†”are the keystone of McClatchy’s Iraq bureau, particularly as it has become harder for Western journalists to travel in the country. Through their reporting and blogs, they’ve helped both Western correspondents and readers understand what it means to be an Iraqi after¬†Saddam Hussein’s¬†regime fell.”

Peta Thornycroft


The organization is presenting its Lifetime Achievement Award to Peta Thornycroft, 62. One of the few remaining independent journalists in Zimbabwe, Thornycroft is a foreign correspondent for British, American and South African news media.

“She renounced her British citizenship and became a citizen of Zimbabwe after the government ruled that all journalists working in Zimbabwe had to be citizens of the country. Thornycroft has been accused of terrorism and barred from court proceedings, and in 2002 she was arrested while investigating reports of a campaign against members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. At the same time, she has led journalism training initiatives benefiting thousands of southern African journalists,” the foundation said.

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Family Killing Said to Reflect Immigrant Problem

“It’s been two days since¬†Gilberta Estrada-Vega¬†committed suicide and decided to take 3 of her 4 young daughters with her,”¬†Marisa Trevi?±o¬†wrote¬†Thursday on her Latina Lista Web site.

 

“As always happens when news spreads of a mother committing suicide and taking her kids with her,¬†newspaper columnists¬†and talk show radio hosts take turns villifying the woman.

“Yet, Gilberta’s actions underscored a problem that is HUGE, but not discussed enough within the immigrant community, and mainstream society needs to pay attention before more tragedies like Gilberta’s find their way regularly into the headlines.”

“From all accounts, Gilberta was a strong woman but she was slipping into a depression.

“Though her sister lived across the street, many Latinas are either too proud or don’t want to add to other family members’ own problems by confessing they are drowning in debt and despair.

“So, too many Latinas suffer silently.

“It is especially true of Latinas in the undocumented/immigrant community.”

 

 

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Serving Public Still Required, Commissioner Says

“Using the public airwaves is a privilege – a lucrative one – not a right, and I fear the F.C.C. has not done enough to stand up for the public interest. Our policies should reward broadcasters that honor their pledge to serve that interest and penalize those that don’t,”¬†Michael Copps, a maverick member of the Federal Communications Commission,¬†wrote¬†Saturday in the New York Times.

 

“Nowadays, a lot of people claim that because of the Internet, traditional broadcast outlets are an endangered species and there’s no point in worrying about them. That’s a mistake.

“First, broadcast licenses continue to be very valuable. Univision’s assets – many in small markets – were sold for more than $12 billion. A single station in Sacramento, owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, went for $285 million in 2004. A station in a megamarket like New York or Los Angeles could easily fetch half a billion dollars or more.

“Second, broadcast outlets are still primary, critical sources of information for the American public. Nearly 60 percent of adults watch local TV news each day – it remains the nation’s most popular information source. And so it’s imperative that broadcasters continue to provide high-quality coverage of local and national issues.”

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