Hello, I'm a reporter with the Independent Media Center, and I'm doing a story on the fact that certain unoffensive words are banned from CNN's web chat channels. I was wondering if you could provide me with CNN's policy on what types of words are banned and why, as well as a list of currently banned words.

In particular I would like your comment on why the word "indymedia" is banned from your community channels, although other similar words (for instance other media web sites) are not banned. Was there an incident of abuse of the chat system that this ban was intended to remedy? Or is there some other rationale behind the ban? Thanks very much,

Please contact CNN's PR department at 404-827-1895.

Good morning,

CNN is being asked to provide copy for op ed articles around the world concerning the posting on the 12 sept, 10.32pm by the Unicamp student.

CNN 's records show that the first contact with any of the CNN Press Offices was on the afternoon of Wednesday 19th, by Ryan from the San Fran office - a whole week after the posting.

Please could some one confirm this

Regards

Hello Nigel,
I am the person you called at home early this morning (Pacific Daylight Time). Since we spoke I have gathered some links concerning the CNN/Palestinian footage that may be of interest to you.

First of all, you should understand that all e-mails sent to indymedia.org from our readers, and all replies sent from indymedia.org, are publicly accessible on our web site.

E-mail sent to imc-editorial@indymedia.org is viewable here: http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-editorial/

In particular you may want to read my first message on this topic: http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-editorial/2001-September/003961.html As you can see from this message, by 13 September, 1 day after the original uncorroborated posting on Indymedia, we had called CNN and determined that this story could not be confirmed; in fact CNN denied that it was old footage. As a result, the story was not carried by Indymedia (meaning, it was not included in the center column or special feature pages, which are the areas of Indymedia web sites for which the editorial collective has direct responsibility).

E-mail sent to general@indymedia.org is viewable here: http://turtle.indymedia.org/cgi-bin/wreq/req?list-8

By clicking on each message and scrolling down, you can read the e-mail to indymedia and any replies our volunteers sent back. Many readers e-mailed inquiring about the story, and in reply we issued e-mails explaining that the allegation of 10-year-old recycled footage was completely unsubstantiated.

In summary, It is *NOT* true that Indymedia volunteers first contacted CNN on Wednesday 19 September, as you suggested. In fact an Indymedia volunteer, Ryan, contacted CNN as soon as possible (by Thursday 13 September), and Indymedia volunteers have consistently reported the story as a "likely hoax," "false," or "retracted" up until the present.

Like you, the people behind Indymedia are not necessarily appreciative of the fact that such speculative and unconfirmed news stories were posted. However, with regards to the Newswire section of Indymedia sites, the philosophy has always been to rely on readers to be smart, to be skeptical, and to do whatever fact-checking may be necessary to determine the truthfulness of the articles' content.

To quote from our FAQ (or frequently asked questions),

'The Indymedia Newswire works on the principle of OPEN PUBLISHING, an essential element of the Indymedia project that allows anyone to instantaneously self-publish their work on a globally accessible web site. The Indymedia newswire encourages people to become the media by posting their articles, analysis, videos, audio clips and artwork directly to the web site.... Indymedia relies on the people who post to the Indymedia news wire to present their information in a thorough, honest, accurate manner.

'While Indymedia reserves the right to develop sections of the site that provide edited articles, there is no designated Indymedia editorial collective that edits articles posted to the www.Indymedia.org news wire. An Indymedia "Newswire Team" has formed to keep track of what is being posted and to apply basic editorial guidelines to keep the news wire free of spam and duplicate postings. You can find the current Indymedia editorial guidelines at the top of the page you reach after clicking the "publish" link. All articles moved from the front of the newswire will continue to remain publicly accessible through the "editorial administration" and the "hidden article" areas of the Indymedia site, which you can reach through the "publish" link....

'If you disagree with the content of a particular article that someone has posted on Indymedia, you may comment on the article through the "add your own comments" link at the bottom of each post.'

i hope this answers some of your questions about Indymedia.

So why did Ryan place a call to cnn PR office in washington on the 19th - which i replied to in which he asked the basic questions and reacted AS IF HE HAD NO KNOWLEDGE that the footage was genuine, your reply does not make sense. CNN PR has no record of you calling earlier so did you talk with

hello Nigel,
Ryan did in fact call on the 12th or 13th (I cannot recall which day, or the name of the woman who returned his call); I was in the room when he called. He next called AP and Reuters but was unable to reach anyone who could answer his questions.

I was also present when Ryan called again, as you say on the 19th. He was, in fact, acting in the roll of what you might call an investigative journalist - attempting to gather any additional information from CNN on the footage. I imagine that most reporters, detectives, and so forth would speak in a similar manner when questioning a suspect (whether the first or fifth time) about an accusation that he or she has denied.

i'm Sorry for any confusion this may have caused you.

hardly convincing from your side

So to be fair to you: "IMC confirms that it made official call to CNN on the 19th, and thinks it did on the 12 or 13, not sure which and spoke to some woman.

how does that fit with your claim to a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth'

and you analogy of how an investigative journalists works is laughable.

Hi Nigel,

My name is Jay and I'm an Indymedia volunteer from Philadelphia. I help answer some of the questions that come to Indymedia through our general e-mail address. I sent the following response yesterday to a query from CNN's Megan Mahoney that came through our general@indymedia.org mailbox on Saturday. It provides some more information about Indymedia and the reaction many Indymedia volunteers have had to the rumor about the false claims that CNN used old footage of Palestinians celebration for its September 11 coverage. There has been much interesting discussion on the Indymedia newswires about the fact that people around the world were so quick to believe such a rumor and what that says about their view of the credibility of the entities that provide much of the world with its news. While this rumor has thankfully been disproven, I'm personally encouraged to see people frankly analyzing the media's past and current coverage of international events, especially as we head into this uncertain time.

As Mark from San Francisco indicates, while a post about the rumor attracted a lot of attention on one or more of our open publishing newswires, the Indymedia volunteers responsible for updating the features that appear on the center column of most Indymedia sites immediately found that the rumor was not true and did not post information about it. Each local Independent Media Center is its own entity, networked with but autonomous from the others in most respect, especially in the way it makes editorial decisions. Each IMC (you can find a list on the left hand column of the www.indymedia.org page) decides for itself what to feature in its center column. As far as I understand it, not a single IMC posted information about the CNN/Palestinian footage in its center column. Indymedia groups around the world have received volumes of e-mail about the rumor. In the day after the rumor appeared Indymedia volunteers responded to those e-mails urging people not to forward the information because it had not been verified. After the student retracted the rumor we responded to people letting them know it certainly was not verified. Some then several IMC sites, such as the "global" www.indymedia.org site, have posted information on their features column explicitly denying the rumor.

Thank you. Please let the imc-editorial@indymedia.org list know if you have any more questions.

Jay

Hello Megan,

This is Jay, an Indymedia volunteer. Thank you for your below message about the false rumor about the footage CNN used of Palestinians celebrating on September 11 being from 1991. The many Indymedia volunteers with whom I've communicated about this topic are very sorry this rumor spread so widely and without any verification. From what we understand a student from Brazil sent an e-mail questioning CNN's footage to a couple e-mail lists and eventually someone, or perhaps the student himself, posted the message to an Indymedia newswire. Some people who saw the post on the newswire questioned its authenticity, others forwarded it widely without verifying it. The rumor unfortunately spread around the Internet almost as fast as the hoax about Nostradamus having specifically predicted the awful events of September 11. Within a day the student retracted his conjecture but by that time the information had already circled the globe.

I'm not sure how familiar you and CNN are with the way Indymedia operates. Indymedia is an international all volunteer-run media project that uses "open publishing" to encourage people to post their news, opinions and information to public web sites. Each local Independent Media Center (you can see the list on the left column of www.indymedia.org) is an autonomous collective that makes its own decisions about, among many other things, its editorial policy. We are loosely networked but each group is its own individual entity. Every local IMC has an open publishing newswire on its front page, usually on the right side of the page. Anyone may post text articles, audio, video and/or photos to the newswire. Often people post fascinating and well-researched articles about current events that place those events into a perspective that one would rarely see elsewhere in the media. Unfortunately, many times people also post unverified articles, exaggerated opinions, arguments that are not well-reasoned. Indymedia trusts our site visitors to look at each article posted on the newswires with the same critical eye that we hope they use when they view reports that appear in the commercial media. We allow every site visitor to add a comment directly at the bottom of every article posted to the newswire. Many people responded to the post about CNN's footage by immediately questioning the veracity of the claim. Others replied with fascinating comments about the broadcast media and how they operate, especially in difficult times such as these. As often happens with Indymedia articles, the appearance of that post on the newswire inspired discussion that is even more interesting and informative than the post itself.

Most local IMCs, as well as the www.indymedia.org site, do fill the center column of their web sites with "features" that help place items posted to the newswires into some context. I'm happy to say that, as far as the volunteers who work on the www.indymedia.org site know, no IMC sites posted information about this rumor to their center column. In fact, some IMCs posted information specifically denying the claim, as well as the www.indymedia.org site which has a paragraph denying the rumor on its center column.

What has been most interesting to many of us at Indymedia is the speed with which this rumor spread around the world, while other rumors that appeared on the web in the days after September 11 did not. One thought is that CNN and other American commercial news networks have faced such thorough criticism for the way they present coverage, especially during war time, that people who are cynical about the media may have been inclined to believe CNN would manipulate video. We are glad CNN did not take video from 1991 and present it as video from September 11, 2001. The Indymedia volunteers with whom I have been in communication about this issue, people who actively encourage media criticism, are also glad that people who view CNN are not inclined to believe every piece of information it projects. Many viewers have learned through living in this easily manipulated information culture that they should not accept as fact anything they read or see in the media before verifying it to the best of their ability. Certainly the people who spread this rumor crossed the line between critical thinking and blinding cynicism. Still, this incident has spurred a substantial and encouraging amount of discussion about the role of the media, especially the credibility of CNN and other international news networks in times of international turmoil. While no one wants to see false information spread, now that the rumor in question has been proven to be only that, we are encouraged that discussions about the credibility of international news networks will continue.

If you would like any more information about Indymedia please read our frequently asked questions file at: http://process.indymedia.org/faq.php3.

Thank you,

Jay

----- Original Message -----
From: megan.mahoney@cnn.com
To: general-discussion@indymedia.org
Sent: Friday, September 21, 2001 4:33 PM
Subject: [general #2022] Inaccurate email posted to your Web ste

To: general@indymedia.org
Subject: Inaccurate email posted to your Web ste
From: megan.mahoney@cnn.com

From: megan.mahoney@cnn.com
Name: Megan Mahoney

Message: The email that is posted in regards to CNN using 1991 video of Palestinian celebrations is in 1991 from 1991is wrong and CNN refutes it entirely. In the midst of these dreadful events it is highly regrettable to find people using the tool of email to irresponsibly spread false information.

The following url will link you to CNN.com's Web page for CNN's official statement. Additionally, a statement from the Reuters News Agency and the Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil, the university where the Brazilian student attends are available.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/09/20/cnn.statement/index.html

Article:
Site: http://www.indymedia.org

Additional Comments: CNN requests that the email be taken down from your Web site.

Hello Nigel,

I did speak with you on the phone regarding CNN's racist, war-mongering repetition of individuals supposedly "celebrating" the attacks on the United States. I asked you why CNN had chosen to replay this footage over and over again, without providing additional coverage which showed the more mainstream Palestinian reaction of shock, sorrow and mourning. You said that CNN had a lot to cover and had limited resources. I replied that Indymedia was an all-volunteer network and somehow we had found the resources to cover this more truthfully and thoroughly.

On Thursday, September 13th, I also spoke with Leslie Young from CNN. She erroneously told me that the footage had been received from "two reputable sources" (AP and Reuters).

Frankly, CNN's appalling coverage of events since 09/11 is far more of an indictment than the validity of any 30-second video clip. Independent media reporters will continue to cover the blatantly one-sided and poorly-researched edutainment that CNN tries to sell as "news." You may be surprised that a rumor about CNN would travel across the world and provoke so much interest ... this should be an indication to you and the rest of CNN that your propaganda-grade tripe earns you nothing but disrespect and mistrust in an era of increasing information freedom.

I also spoke with you about U.S. Army Psychological Operations personnel working at CNN. You emphatically indicated that the Army personnel had been on-site at CNN as observers only. According to Major Thomas Collins of the U.S. Army Information Service, "[The interns] worked as regular employees of CNN. Conceivably, they would have worked on stories during the Kosovo war. They helped in the production of news." Obviously, CNN's recent negotiations with right- wing members of the U.S. Congress obviates the need for on-site supervision by the military; it appears CNN fully intends on being an obedient servant to government and corporate interests.

Nigel, thank you for your repeated contact with reporters from Indymedia. As CNN continues to disregard the precepts of ethics in journalism, Indymedia reporters will continue to be vigilant in making sure this information gets out there.

Your recent email is a bit incoherent, but you say: "CNN PR has no record of you calling earlier so did you talk with (sic)" Please check with Leslie Young. Perhaps CNN's PR department needs a better method of keeping records.

Nigel, if you are interested in reading more news that is not filtered through CNN's editorial board, please continue to check www.indymedia.org and the dozens of local, autonomous media centers in this network.

'Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth'

Really you could have fooled me

I rest my case, your e mail says it all.

hello Nigel,
Your paraphrase is inaccurate. To reiterate, this is my "official" statement:

"IMC confirms that it called CNN regarding the Palestinian footage within 24 hours of the initial posting on Wednesday 12 September 2001; at that time CNN's Leslie Young stated that the footage was, to her knowledge, in fact authentic. Since that date, IMC has treated the story as a 'likely hoax,' 'false,' and/or 'retracted' in *All* internal and external communications. All such communications are publicly available on IMC web sites."

That is what we mean by democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.

Nigel, Ryan, Mark,

I'm sorry to feel the need to respond -- many important things to do here, so little time -- but I don't quite understand your comment. I want to make sure you understand that the organizers of Indymedia in no way cheered the spreading of the false rumor about CNN's Palestinian footage and that we're each personally sorry that both we and you have had to spend so much valuable time and energy denying it. I believe my below e-mails indicated that while the false information about the footage appeared on our open posting newswire, as it did on hundreds if not thousands of other web-messageboards and e-mail lists in the days after the September 11 attacks, to my knowledge not a single Indymedia editorial group (there are over 50 IMCs around the world) chose to post the rumor to its features column because the report could not be verified. That seems to be a reasonable display of journalistic responsibility, made democratically by the hundreds of people who compose those editorial groups. We also responded to hundreds of queries about the rumor saying it had not been verified; several IMCs, including the www.indymedia.org site, posted clear, straightforward disclaimers about the rumor to the features area of their sites. That seems to me to indicate a commitment, made by many people with radical social justice views in a time of great passion, to the principle of accuracy and truth. Perhaps you are not responding to the facts of how Indymedia organizers responded to the rumor but to my suggestion that people were inclined to believe this rumor because of their lack of faith in CNN's previous and current coverage of similar events, or my suggestion that this incident has inspired a healthy amount of discussion about the accuracy of international news networks like CNN, especially during times of crisis. If you deny the fact that people often question CNN's credibilty and that discussion of the reason for their cyncisim is both healthy and necessary, I'm sorry to say we have to disagree.

Thank you,