Fox News Fair and Balanced

Fair and Balanced

CNN correspondent slams Fox over ‘human shields’ report

By Michael Calderone
Tue Mar 22, 10:10 am ET

“CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson blasted Fox News on Monday for its report that Libyan authorities used him and other journalists as "human shields" in order to prevent an attack on Muammar Gadhafi's compound in Tripoli the night before. Robertson said Fox News' "allegation is outrageous and it's absolutely hypocritical."

"You know, when you come to somewhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from the dictatorship here," Robertson said. "You don't expect it from the other journalists." You can watch Robertson's reply on CNN's "The Situation Room" below:

For weeks, the Gadhafi government has brought foreign journalists invited to Tripoli to government-approved sites (while detaining and even beating foreign journalists who report from non-sanctioned areas in Libya).

"When we go on these government trips, it's for a very simple reason—because we don't want government officials to film it themselves, edit it themselves and then hand it off to us," Robertson said. "We want to go for ourselves. We want to go and see, is it a command and control system?"

Robertson said Fox News was being "hypocritical" because the network sent a non-editorial staffer with a camera on the trip, along with about 40 other journalists.

Fox News correspondent Jennifer Griffin called in to "On the Record" Monday night to defend her report, which was based off information she received from British sources. "They felt that the civilians and journalists had effectively been used as human shields and that was frustrating to them," Griffin said, according to TVNewser. "It was a very close call. In fact one official told me that there was a Reuters crew literally on a spot where they were going to drop a missile."

While Griffin is sticking by her reporting, she acknowledged that Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan sent a security guard with a camera on the government-organized trip. "I did not know about that earlier today," she said. "I became aware of that this evening. That was my mistake and I apologize for that."

Personal Comment: Fox News commitment to combat reporting in Libya from the comfort of a hotel bar reminds me of the Doonesbury character and intrepid combat reporter Roland Hedley who reports about the front from the rear.