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The newest American insult: He's a Canadian
The newest American insult: He's a Canadian
White House blacklists reporter for Iraq story
Sean Gordon
CanWest News Service
Saturday, July 19, 2003
The White House dismissed suggestions it has launched a smear campaign against Jeffrey Kofman, above, as a result of his reporting.
It used to be the U.S. government deployed words like "communist," "evil empire" or "vast, right-wing conspiracy" to disparage people it didn't like.
Now it seems another epithet has been added to the list: "Canadian."
ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman's stories on plummeting U.S. troop morale in Iraq have apparently angered the Bush Administration to the point that the White House reportedly put the word out to Republican-friendly media pundits that Mr. Kofman is a homosexual and, worse yet, from Canada.
A headline on Internet gossip-monger Matt Drudge's Web site Wednesday evening blared ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINTS STORY IS OPENLY GAY, CANADIAN.
Despite White House denials, Mr. Drudge himself said Bush officials handed him the information on the ABC reporter.
Reached in Baghdad, the Toronto-born Mr. Kofman expressed surprise at being singled out because of his passport.
"I guess my secret is out now," he said.
Mr. Kofman said in an e-mail that it "never occurred to me that being Canadian was an issue. Frankly, I don't think it is. All the U.S. networks have staff from all over the world here, including several correspondents."
The Drudge reference was quickly seized upon by conservative talk-radio and online commentators, many of whom have been caustic in criticizing Canada's decision not to support the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
Some critics pointed to Mr. Kofman's nationality as the obvious explanation for why he would file such "unpatriotic" reports from Iraq.
An ABC network spokesman yesterday defended Mr. Kofman's most recent story, in which a U.S. soldier, upset about having his tour of duty extended indefinitely, said Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign.
"This is a reporter who has done an outstanding job for us, his report was fair and accurate and reflected the truth of what soldiers are feeling," said Jeffrey Schneider.
The White House dismissed the reports of a smear campaign against Mr. Kofman; several media reports quoted a spokesman as saying "this is the first we've heard of it, and it would be totally inappropriate if true."
The Bush administration, like that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, has been stung in recent weeks by accusations in the media that they fabricated the case for war against Saddam Hussein. The Blair government has struck back at its media critics, blaming the British Broadcasting Corp., which first raised the allegations of shaky evidence, for shoddy reporting.
Whether ordered by the White House or not, the accusations against Mr. Kofman are not the first to be levelled against ABC News, which has often been criticized for being unpatriotic.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, the network was the target of an e-mail campaign by conservative activists upset at a decision to forbid on-air reporters from wearing lapel pins with U.S. flags on them.
ABC News anchor Peter Jennings, who grew up in Ottawa and recently became a U.S. citizen, has been derided for years by commentators as an "import" who makes "un-American" remarks.
Another favourite whipping-boy is CBS anchor Dan Rather, a former war correspondent who was roundly condemned after making critical comments concerning U.S. President George W. Bush's handling of the war on terror.
Mr. Kofman insisted the apparent whisper campaign against him won't affect his ability to gather news, nor will the fact he's Canadian.
"I've covered the U.S. military regularly since I moved to the States six years ago. I know firsthand that it is filled with solid professionals, and I'm just not worried that this will change anything in my working relationship," he said.
"From here in Baghdad it's easy to have perspective on what really matters. This story of this war is still unfolding. It's fascinating, it's complex, it's difficult. My single-minded focus is on going out and talking to people, both Americans and Iraqis, and staying on top of the issues as they unfold."
The Kofman episode has caused a minor furor in U.S. media circles, and was chronicled in detail in the Washington Post's "Reliable Sources" political column.
Mr. Drudge admitted to a Post reporter that he'd been unaware of the troop morale story until "someone from the White House communications shop tipped me to it."
The helpful official also directed Mr. Drudge to a short profile of Mr. Kofman in The Advocate, a magazine aimed at the gay community.
"The White House press office is under new management and has become slightly more aggressive about contacting reporters. This story has certainly become talk-radio fodder about the cultural wars-slash-liberal bias in the media," Mr. Drudge told the Post.
Mr. Kofman, who is openly gay, was born in Toronto and studied political science at Queen's University in Kingston.
He began his career as a television reporter with Global News in Toronto, and then moved on to the CBC.
In his 11 years with the public broadcaster, Mr. Kofman worked in radio, anchored the network's supper-hour news in Toronto and, most recently, worked as a correspondent for The National, the CBC's flagship newscast.
He has won several Canadian journalism awards, including the National Human Rights Award for a 1987 CBC documentary on AIDS discrimination. He is also listed as a co-founder of the Canadian affiliate of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association
Mr. Kofman, 43, jumped to U.S. network television in 1997, joining CBS News in New York. He left to work for ABC in early 2001 and became a Miami-based Latin America correspondent. He has covered several armed conflicts, including Afghanistan and Iraq.
© Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen
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