... The assumption is that NBC is a valuable resource. But on one of the hottest stories around, the U.N. corruption scandal, NBC has been out to lunch. Why? Its U.N. reporter has been on the payroll of the U.N. lobby. Linda Fasulo, the U.N. correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC, has written a pro-U.N. book, An Insider's Guide to the U.N., which reads like the U.N. paid for it. Actually, the pro-U.N. lobby paid for it. In a monstrous conflict of interest for a supposed straight news reporter, Fasulo acknowledges Ted Turner's U.N. Foundation and Better World Campaign for "their generous financial support" of her book project. She also thanks the Rockefeller Brothers Fund "for helping to fund the project."
The book is about "one of the finest and most important governing bodies," she says. Of the U.N. chief, she writes like a school girl with a crush. "It is hard to find anyone who can mount a serious criticism of [Kofi] Annan's performance as Secretary General," she claims. His performance is so "impressive" that she wonders if a "cult of personality" has risen up around him. One U.S. official is reported to be "astonished by just how good a Secretary General Kofi Annan has been."
| I think I just heard Edward R. Murrow gag... |