Octavia Nasr


Octavia Nasr is a Lebanese-American journalist who covers Middle Eastern affairs. She served as CNN’s Senior Editor of Mideast affairs for over 20 years. She was fired from CNN in July 2010 due to a Twitter posting related to cleric Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.

Career

Nasr was born and raised in Lebanon to a Christian family originally from Palestine.
For more than 20 years, Nasr covered major stories involving the Middle East, as an on-air and off-air expert for CNN’s global platforms. Her work at the network started just after Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait where she coordinated network coverage of the Gulf War as part of CNN’s international assignment desk. Nasr won an Overseas Press Club Award in 2002. In 2003, she managed a 15-member Arab desk which coordinated coverage of the Iraq war and was executive producer of CNN's Arab Voices.
She is the recipient of the 2006 Excellence in Journalism award from the Lebanese-American Chamber of Commerce and was awarded CNN World Report’s 2003 Achievement Award. She received the Edward R. Murrow for Continuing Coverage of the 2006 war in Lebanon; and the Golden Cable ACE Award in 1993 for CNN’s coverage of the Gulf War.

Fadlallah comments controversy

Following the death of Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah on July 4, 2010, Nasr tweeted on the same day that she was, "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot..."
Nasr was criticized for this perceived show of sympathy and support for Hezbollah amid claims that her stated position was incompatible with her role at CNN as editor of news on the Middle East.
In response to reactions to her comment, Nasr wrote on July 6 an explanation of what she meant with her tweet.
I used the words "respect" and "sad" because to me as a Middle Eastern woman, Fadlallah took a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on woman's rights. He called for the abolition of the tribal system of "honor killing." He called the practice primitive and non-productive. He warned Muslim men that abuse of women was against Islam.
Nasr concluded her statement by saying:
Sayyed Fadlallah. Revered across borders yet designated a terrorist. Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It's something I deeply regret.
A CNN spokesman responded saying that "CNN regrets any offense her Twitter message caused. It did not meet CNN’s editorial standards." The following day, on July 7, an internal CNN memo announcing Nasr's departure, CNN International’s senior vice president for newsgathering, Parisa Khosravi, wrote, "We believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward."
On the Huffington Post, columnist Magda Abu-Fadil wrote about coordinated online efforts to protest Nasr's comments and push for her dismissal. In a 2012 interview, Nasr noted, "Without an upfront commitment from the employer to stand by and protect employees from astroturfing and negative publicity, my advice to employees is not to use social media on behalf of their employer, period."

Reaction

Articles and commentaries following Nasr's sacking have been divided. Thomas Friedman was also among the many who were troubled by the decision, saying that the decision undermined the network's credibility and sent the wrong signal to young people entering journalism. He wrote "I find Nasr's firing troubling." He questioned CNN's reaction by asking, "To begin with, what has gotten into us? One misplaced verb now and within hours you can have a digital lynch mob chasing after you—and your bosses scrambling for cover". In response, Mediaite's Dan Abrams asked "Can you imagine what would happen to a U.S. journalist expressing admiration for an Al Qaeda leader who had other, better, attributes?" Glen Greenwald in wrote, "That message spawned an intense fit of protest from Far Right outlets, Thought Crime enforcers, and other neocon precincts, and CNN quickly capitulated to that pressure by firing her." Greenwald referred to Fadlallah as "one of the Shiite world's most beloved religious figures", highlighting how the world viewed him including many in the west as shown in the Time Magazine's choice of Man of the year 2010 . Others expressed concern over what they viewed as similar incidents, most notably Hearst syndicated columnist Helen Thomas retiring under criticism one month earlier.
Those who agreed with CNN's decision stated that it had a right to enforce standards of objectivity in its reporting. Those who supported Nasr felt her firing constituted a new trend in the political climate for journalists and journalism covering politically sensitive issues in general, and the Middle East in particular.
Orthodox rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote "For people like...Nasr..., an imam like Fadlallah who wants to kill Americans and Israelis but who is unexpectedly nice to women has taken a giant leap forward from the Dark Ages, deserving respect and praise. This attitude is, of course, not only deeply amoral and patronizing nonsense but historically false."
Huffington Post article with title "CNN's Octavia Nasr: Another Victim of America's Thought Police" writes: "Since 9/11 America's redline has conflated terrorism and Israel's security, flattening all difference and particularity. As Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer pointed out, this has dangerous consequences for both the implementation of policy and the policing of public thought." While The Guardian writes: "Nasr is one of the more high-profile victims of a phenomenon known as "twittercide", comparing the incident with another controversy surrounding death of Fadlallah, namely a tribute to him which came from the UK ambassador to Beirut.
Expressing a contrary opinion, Robert Fisk derided CNN and its credibility over the firing, saying "Poor old CNN goes on getting more cowardly by the hour. That's why no one cares about it any more."