Reed Irvine

Reed Irvine (September 29, 1922 – November 16, 2004) was an economist who founded the media watchdog organization Accuracy in Media, and remained its head for 35 years.

Notable commentaries focused on the El Salvador Civil War, the Persian Gulf War, and the Clinton administration.

On the El Salvador Civil War, he criticized reporter Raymond Bonner with particular regard to his reporting in the New York Times of the El Mozote massacre. He devoted an entire edition of the AIM Report to Bonner, reporting that "Mr. Bonner had been worth a division to the communists in Central America."^[1]

During the Persian Gulf War in 1991, "he accused CNN and its reporter Peter Arnett of airing 'Saddam Hussein's version of the truth. There's no way his reporting is helping America win this war.'"^[2]

In 1994 Irvine defended the controversial Washington Times, founded by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon, saying: "The Washington Times is one of the few newspapers in the country that provides some balance." ^[3]

During the Clinton administration, in 1998 at the Conservative Political Action Conference, he claimed there was a conspiracy within the Republican Party to "suppress investigations of Clinton administration scandals. 'Conspiracy is a word that has been given a very bad connotation – it's become synonymous with "kooky,"' he told a Post reporter. 'But really it has a very good connotation.' In other words, he elaborated, some conspiracy theories are valid. But not Hillary Clinton's notion of a vast right-wing conspiracy. 'She's kooky,' he said."^[2]

After Irvine's death, it was revealed that his taped telephone conversation was the source of statements made by Miguel Rodriguez, the former lead investigator for Kenneth Starr, to the effect that the investigation of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster's death was a cover-up.^[4]

Awards

• George Washington medal, Freedom Foundation, 1980^{[citation needed]}
• Ethics in Journalism award, World Media Association, 1987^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Media Watchdog Reed Irvine, 82 Washington Post November 18, 2004.
• Why Don't the Media Uncover Cover-ups? AIM Report, December 1998.
• New York Times Obituary: Reed Irvine, 82, the Founder Of a Media Criticism Group, Michael T. Kaufman, November 19, 2004.
• [1] Audio of telephone conversation by Reed Irvine with Ambrose-Evans Pritchard on Oct. 28, 1995