All the news that's authorized to print

Robert Fisk writes about CNN's document "Reminder of Script Approval Policy," a reiteration to CNN reporters stationed worldwide to follow proper channels when processing the news. Be very wary when you watch this war unfold on CNN:

"All reporters preparing package scripts must submit the scripts for approval. Packages may not be edited until the scripts are approved... All packages originating outside Washington, LA (Los Angeles) or NY (New York), including all international bureaus, must come to the ROW in Atlanta for approval."

The date of this extraordinary message is 27 January. The "ROW" is the row of script editors in Atlanta who can insist on changes or "balances" in the reporter's dispatch. "A script is not approved for air unless it is properly marked approved by an authorised manager and duped (duplicated) to burcopy (bureau copy)... When a script is updated it must be re-approved, preferably by the originating approving authority."

Note the key words here: "approved" and "authorised". CNN's man or woman in Kuwait or Baghdad--or Jerusalem or Ramallah--may know the background to his or her story; indeed, they will know far more about it than the "authorities" in Atlanta. But CNN's chiefs will decide the spin of the story.

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