Eason Jordan - The man brought down by Bloggers

Eason Jordan was the former chief executive of CNN. He was forced to resign from his role as a result of the pressure from campaigning bloggers, following a controversial blog post by Ronny Abovitz, who was covering a World Economic Forum event in Davos, Switzerland.

Abovitz' post commented on an 'off-the-record' discussion, at the meeting, in which Jordan reportedly admitted to knowing of 12 journalists who were targeted and killed by US troops in Iraq. Abovitz asked him if he had any true evidence to back up the claims, as "if what he said was true, it would make Abu Ghraib look like a walk in the park". After, Abozitz' remark, Jordan backtracked and seemingly wriggled his way out of what was a very difficult situation.

However Abovitz, a man who had never written in the mainstream media, and who was writing his first ever blog, decided to take the 'leap of faith' and ignore the notion taken by most journalists present that the subject was 'off-the-record'. He went away and created the post, headlined: "Do US Troops target journalists in Iraq?". The rest as they say, is history.

The post caused a huge stir in the blogosphere, with right wing activist bloggers swarming all over the story, keen to present Jordan's comments as evidence of a self-hating head of a liberal network. In a later post, Abovitz offers Jordan solutions, and casts slight doubts over the ethics of the bloggers who were seemingly hunting him down. He talks of the power of the 'new order' and calls for the truth from all mainstream media, or risk the wrath of the blogosphere. With no substantiation to back up his claims, Jordan was eventually forced to resign.

The whole episode is seen as a classic David vs Goliath triumph. Some would argue that the bloggers hounded out Jordan, collectively ganging together to force their predominantly right-wing agenda. Others see the essence of the story, of how a blogger went against the 'cover-up' of the mass media and simply published the truth - what was said. When Jordan's comments didn't make the news, one blogger took it upon himself to force the issue.

Abovitz subsequently wrote; "This is not a left- or right wing phenomenon." "The story is much, much bigger than Eason Jordan. This is John Lennon's Power to the People, but turbo-charged and amplified. The people want a voice, and now they really have it. Their own voice, unedited, and unfiltered. It is not pretty. The people are quite irritated, mad, and upset."