Sportswriter at an earthquake, or young opportunist at work?
Al Michaels understood that the 1989 San Francisco earthquake was the real story, not the World Series game he was covering (thanks, Brian); Bret Stephens apparently did not see the significance of Eason Jordan’s comments, since the WSJ did not report them in its regular newspages; rather, they seem, from Stephens’ description, merely a “defamatory innuendo” being hyped by the “usual suspects:”
Sean Hannity and the usual Internet suspects have all weighed in. So has Michelle Malkin, who sits suspended somewhere between meltdown and release.
Was he just a clueless reporter on the wrong beat? Hard to say.
Mr. Stephens says this in his WSJ piece: “By chance, I was in the audience of the World Economic Forum’s panel discussion where Mr. Jordan spoke.” Well, whether he was in that particular audience by chance is not the story. Stephens has a relationship with the World Economic Forum that he did not disclose in his op-ed. He is a newly minted member of one of the world’s most exclusive clubs, the Forum of Young Global Leaders, a kind of YPO on steroids, featuring precisely 1111 men and women under forty worldwide. The Forum is affiliated with, though governed separately from, the World Economic Forum:
The Young Global Leaders have their own distinct autonomous governance structure but act in close cooperation with the World Economic Forum. The Forum of Young Global Leaders was created and endowed by Professor Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum.
Mr. Stephens was named a member in 2004. Therefore, he just passed through the nominating process:
The Nomination Committee, which is chaired by Her Majesty Queen Rania of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is composed of the world’s most eminent media leaders.
We have absolutely nothing against exclusive clubs, and we wish Bret Stephens well as a designated global leader. And for the record let us state that we have no reason to believe that Mr. Stephens was in fact influenced in his remarks by any relationship with Eason Jordan. But we believe that Stephens ought to have disclosed his special relationship with the World Economic Forum, whose young leaders club is peppered with CNN employees, joint venture partners and frequent contributors, including Lisa Caputo, Zain Verjee, Arzuhan Yalçindag, and Fareed Zakaria. Also, the World Economic Forum’s website lists Eason Jordan as what appears to be a member or possibly a board member of the “World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders of Tomorrow Programme.”
If you’ve just been admitted to one of the world’s most exclusive clubs (check out the membership list here and the nominating committee here), and you are writing a somewhat exculpatory op-ed about one of the other members or director of the elite 1111, don’t you have an obligation to your readers to disclose this relationship?