ABC Senior Foreign Correspondent Martha Raddatz on the White House, Iraq, Chen Guangcheng & the Duty of Female Journalists
Episode 32 : Media Mayhem
Episode Synopsis
Having spent years as the White House and Senior Foreign Correspondent for ABC News, Martha Raddatz is one of the most recognizable faces in American journalism. She shared with us some of her esteemed insight via skype for today’s show.
We cover the most recent developments in the Chinese dissident scandal, her take on the Iraq war-both there and here in the states-and what really goes into being assigned to cover the White House.
Guest Bio
Martha Raddatz was named Senior Foreign Affairs correspondent for ABC News in November 2008, after serving as White House correspondent during the last term of President George W. Bush’s administration. In addition to covering the day to day foreign and domestic stories from the White House, Ms. Raddatz has traveled from Haiti to Yemen to the Mideast and through south Asia.
Raddatz traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan dozens of times, and to Iraq 21 times to cover the ongoing conflict. She was on the last convoy out of Iraq and she is the only television reporter allowed to cover a combat mission over Afghanistan in an F15 fighter jet, spending nearly 10 hours in the air on two separate missions. In the early hours of June 8, 2006, she was the first correspondent to report that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, had been killed in a U.S. air strike north of Baghdad. In 2011, Raddatz reported exclusive details on the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. That same year she had an exclusive interview on the USS Kearsarge off the coast of Libya with the Marines who helped rescue two American pilots who had gone down in Libya. In 2012, Raddatz was on a USS destroyer as it made its way through the Strait of Hormuz.
Raddatz joined ABC News in January, 1999 as the network’s State Department correspondent. There she covered the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, as well as traveled to Africa, Pakistan and India with then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. Her coverage at the State Department after the attacks of September 11 was recognized, along with that of other ABC News recipients, with a Peabody Award as well as an Emmy Award.
Episode Breakdown
00:01 Introduction to Media Mayhem.
00:36 Allison welcomes Martha Raddatz.
02:13 Current developments in the Chen Guangcheng crisis.
07:55 Martha’s take on the politicization of the scandal.
09:52 Human rights getting backburnered in China by US politicians.
11:44 The Long Road Home, and writing the story of soldiers and their families.
14:09 Martha’s interview of Iraq war soldiers.
19:02 Should the government have foreseen the protracted insurgency against the US in Iraq?
26:34 The different players’ perspectives on the Iraq war.
29:34 The dangers and necessities from female journalists.
35:59 The Mayhem Round with Nick.
36:58 Why was the Obama administration successful at killing Bin Laden, while Bush was not?
41:40 “What is like to cover the White House?”
46:26 When Martha got the news that Bin Laden had been assassinated.
49:35 Thanks and goodbye!
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Hosted By
Allison Hope Weiner
Allison Hope Weiner was a Century City entertainment litigator before she began writing about Hollywood as a journalist. A graduate of Columbia University and the University of Southern California Law Center, she joined the legendary firm of Wyman, Bautzer—where she represented entertainers and corporate media clients.
