EASON JORDAN, QUOTE UNQUOTE: Howard Kurtz has a story on the Eason Jordan scandal in today’s Washington Post.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who attended the World Economic Forum panel at which Jordan spoke, recalled yesterday that Jordan said he knew of 12 journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq. At first, said Frank, “it sounded like he was saying it was official military policy to take out journalists.” But Jordan later “modified” his remarks to say some U.S. soldiers did this “maybe knowing they were killing journalists, out of anger. . . . He did say he was talking about cases of deliberate killing,” Frank said.

Read the whole thing, as there are some disagreements. But the stonewall seems to have cracked. Where’s the video? And La Shawn Barber has noticed some interesting aspects, and Ed Morrissey thinks that Kurtz is trying too hard to give Jordan the benefit of the doubt. And Mickey Kaus, who has a lengthy analysis of Kurtz’s piece, thinks so too.

UPDATE: Here’s another news story that’s far less kind to Jordan, from the New York Sun:

Mr. Jordan’s remarks might have shocked the American attendees, but they certainly played well among some in the audience. The Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens, who covered the panel for his paper, told the Sun that after the panel concluded, Mr. Jordan was surrounded by European and Middle Eastern attendees who warmly congratulated him for his alleged “bravery and candor” in discussing the matter.

And this question from Barney Frank goes to the heart of things: “Did he have proof and if so, why hadn’t CNN run with the story?”

This also goes back to the question that, as Kaus notes, the video could answer:

If the tape shows a CNN executive willing to distort the truth in the course of pandering to and inflaming unjustified anti-U.S. sentiment, then I’d say there is more than a benefit of a doubt involved.

So where’s the video? The Davos people are now saying that they won’t release it unless everyone there gives permission. Hmm. Would they be dragging their feet if this tape exonerated Jordan? It’s hard to imagine.

There’s a roundup here and an observation that Eason Jordan is re-backtracking (front-tracking?) on his accusations, here. Gerry Daly has more thoughts, too.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Power Line: “For now, at least, CNN undoubtedly hopes that this story has ground to a halt with the ‘limited, modified hang-out’ facilitated by Kurtz.”