Ramesh Ponnuru says he’s hearing Jordan has stepped down. Checking it out…

Update: Ponnuru got the scoop, now AP is reporting it:

CNN News Executive Eason Jordan Quits

DAVID BAUDER

Associated Press

NEW YORK – CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amidst a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq.

Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being “unfairly tarnished” by the controversy.

During a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum last month, Jordan said he believed that several journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq had been targeted.

He quickly backed off the remarks, explaining that he meant to distinguish between journalists killed because they were in the wrong place where a bomb fell, for example, and those killed because they were shot at by American forces who mistook them for the enemy.

“I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise,” Jordan said in a memo to fellow staff members at CNN.

But the damage had been done, compounded by the fact that no transcript of his actual remarks has turned up. There was an online petition calling on CNN to find a transcript, and fire Jordan if he said the military had intentionally killed journalists.

Quick thoughts:

- How brave of him to hand in his resignation on Friday night.

- So he resigned to prevent CNN from being “unfairly tarnished.” Rich.

- What about the videotape? Will he ask the World Economic Forum to release the tape to help clear the air and remove the unfair tarnish?

- Will this story finally make CNN Headline News? At 7:20pm, Anderson Cooper has “breaking news.” Nope, not Eason Jordan’s resignation. It’s about a guy being rescued from the L.A. Basin.

- 7:58pm. Well, it looks like Drudge finally thinks it’s news.

I’m opening up comments for your thoughts. (11:00pm comments closed.) Keep scrolling down for updates.

Update: Mickey Kaus sez…

Eason Down the Road
Blogs 1, CNN 0.

It’s Friday: A good day to quit, if even Howie Kurtz’s damage control efforts haven’t been enough to save you. … 4:05PM [PST]

FreeRepublic thread here. OldExpat (comment 43) writes:

It used to be said that you didn’t get into arguments with people who bought ink by the barrel, but the Blog is turning into a great equalizer.
Now these guys with ink by the barrel better start being accurate..or they will just drown in their own ink.

Update II: Jay Rosen has the full CNN statement from Jordan.

Sisyphean Musings, which was promised a copy of the videotape and then was turned down, is puzzled by Jordan’s resignation.

Update III: CNN posts its story here under “Entertainment News.” Excerpt:

The resignation sent shock waves through CNN — with Jordan long admired by his peers, from executives to the rank-and-file.

Update IV: Matt Margolis has the internal staff memo on Jordan’s resignation.

The Anchoress rips a Jordan apologist…and also tackles Kurtz and Gergen.

Dirty Harry writes: “Does Howard Kurtz look like the biggest bought and paid for putz in the world right now, or what? Yeah, no story here Howard. Don’t worry about it. Move on. Cash your CNN check. You’re officially a dinosaur, Howard. You are officially irrelevant.” Yup.

Speaking of Kurtz, here’s his WaPo report on Jordan’s resignation–complete with the blog-bashing spin. Jim Geraghty’s 9:03pm prediction (”I have a feeling that the discussion of the “blogs as a lynch mob” is going to get a lot of coverage in the coming days.”) has already come true.

Hugh Hewitt’s reaction: The cover-up continues.

Update V: The New York Times sees fit to print a story on Jordan’s resignation. It’s actually pretty good.

Day by Day cartoonist Chris Muir, Scrappleface, and Ace memorialize the moment. Jayson at Polipundit bids farewell to Jordan with some painful number-crunching.

And Jeff Harrell has an interesting take on Eason vs. Gannon.

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