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Octavia Nasr ( ar, اوكتافيا نصر) (born 13 March 1966) is a Lebanese-American
Rhetoric Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
scholar an
author
whos
research
focuses on
Yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
's identity and ethical code and how they apply to journalism and other fields. She is a certified yoga instructor who teaches in the U.S. and India. She was a war correspondent for Lebanon's
LBCI The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International ( ar, المؤسسة اللبنانية للإرسال انترناسيونال), widely known as LBCI, is a private television station in Lebanon. LBCI was founded in 1992 by acquiring the asse ...
in the 1980's. She served in various positions at
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
for twenty years until her departure in 2010 following a controversial
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
posting related to cleric
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (also Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allāh; ar, محمد حسين فضل الله; 16 November 1935 – 4 July 2010) was a prominent twelver Shia cleric from a Lebanese family. Born in Najaf, Iraq, ...
.


Career

Nasr was born and raised in Lebanon in a
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
Maronite The Maronites ( ar, الموارنة; syr, ܡܖ̈ܘܢܝܐ) are a Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant region of the Middle East, whose members traditionally belong to the Maronite Church, with the larges ...
family to a Lebanese mother and Palestinian father who was born in
Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
and migrated to Lebanon with his family when he was 8 years old. Nasr completed her master's degree at Georgia State University in 2022. Her thesis, The Identity of Yoga: Contemporary Vs. Traditional Yogic Discourse, investigates yoga's modern postural identity. She links the truncation of yoga's limbs to teacher training curricula as set by the
Yoga Alliance The Yoga Alliance is a U.S.-based nonprofit membership trade and professional organization for yoga teachers. The organization is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Registered Yoga Teacher, a title in the United States that designates a yoga ...
in the U.S. She offers a prescriptive curriculum to preserve yoga's traditional identity while building on its modern postural popularity. She founded Bridges Media Consulting in 2010 after her departure from CNN. In her role as Principal, she helps broadcasters and individuals be more diverse and make the best use of technology and the federated universe. As a certified yoga instructor, she teaches and lectures about yoga in the U.S. and India. For more than 20 years, Nasr covered major stories involving the Middle East, as an on-air and off-air expert for CNN’s global platforms. Her work at the network started just after
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...
’s invasion of
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
where she coordinated network coverage of the award-winning
Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
coverage as part of CNN’s international assignment desk. Nasr won an Overseas Press Club Award in 2002 for CNN's coverage of 9-11 and its aftermath. In 2003, she managed a 15-member Arab desk which coordinated coverage of the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
and was executive producer of CNN's Arab Voices. She received the Edward R. Murrow for Continuing Coverage of the 2006 war in Lebanon. She is the recipient of the 2006 Excellence in Journalism award from the Lebanese-American Chamber of Commerce and was awarded CNN World Report’s 2003 Achievement Award.


Fadlallah comments controversy

Following the death of
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (also Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allāh; ar, محمد حسين فضل الله; 16 November 1935 – 4 July 2010) was a prominent twelver Shia cleric from a Lebanese family. Born in Najaf, Iraq, ...
on July 4, 2010, Nasr tweeted, "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot..." Nasr fell victim of an
astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a p ...
attack for this perceived show of sympathy and support for Hezbollah amid claims that her stated position was incompatible with her role at CNN as editor of news on the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. In response to reactions to her comment, Nasr wrote on July 6 an explanation of what she meant with her tweet.
I used the words "respect" and "sad" because to me as a Middle Eastern woman, Fadlallah took a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on woman's rights. He called for the abolition of the tribal system of "honor killing." He called the practice primitive and non-productive. He warned Muslim men that abuse of women was against Islam.
Nasr concluded her statement by saying:
Sayyed Fadlallah. Revered across borders yet designated a terrorist. Not the kind of life to be commenting about in a brief tweet. It's something I deeply regret.
A CNN spokesman responded saying that "CNN regrets any offense her Twitter message caused. It did not meet CNN’s editorial standards." The following day, on July 7, an internal CNN memo announcing Nasr's departure,
CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...
’s senior vice president for newsgathering, Parisa Khosravi, wrote, "We believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward." On the Huffington Post, columnist Magda Abu-Fadil wrote about coordinated online efforts to protest Nasr's comments and push for her dismissal. In a 2012 interview, Nasr noted, "Without an upfront commitment from the employer to stand by and protect employees from
astroturfing Astroturfing is the practice of masking the sponsors of a message or organization (e.g., political, advertising, religious or public relations) to make it appear as though it originates from and is supported by grassroots participants. It is a p ...
and negative publicity, my advice to employees is not to use social media on behalf of their employer, period."


Reaction

Articles and commentaries following Nasr's sacking have been divided.
Thomas Friedman Thomas Loren Friedman (; born July 20, 1953) is an American political commentator and author. He is a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who is a weekly columnist for ''The New York Times''. He has written extensively on foreign affairs, global tr ...
was among many who were troubled by the decision, writing in
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
that the decision undermined the network's credibility and sent the wrong signal to young people entering journalism. He wrote "I find Nasr's firing troubling." He questioned CNN's reaction by asking, "To begin with, what has gotten into us? One misplaced verb now and within hours you can have a digital lynch mob chasing after you—and your bosses scrambling for cover".Friedman, Thoma
Can We Talk?
''The New York Times'', 17 July 2010
Glen Greenwald i
Salon.com
wrote, "That message spawned an intense fit of protest from Far Right outlets, Thought Crime enforcers, and other neocon precincts, and CNN quickly (and characteristically) capitulated to that pressure by firing her." Greenwald referred to Fadlallah as "one of the Shiite world's most beloved religious figures", highlighting how the world viewed him including many in the west as shown in the ''Time'' Magazine's choice of Man of the year 201

On the other hand,
Mediaite Mediaite is a news website focusing on politics and the media.Howard PolskinHow the Washington Examiner became a traffic monster ''Columbia Journalism Review'' (May 15, 2020). Founded by Dan Abrams, it is part of the Abrams Media Network. Conte ...
's
Dan Abrams Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, legal commentator, and author. He is currently the host of the prime-time show ''Dan Abrams Live'' on NewsNation, ''On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz and ''The Dan Ab ...
asked "Can you imagine what would happen to a U.S. journalist expressing admiration for an
Al Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
leader who had other, better, attributes?" Others expressed concern over what they viewed as similar incidents, most notably Hearst syndicated columnist
Helen Thomas Helen Amelia Thomas (August 4, 1920 – July 20, 2013) was an American reporter and author, and a long serving member of the White House press corps. She covered the White House during the administrations of ten U.S. presidents—from t ...
retiring under criticism one month earlier. Media outlets from around the world protested the firing and faulted CNN for its decision. Stephen Walt of
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
called it "a mistake for CNN." Many wrote in support of Nasr and warned that her firing constituted a new trend in the political climate for journalists and journalism covering politically sensitive issues in general, and the Middle East in particular. Those who agreed with CNN's decision stated that it had a right to enforce standards of objectivity in its reporting. Dr.
James Zogby James Joseph Zogby (from ar, زغبي, ') (born 1945) is the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.–based organization that serves as a political and policy research arm of the Arab-American community. ...
, the president of the
Arab American Institute The Arab American Institute (AAI) is a Nonprofit organization, non-profit membership organization that advocates for the interests of Arab Americans, Arab-Americans. Founded in 1985 by James Zogby, the brother of pollster John Zogby, the organiza ...
, said, "the very public nature of Nasr’s firing was unwise for a network attempting to build a global audience." Describing Nasr as "often the lone voice of reason" at CNN during
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
crisis coverage, he warned that her firing sends a message "to Arabs around the world that their viewpoint doesn’t matter." Orthodox Rabbi
Shmuley Boteach Jacob Shmuel Boteach ( ; born November 19, 1966) is an American Orthodox Jewish rabbi, author, and television host. Boteach is the author of 31 books, including the best seller ''Kosher Sex: A Recipe for Passion and Intimacy'', and ''Kosher Jesu ...
wrote: "For people like... Nasr..., an imam like Fadlallah who wants to kill Americans and Israelis but who is unexpectedly nice to women has taken a giant leap forward from the Dark Ages, deserving respect and praise. This attitude is, of course, not only deeply amoral and patronizing nonsense but historically false."Boteach, Shmule
Opinion: Why Are So Many Mourning a Terrorist?
AolNews, 21 July 2010
In contrast,
Time Person of the Year Person of the Year (called Man of the Year or Woman of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine and website ''Time'' featuring a person, a group, an idea, or an object that "for better or for worse ... has ...
br>2010
recognized Fadlallah and listed him under "Fond Farewells." Author Thanassis Cambanis, who interviewed Fadlallah for his book ''A Privilege to Die: Inside Hezbollah's Legions and Their Endless War Against Israel,'' explained that "by the time of his death (of natural causes), Fadlallah had broken with Hizballah and the toxic legacy of his early edicts." The author goes on to explain that Fadlallah "criticized Iran's clerical rule, supported women's rights and insisted on dialogue with the West." Cambanis concluded that "his passing marks a step backward for reform in the combustible world of Islamist militancy." ''
Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' article with title "CNN's Octavia Nasr: Another Victim of America's Thought Police" writes: "Since 9/11 America's redline has conflated terrorism and Israel's security, flattening all difference and particularity. As Stephen Walt and
John Mearsheimer John Joseph Mearsheimer (; born December 14, 1947) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar, who belongs to the realist school of thought. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the Univers ...
pointed out, this has dangerous consequences for both the implementation of policy and the policing of public thought (they were called anti-Semites for this)." While ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' writes: "Nasr is one of the more high-profile victims of a phenomenon known as "twittercide", comparing the incident with another controversy surrounding death of Fadlallah, namely a tribute to him which came from the UK ambassador to Beirut. Expressing a contrary opinion,
Robert Fisk Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stanc ...
derided CNN and its credibility over the firing, saying "Poor old CNN goes on getting more cowardly by the hour. That's why no one cares about it any more."Fisk, Rober
CNN was wrong about Ayatollah Fadlallah
The Independent, 10 July 2010


See also

*
CNN controversies CNN (Cable News Network), an American basic cable and satellite television channel, has been the subject of multiple controversies. This article recounts controversies and allegations relating to both the domestic version of CNN, and its sister c ...


References


External links


Octavia Nasr's Thesis Repository

Octavia Nasr's ORCID Author Page

Octavia Nasr's Mastodon

Octavia Nasr's Medium Writing and Archive

Octavia Nasr's CNN Videos
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nasr, Octavia Living people People from Beirut Greek Orthodox Christians from Lebanon Eastern Orthodox Christians from Lebanon Palestinian Christians American people of Lebanese descent Middle Eastern Christians Lebanese American University alumni Georgia State University alumni American television reporters and correspondents Lebanese women journalists Lebanese journalists CNN people Journalistic scandals American women television journalists 1966 births 21st-century American women