The firing of Octavia Nasr has led to passionate responses from many in the media. Some have viewed the actions of the CNN as necessary while others see it as a sign that, in the age of Twitter and YouTube, journalists can no longer have a strong opinion. Tom Friedman fell in the latter camp, writing an op-ed in the NY Times saying as much. This op-ed drew a strongly-worded critique from Mediaite founder Dan Abrams in the comments section of this site.

Today’s New York Times op-ed pages are all fired up…in fact they’re almost bloggy. I was going to confine this post to Tom Friedman‘s assessment of CNN’s decision to fire Octavia Nasr, but how to resist Frank Rich who manages to connect Mel Gibson‘s abusive tirades with the current state of politics (and Fox News) in this country.

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front. No one doesn’t have an opinion on things they know something about. I may have no opinion on who the best NASCAR driver is (and I don’t) but that would certainly change if I started paying attention to the sport. Coming in to last month, [...]

In the latest case of new media (or oversharing) gone wrong, CNN’s Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr is leaving the company following the controversy caused by her tweet in praise of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah

Mediaite has the internal memo, which says “we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised.”

Following a controversial tweet by CNN Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs Octavia Nasr, she has taken to CNN.com to further expand on her 140-character thought.

Her praise of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah who died over the weekend forced the explanation, but noticeably no apology. And now CNN says it is a “serious matter and will be dealt with accordingly.”