What Next for AlJazeera?
January 31st, 2006 - by: danny
Bush Recycles Old Rhetoric in Fate of the Union spectacle… Hillary demonized for Chewing Gum… Cindy Sheehan arrested for wearing anti-war T Shirt… Dems Seethe but join the ritual — Few blast war… Democratic Response wimpy to the max…
Yuk…….
No journalists check facts on “terrorists” allegedly calling Osama — one had been in custody but was released… Others had been waived through security….
And now your news dissector reports from The Middle East:
WHAT NOW FOR ALJAZEERA?
Doha, Qatar, February 1: Doha is the capital of the country pronounced Cutter. It is a Gulf state run by a modernizing Emir not unlike the fictional wannabe killed in the movie Syriana.
The ruler, His Highness (HH) Sheikh Hamad Bib Khalifa Al Thani, presides over the country on a Peninsula. He rules an incredibly wealthy desert nation, with just 743, 000 people, that sits on top of one of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas. He has two American bases in one corner of the country and US universities building medical schools and other institutions of higher learning in another. He’s launched an airline that is already one of the best in the world, and has turned this city into a giant construction site with a humongous airport and new skyscrapers in the works.
Yet, Qatar is not really known globally for these audacious and expensive accomplishments. It’s known for an Arabic language satellite channel – that until recently was squeezed into a building one Arab leader called a “matchbox” – Al Jazeera.
Many Americans think of Al Jazeera as tied to terrorism because they occasionally air tapes recorded by Osama bin Laden. In the West it has inspired fear, been denounced on Fox News as “terror TV” and “culturally Arab” in pejorative putdowns, and reportedly President Bush once discussed bombing its headquarters, as in “taking it out.” (Channel executives say they have still not had any official explanations from Washington for these “documented threats.”)
Al Jazeera turns ten this year. It was a child of a failed BBC-Saudi partnership. When that relationship self-destructed, its journalists found a patron in the State of Qatar that invested over a hundred million dollars to turn an idea into a global brand – some say the 5th best known in the world – and force in broadcasting news that has won the confidence of nearly 40 million Arab people worldwide.
Al Jazeera has been embattled. Two of its offices were bombed by the US military. Two reporters have been killed and another is in Guantanamo. Another was accused of supporting terrorism in a trial that most press freedom groups found deeply flawed. Several governments, including Iraq, have closed their offices.
That’s why it is sponsoring a forum this week to discuss “Defending Freedom, Defining Responsibility.” MediaChannel.org is here along with a wide international gathering of journalists, media scholars, press freedom groups and intellectuals. U.S. Independent media is well represented with Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, Stephen Marshall of Guerilla News Network, and Iraq reporter Dahr Jamail among others. There are delegates from England, France, South Africa, Turkey and all over the Arab World.
Managing Director Wadah Khanfar, the channel’s Managing Director explains the reason for the assembly. “The duty of the journalist is to keep citizens informed is more critically needed than ever before,” he says. “At the same time, journalists are being faced with political pressures, news security laws and a field of operations that is more politically charged and dangerous.”
In many ways, the presence here of so many diverse voices represents the spirit of the global vision that led to us to form our company 18 years ago, and in that sense it is gratifying to be recognized by our colleagues who share our commitment of informing the world and using media to illuminate issues, not trivialize them.
Al Jazeera is not standing still or resting on its laurels. When you tour their facilities, you see an expanded and technically sophisticated infrastructure. The control room shown in the documentary by that name is gone and been replaced by a modern open studio newsroom.
It is creating a new research center and is setting up kiosks to give viewers a chance to record their comments. They will translate their feed into more languages, create a trust for the families of journalists killed or wounded in their work, and upgrade the website to make it more interactive. They also announced a new partnership with the Venezuela- based channel Tele-Sur which aspires to become an Al Jazeera in Latin America. Al Jazeera already has its own correspondents there.
The bigger news involves the new Al Jazeera International Channel which is expected to launch this Spring – no date was given. They had a separate press conference underscoring that this global network will be separately managed by British journalist Nigel Parsons, a British journalist who used to be with the Associated Press in London from their own brand new building.
The International Channel’s programming will be decentralized with news centers in Washington, London and Kula Lumpur, Malaysia. It is announcing its international team and presenters slowly. Among the “names” are Riz Kahn, formerly of CNN International, Dave Marash, formerly of Nightline and Sir David Frost, the famous British interviewer. They have announced a woman’s show with a former BBC personality. More announcements are expected. Top journalists have BBC and even Sky News backgrounds. They plan to add 200-250 journalists. They say 30% of their staffers are of Arab background but many are also from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
There were many questions raised by the tone and direction of the news channel. Even though there is coordination with the Arabic language channel there is a separation as well which evokes suspicion among Al Jazeera veterans. One South African journalist quipped, ‘there was an apartheid-like separate but equal vibe between the two channels’ as in “you do your thing, we’ll do ours.” Al Jazeera’s strengths could be dissipated with a lack of unity and cross promotion.
A question was raised about whether the new channel fears harassment from the Bush Administration. They say that they don’t. What they do have to worry about are the difficulties of securing carriage from the giant commercial media cartels who don’t want the competition and hate the spirit that Al Jazeera represents in a world where so many TV networks no longer even pretend to tell the truth or report real news.
“Judge us on our merits,” stated Riz Kahn.
And I am sure the world will be, beginning with the army of media practitioners, scholars, and activists assembled here in Doha
– News Dissector Danny Schechter is the “Blogger In chief” of MediaChannel.org. His news books are “When News Lies” and “The Death of the Media.” For more information: visit: newsdissector.org/store.htm
Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org
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May The Senate Fillibuster Begin
January 27th, 2006 - by: danny
TIME FOR A FILLIBUSTER SAYS EMK AND JFK
WILL HAMAS NEGOTIATE?
BBC WORLD COMING TO THE USA
Can Sam Alito’s nomination be stopped? Can a Democratic filibuster get off the ground? If so will it be effective? Many Democrats fear it will backfire and be used by the Republicans in a campaign to discredit the Dems for “politicizing the process” as if it has not been politicized already. A comment in the Wall Street Journal suggested that Alito cannot be stopped and that the whole nomination represents “Ed Meese’s revenge.” Meese was Attorney General under Reagan.
A Battle is Brewing
You can still share your opinion with your Senator. It’s a toll free call: 888-355-3588 or 888-818-6641.
CNN reported last night that “John Kerry will attempt a filibuster to stop Judge Samuel Alito becoming a Supreme Court justice. “Judge Alito’s confirmation would be an ideological coup on the Supreme Court,” Kerry said…The filibuster effectively extends debate to block a vote, but Republicans believe they will have enough votes to prevent a filibuster.<.blockquote>
Democratic activists and Kerry supporters had been pressuring the 2004 Democratic Presidential contender to honor a commitment he made back in June 2003 2 when he pledged:
“I am prepared to filibuster, if necessary, any Supreme Court nominee who would turn back the clock on a woman’s right to choose or the constitutional right to privacy, on civil rights and individual liberties and on the laws protecting workers and the environment. The test is basic — any person who thinks it’s his or her job to push an extreme political agenda rather than to interpret the law should not be a Supreme Court justice.”
SPIRIT OF MASACHUSETTS
Senator Ted Kennedy issued this statement of support:
“Other than voting to send our men and women to war, there is no more important vote in the Senate than our vote on a Supreme Court nominee. This is a vote of a generation and a test of conscience. Judge Alito does not share the values of equality and justice that make this country strong. He does not deserve a place on the highest court of the land.
“We owe it to future generations of Americans to oppose this nomination. If Judge Alito is confirmed, he will serve on the court long after President Bush leaves office, and the progress of half a century on the basic rights of all Americans is likely to be rolled back. HeÃÂs the wrong Justice for justice and the rule of law in America. “
CAN THE HAMAS VICTORY LEAD TO NEW PEACE TALKS?
Hamas is now under world pressure to disarm. Here’s A Middle East View from the Daily Star, a leading newspaper in the region:
“Hamas: A reality Israelis, Americans and Europeans will have to accept”
“In one of the most free and fair elections in the Arab world, and with a remarkably high turnout, Palestinian voters altered the political map of the Middle East. The result of their democratic undertaking is that Hamas will soon begin the task of forming a new Palestinian government.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?article_ID=21750&categ_ID=17&edition_id=10
Rabbi Michael Lerner editor of Tikkun believes the election could lead to peace talks:
“Just as the election of previously Israeli terrorists Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon set the backdrop for the possibility of peace negotiations with Israel’s enemies in the past thirty years, the election of the murderous terrorists of Hamas may ultimately make it more likely that a peace agreement entered into by a Hamas dominated government would actually amount to something lasting and substantial.”
Tikkun.org
LONDON’S FINANCIAL TIMES SPEAKS OF “STRATEGIC SHIFT”
Judging by the rhetoric on all sides, it doesn’t appear that Israel and Hamas will talk any time soon, if ever. Yet the Financial Times carried a report suggesting that Hamas’s hard line against recognizing Israel is already mellowing:
“Hamas leaders suggested that their participation in the elections marked a ‘strategic shift’ that could eventually lead to talks with Israel. Mohammad Abu Tir, who is number two on the Hamas electoral list, told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz recently: “We’ll negotiate [with Israel] better than the others, who negotiated for 10 years and achieved nothing.”
“In its election manifesto, Hamas omitted any reference to the call in its founding charter for the destruction of Israel and the group has not claimed involvement in any terrorist attacks in Israel during the past year. But its leaders have made clear that the group is not willing to disarm, which is Israel’s pre-condition for agreeing to talks.
“During the election campaign, Ismail Haniyeh, number one on the Hamas slate, is reported to have reiterated the party’s commitment to destroying Israel and capturing the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third-holiest site.
“He said in an interview before the Gaza withdrawal that “Hamas is always at the service of the people and works only to eliminate the occupation. Our resistance always flows in that direction.”
ANOTHER VIEW: HAMAS WIN SHATTERS STATUS QUO
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0127/p01s03-wome.htm
The New York Times reports today: “Israel will most likely pursue unilateral actions, drawing its own borders and separating itself from the Palestinians.”
ON THE HOME FRONT
AP: $337 Billion Deficit Projected for 2006: Congressional Budget Office Warns Tax Cuts, War Likely to Push Figure Higher
WASHINGTON (Jan. 26) – The budget deficit will rise to at least $337 billion this year and may well approach or exceed $400 billion because of tax cuts and new spending for hurricane relief and the war in Iraq, congressional budget analysts said Thursday.”
US Army War College: “WE HAVE ENTERED AN AGE OF CONSTANT CONFLICT…WE WILL WIN’
“We are entering a new American century, in which we will become still wealthier, culturally more lethal, and increasingly powerful. We will excite hatreds without precedent. There will be no peace. At any given moment for the rest of our lifetimes, there will be multiple conflicts in mutating forms around the globe. The de facto role of the US armed forces will be to keep the world safe for our economy and open to our cultural assault. To those ends, we will do a fair amount of killing”.
http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/97summer/peters.htm
LONG WAR?
“This generation of service members will be in what we’re calling the Long War,” the general said. “Our estimate is that for at least the next 20 years, part of our focus will be on how do we deal with the extremist networks that will continue to threaten [SIC] the United States and its allies.”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11663.htm
U.S. invasion responsible deaths of over 250,000 civilians in Iraq
“New studies make the Bush administration’s “liberation” argument for a ‘pre-emptive’ war against Iraq seem questionable.”
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Iraq_war.php
Two German Engineers have been kidnapped in Iraq according to a video shown on Al Jazeera.
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On TV: Does Truth Still Matter?
January 27th, 2006 - by: danny
AARON BROWN “TRUTH NO LONGER MATTERS
Bradley Laing monitors right wing media sites and sends along a report from the Media Research Center about Aaron Brown.
“CNN Anchor Aaron Brown Says Truth No Longer Matters in Cable News
“Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown gave a speech at Palm Beach, Florida’s Society of the Four Arts on Tuesday, and according to the Palm Beach Daily News, he didn’t have very nice things to say about the news industry including, “‘Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news.’”
According to the article: “Brown said he tried to give viewers a balanced diet of light and serious news with NewsNight. ‘But I always knew when I got to the Brussels sprouts, I was on thin ice,’ he said.”
Furthermore:
“‘Television is the most perfect democracy,’ Brown said. ‘You sit there with your remote control and vote.’ The remotes click to another channel when serious news airs, but when the media covers the scandals surrounding Laci Peterson, the Runaway Bride or Michael Jackson, ‘there are no clicks then,’ the journalist said.”
CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPER CALLS FOR IRAQ PULLOUT
Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher who shares my passion about the media coverage of the war reports:
“As regular readers of this column know, I embarked on a tireless (to some, tiresome) mission more than two years ago, encouraging newspaper editorial writers to endorse a phased U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, or at least kick around the idea.
“Since virtually no one took me up on it, I’ve had to repeat it every few months. . . Nearly every major paper continued to ignore or oppose the idea, or even called for sending more troops. The Seattle Times and Minneapolis Star-Tribune were just about the only big-city exceptions
“Now, this week, a full and unconditional endorsement of Murtha’s notion has come from a completely unexpected source: the notably conservative Tribune-Review, which is based in Greensburg, Pa., but considers itself a full-fledged Pittsburgh newspaper. It’s controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, one of the chief funders of conservative think-thanks and activist causes around the country.
“Less than two months ago, the newspaper (daily circulation about 102,000), attacked Murtha’s plan. Printed below is the text of the latest editorial, which was published on Tuesday. Perhaps a few other papers would now like to re-visit this subject, with the third anniversary of the start of the war approaching.”
AL GORE: WHERE IS HE HEADED?
His latest speech was treated as if it was delivered on the mount by supporters. A new movie in which he appears was hailed at Sundance. Now the question put by writer Larry Beinhardt is:
“So Al, You Gonna Run?
“What now? Does Al enjoy his applause, take a bow and walk off stage?…
“But how does he get the media to pay attention to such speeches?
“In that narrow context, the quality of the speech doesn’t matter. The quality of the reasoning, the insights, the clarity, the fervor in the speaker’s voice, the vividness of the images and metaphors, the truths or falsehoods contained therein — none of that matters much at all.
“What matters is the standing of the person making the speech. “Standing,” for these purposes, means one thing: the ability to act upon what you have to say. Thus, almost anybody in the administration — not just the president – the vice-president, secretary of state, speaker of the house, majority leader of the senate — has more standing than Al Gore does. If they say something it means that there will be at least an attempt to carry it out or that it is an elucidation of what is already being carried out, and it is therefore newsworthy.”
He says the only way to get standing and get in the media is to become a candidate. For more on Al, See “GORE IS BIGGER THAN EVER” in the NY Observer:
NYObserver.com
THE TRIANGLE: Matthews, Moore, Murtha, and the Media
This piecce and the diagram that illustrates it makes for a provocative argument worth checking out:
“What’s the common thread running through the past half-decade of Bush’s presidency? What’s the nexus between the Swift-boating of Kerry, the Swift-boating of Murtha, and the guilt-by-association between Democrats and terrorists? Why has a seemingly endless string of administration scandals faded into oblivion? Why do Democrats keep losing elections? It’s this: the traditional media, the trusted media, the “neutral” media, have become the chief delivery mechanism of potent anti-Democratic and pro-Bush storylines. And the Democratic establishment appears to be either ignorant of this political quandary or unwilling to fight it.
“There’s a critical distinction to be made here: individual reporters may lean left, isolated news stories may be slanted against the administration. What I’m describing is the wholesale peddling by the “neutral” press of deep-seated narratives, memes, and soundbites: simple, targeted talking points that paint a picture of reality for the American public that favors the right and tarnishes the left.”
http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=59f92c44-e7ec-48c4-91c7-b51768df79a3
Handy diagram for the visual thinkers
http://www.correntewire.com/daous_triangles_expanded_aka_shystees_media_kabbalah?PHPSESSID=4ecbab29d13d3043a6ed27958fdc9406
More Discussion at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/25/143111/717
BBC WORLD COMING TO DISCOVERY CHANNEL IN USA
BBC World News will travel across the pond thanks to an agreement between BBC World Ltd. and Discovery Communications Inc., announced Wednesday. The full-time news network can be seen in 128 million homes in 200 countries, but, until now, it has not been available in the United States.
DCI already distributes entertainment network BBC America.”
TV CAMERAMAN KILLED IN IRAQ
“A cameraman working for Baghdad Satellite Channel was killed on Tuesday in clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents. Witnesses said the cameraman was wounded in the firefight and then killed in a U.S. air strike.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM537958.htm
LINCOLN GROUP FOCUSES ON U.S. MEDIA
“Lincoln Group, the Pentagon contractor recently outed for planting stories in Iraqi newspapers, is boosting its own PR efforts. The3 firm hired Bill Dixon, “a veteran PR executive,” as its new directorof media relations. Dixon previously headed media relations for “the powerful DC-area investment ban Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group,” and has also managed PR for Google and The Motley Fool. He’s also worked on political campaigns, “in D.C., Wisconsin, Colorado, California and Virginia.”
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0117lincoln_dixon.htm
For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4384 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/01/25/notes012506.DTL&type=printable
If you never heard Joey Reynolds on NY’s WOR, you should. Read this and find out why. You may be interested in David Hinckley’s article.
“Rock pioneer Reynolds raps now about feelings
“The guy who has been talking about mental and spiritual health in the early-morning hours over WOR (710 AM) for the last decade doesn’t mind fessing up to his own history as one of the great top-40 deejays from the early years of rock ‘n’ roll.
http://www.nydailynews.com/01-25-2006/entertainment/story/385467p-327149c.html
BOOK SOUP
Progressive Political Book Publishing Is Feeling the Stress: What to Do?
RELEASE: Despite fast-moving technologies and a 24/7 news cycle, books are still a key factor in the national discourse and the spread of ideas in the United States and across the globe. Yet despite, or maybe because of, the extreme right-wing’s dominance of the pubic debate in the U.S., progressive political books and independent publishers are feeling increasingly marginalized. After a surge of popular political books after September 11, including the wildly successful “9/11″ by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press), progressive publishers are now in the doldrums. How did they get here and what can be done about it?”
http://www.alternet.org/story/31230/
YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO DO TV
“The author and former Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, often referred to as ‘the conscience of Russia’, is back in the limelight, aged 87, as a screenplay writer. Solzhenitsyn was commissioned to write a 10-part serialization of his 1968 novel The First Circle, which starts on Russian state television on Sunday. Solzhenitsyn also provides the series voice-over to the story of intrigue and betrayal among imprisoned scientists, written in secret while he was being treated in a Soviet sanatorium. “
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SIQWYBJNMX1HBQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/01/26/wsolzh26.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/26/ixwo – The Telegraph
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About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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