CounterPunch
Weekend Edition
March 5 / 6, 2005
From Stingers to Stringers in Qatar
Target: Al Jazeera
By CHRISTOPHER BRAUCHLI
The U.S. administration does not like Al Jazeera because it shows pictures of things that the U.S. would prefer not be shown on television. In addition, leading administration figures such as the secretaries of state, defense have said that the broadcasts are not only inflammatory but occasionally false. When they say they are false they may be thinking that they are like the television shows in this country that purport to be news shows but are actually broadcasts paid for by the Bush administration in order to mislead the American public on such things as its education and healthy marriage initiatives.
Among the Al Jazeera reports that the administration disliked were those that showed civilian casualties while Falluja was under assault. Although there were lots of civilian casualties the administration believes reports of the casualties will make Arabs angry just like the falsified TV reports in the United States make U.S. citizens angry. It fears that if the Arabs get mad enough they'll do worse things to demonstrate their anger than the compliant American public will.
The administration does not want to give Arabs the impression that it opposes freedom of speech even though it sometimes does. Nonetheless Al Jazeera's staff is aware of the administration's displeasure. As its news editor, Ahmed Sheikh, Al Jazeera's news editor explained:
"We understand that Americans are not happy with our editorial policies. But if anyone wants us to become their mouthpiece, we will not do that. We are independent and impartial, and we have never gotten any pressure from the Qatari government to change our editorial approach."
http://www.counterpunch.org/brauchli03052005.html
Here's the link to the Al Jazeera English language website:
http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
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