UAE, CNN and NYT. Luckily there's DU.

[BelgianMadCow]

About a year ago, before we lost CNN on regular cable over here in Belgium (have to get digital now to get it), I noticed how all of a sudden there were ads for the UAE as a holiday destination ALL OVER CNN.

I have no idea if they are still being run?

I remember finding them very odd, and a transparent form of propaganda.

The port security sale has definitely added some perspective to these ads...I cannot believe I once thought CNN was a worthy news source (back in the days of Peter Arnett).

On a similar media theme :

Both CNN and the NYT have to call themselves the media source "of record"

I would laugh if it wasn't so sad. How very Faux of them.

[JDPriestly]

1. Remember the ads about how buying SUVs supports terrorists?

Well, that is true. When you buy oil, you are funding the UAE, Saudi Arabia, et al. and they are closely tied to the Muslim terrorist networks -- at least much more closely than the ordinary American. The oil rich nations have to spend their money somewhere. They have to invest. It should not surprise us if they invest directly or indirectly in everything profitable in our nation including our news media. And, BTW, I'd love to know how much Microsoft stock they own. Bush said one truth in his State of the Union Speech. We are addicted to oil. We are also addicted to the mainstream media. Only when we go cold turkey both on oil and getting our information from media owned and controlled to an extent that would probably horrify us if we really knew its scope, we cannot be a free democracy. We can't even really be our own nation. I haven't been able to figure out how I can break the oil habit on my limited income (can't afford a hybrid and too old to bicycle), but I have found out how to avoid paying for the MSM. I canceled cable, don't watch TV, and don't subscribe to MSM newspapers or magazines/ You can find out everything you want to know from the internet, Air America radio, Pacifica radio and the few magazines that aren't controlled by the MSM conglomerates. Stop the addiction now.

[AX10]

2. The Arabic nations of the world are all terrorist supporters.

Worse yet, they do find a way to invest in our country and hence, gain a TON of influence over us.

[BelgianMadCow]

4. I have not seen any over here. But I do agree.

SUVs are fine by me when you live in a cabin unaccessible by normal road, and the like.

But the monsters (BMW X5, Mercedes ML, Audi Q7 etc) whizzing by on the highway with one person in them commuting to work are just that : status indicating monsters.

I have broken my addiction to corporate media. My addiction to oil, that's something else entirely. I drive 250 kms every day, 2 hours. Public transport gives me a 3.5 hour commute and that just isn't feasible.

But either I get a company car or I'll work somewhere closer by.

[Justice Is Comin]

3. Yup the last time CNN reported

any news accurately was the uprising at Tienanmen Square. That was reporting. Bernard Kalb was riveting.

[AntiFascist]

5. CNN did report negatively on the UAE regarding ports....

so apparently the recent $2 billion UAE investment into Time Warner didn't prevent this, at least on their website:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/02/19/port.security.ap/

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. terms for approving an Arab company's takeover of operations at six major American ports are insufficient to guard against terrorist infiltration, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said Sunday.

<snip>

Critics have cited the UAE's history as an operational and financial base for the hijackers who carried out the attacks of September 11, 2001. In addition, they contend the UAE was an important transfer point for shipments of smuggled nuclear components sent to Iran, North Korea and Libya by a Pakistani scientist.

If only they would have mentioned the name of AQ Khan.