-Caveat Lector-
The neocons, who are all wannabe world
dictators,have proven repeatedly by their words and deeds that they
profoundly despise democracy:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/helenthomas/2667834/detail.html
Raid On Arab TV Network Hardly A Democratic Move
Dictators Should Be Only Ones Shutting Down Media
Broadcasts
POSTED: 5:22 p.m. EST November 26,
2003
UPDATED: 5:23 p.m. EST November
26, 2003
WASHINGTON -- The
raid by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi officials on an Arab television network bureau
in Baghdad and the ban on its broadcasts hardly fits my idea of how to spread
democracy in the Middle East.
Isn't that the first thing dictators do -- shut down broadcast outlets
and newspapers? For those in power, tolerating a free press is difficult, even
in a democracy.
As a foreign occupier in Iraq, we are proving that it is intolerable.
The terrible irony here is that we pride ourselves on offering a model to
the rest of the world on how to design -- and live by -- our constitutional
freedoms.
Journalists around the globe have been taught to emulate our approach to
newsgathering, hopefully in an atmosphere free of government restraints.
At the same time, we're snuffing out news outlets we don't like.
On Monday, the U.S.-appointed Iraqi government raided the Baghdad bureau
of the Al-Arabiya TV network.
The network's crime was to broadcast an audiotape from Saddam Hussein
complaining about Iraqis who were cooperating with the U.S. occupation force and
calling for resistance. The tape had been sent to Al-Arabiya's headquarters in
Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The network, which has interviewed Secretary of State Colin Powell in the
past, is one of the largest TV outlets in the Arab world.
Any tape portraying Saddam's views on life fits the definition of news,
if for no other reason than it is evidence that he is still alive and able to
secretly communicate from wherever he was hiding.
Al-Arabiya and its competitor, the Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, have a
wide following throughout the Middle East. Al-Jazeera caused Washington much
discomfort in the lead-up to the war by broadcasting statements from Saddam.
The White House strongly offered "advice" to U.S. TV outlets to shun
those tapes but the American networks generally ignored the unhelpful hints.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused both Arab stations of being
hostile by covering news of the guerrilla attacks on American forces.
Al-Jazeera's Baghdad bureau was hit by a U.S. missile on April 8, killing
a reporter-cameraman. The network also has complained of an attack on its marked
vehicle April 7.
On Nov. 13, 2001, during the U.S. war on Afghanistan an American missile
went "awry," according to the Pentagon, and destroyed the Al-Jazeera bureau in
Kabul.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned the
move against Al-Arabiya, noting that "statements from Saddam Hussein and the
former Iraqi regime are inherently newsworthy and news organizations have a
right to cover them."
Rumsfeld grouses that the two stations were violently against the
American coalition. He hopes to counter their influence when a U.S.-controlled
TV satellite channel begins broadcasts next month.
Then will the Iraqis and the Arab world be guaranteed the truth?
In a brilliant speech earlier this month before the National Conference
on Media Reform, broadcaster and former newspaper editor Bill Moyers warned that
American media conglomerates may find common cause "with an imperial state."
But Moyers said "the greatest moments in the history of the press came
not when journalists made common cause with the state but when they stood
fearlessly independent of it."
Against that statement of values, the recent performance by American
journalists does not measure well.
White House and Pentagon reporters initially pulled their punches in
reporting on the Iraqi war. Some media outlets admittedly did not want to rock
the boat by showing grisly photos or videotape that could be disturbing to
Americans.
As a result, many Americans tuned in on foreign news channels to get the
full picture of the war.
Even now, with the administration's pro-war arguments reduced to a pile
of confetti, many news outlets have failed to demand accountability from the
Bush administration for what appears to be systematic dishonesty in trying to
justify the U.S. attack.
This failure and the U.S.-led suppression of newsgathering in Iraq show
that the historic American model for a free and independent press needs
courageous bolstering.
(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address
[EMAIL PROTECTED]).
www.ctrl.org
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