Qatar pledges al-Jazeera 'review' (pressure from the Bushistas)

[Quetzal]

Qatar pledges al-Jazeera 'review'

Qatar's foreign minister says he will tell the satellite television station al-Jazeera to review its coverage after complaints of bias from Washington.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim was speaking after talks at the White House with US Vice-President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

He said the station needed to be more professional and not publish untruths.

The Bush administration has repeatedly criticised al-Jazeera's coverage of US actions in the Middle East.

more...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3674287.stm

[Citizen Daryl]

1. How about saying ...

... "we'll review ours, as soon as you stop censoring yours."

[shraby]

2. They are just trying

to censor Al Jazeera too.

[Citizen Daryl]

3. Middle East view of torture story

I record "Mosaic" from WorldLink TV when I'm at work. I haven't had time to watch it the past few days. I'm going to be interested to see how the Middle East broadcasters handle the torture story.

[fearnobush]

4. Yes, lets make a deal, You allow your corporate Whore Media to

tell the truth about the war and about you Mr. Chimp and they will allow Al-Jazeera to tell the truth about the good things happening in Iraq and about all those good Muslems in the USA.

[GermanDJ]

5. Scary that they openly put pressure on Qatar to exercise censorship

This reaction was expected - especially when you think about it that the US military has a history of bombarding independent media institutions and killing unruly journalists. Two incidents still stick in my mind: During the war, when a US tank fired upon the Palestine hotel, almost exactly where most of the journalists were living. The White House told after the incident lies that were absolutely see-through.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1123780,00.html

The other incident I'm thinking about was this Reuters photographer, who was killed at an Iraqi prison although he had the permission to work there.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1021592,00.html

You know, the joke with Cheney's and Rumsfeld's 'arguments' of course is, that Al Jazeera was founded by journalists who were sick and tired of censorship in the Middle East. Some of them were originally working for the BBC.

Here are some background information about this media institution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazira

"The channel began broadcasting in late 1996. In April of that year, the BBC World Service's Arabic language TV station, faced with censorship demands by the Saudi Arabian government, had shut down after two years of operation. Many of the former BBC staff members joined Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera is probably the most watched news channel in the Middle East, where many people see it as a more trustworthy source of information than government and foreign channels.

Increasingly, Al Jazeera footage, especially exclusive interviews are being rebroadcast in US, British, and other western media outlets such as CNN and BBC. It is now considered a fairly mainstream media network, though some controversies remain."

[oblivious]

6. I think Al-Jazeera is a fine news organisation

Frankly, I expected them to be much more biased to try to appeal to their Arab/Moslem audience, but I find them quite objective. I'm impressed.

I really don't know what the US administration would be complaining about. Have they given specific examples of what they claim are "untruths"?

[izzie]

7. My daughter and I read it every day. We like to know the real news.

I hope it last.

[papau]

8. Arab point of view/spin - but BBC trained/ethics as to news - better than

current right wing GOP controlled US media.