USG muscles Arab TV stations to present its view

[esse]

"All we are asking is for balanced reporting," 

U.S. quote of the day?




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Khoder bin Hakkin" <hakkin at sarin.com>
To: <cypherpunks at lne.com>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2001 3:30 PM
Subject: USG muscles Arab TV stations to present its view


> Note that the offending Arab TV station has a "tendency to run
> interviews with analysts who argued U.S. foreign
> policy had brought about the recent attacks on the
> World Trade Center and  the Pentagon."
> 
> 
> As if there were another reason.  Oh sorry, its about "democracy",
> right.
> 
> 
> US to Qatar: rein in Al-Jazeera
>  Tuesday, 2 October 2001 20:14 (ET)
> 
> http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upidetail.cfm?QID=226316
> 
>  US to Qatar: rein in Al-Jazeera
>  By ELI J. LAKE
> 
>   WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Embassy in Doha has filed a
> formal
>  complaint to the Qatari government about the partly state-owned
> Al-Jazeera
>  satellite network's coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist strikes on New
> York
>  and the Pentagon, State Department officials told United Press
> International
>  Tuesday.
> 
>   Last week, U.S. Ambassador to Qatar, Maureen Quinn, delivered a
> demarche
>  from Washington regarding Al-Jazeera's broadcasts to Qatari Foreign
> Minister
>  Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani.
> 
>   Quinn asked the Qataris to investigate what the United States says is
> the
>  station's tendency to run interviews with analysts who argued U.S.
> foreign
>  policy had brought about the recent attacks on the World Trade Center
> and
>  the Pentagon. The ambassador also expressed concern about the station's
> 
>  repeated airing of an interview with Osama bin Laden, the man the
> United
>  States says is behind the Sept. 11 attacks, State Department sources
> said.
> 
>   "They are running this thing four times a day," one State Department
>  official told UPI. "It's like giving him a free forum to justify his
> beliefs
>  with no filter."
> 
>   "All we are asking is for balanced reporting," another official said
>  Tuesday. "They were airing interviews from the right of center and the
> far
>  right. There are plenty of other people who speak Arabic who have
> condemned
>  these attacks."
> 
>   Although Al-Jazeera is partly owned by the Qatari government, its
>  editorial policy is independent, an anomaly in the state-run media
> climate
>  of the Middle East. It is also the largest Arabic television news
> channel in
>  the world. According to the station's Washington bureau, its programs
> are
>  watched by 40 million viewers regularly.
> <snip>