Outside View: The voice of America?
Teens in the Middle East may be rocking to an American beat, but the news employees at the Voice of America insist that they and their broadcast network with its proud history are getting rolled.
More than 450 VOA employees have signed a petition calling on Congress to investigate the actions taken by the Broadcasting Board of Governors that oversees the VOA. More
Posted by Matthew Burton on August 30, 2004 at 11:52 AM in Public diplomacy | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (542)
Alhurra criticized by Allawi
U.S. funded Iraqi TV criticized
BAGHDAD, Aug. 29 (UPI) - Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., says Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi believes the U.S.-funded satellite TV station Alhurra is "a waste of money."
"We've done a really poor job on the diplomatic front, and if this latest effort is also a bust, we need to know about it and we need to retool," Schiff told the Los Angeles Daily News after returning from Baghdad and meeting with Iraqi officials and U.S. military. "At least in the view of the new prime minister, it's still missing the mark."
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 29, 2004 at 12:16 PM in Alhurra | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (86)
CSM on violence, imagery and propaganda
Militia's other weapon: videos
BAGHDAD - Video has become an important propaganda tool in the Mahdi Army fight against the US, which continued Tuesday in Najaf.
Abu Mujtaba is not your typical filmmaker. He doesn't have an agent, he doesn 't aspire to move to Hollywood, and his interest in film is chillingly practical. He considers Black Hawk Down a "great film," for instance, because it shows him how to kill Americans.
Abu Mujtaba is a member of the media department of Moqtada al-Sadr's Shiite militia. He uses a tiny digital Sony Handycam instead of a Kalashnikov and is one of a half-dozen guerrilla filmmakers who record their acts of war to encourage their followers, spread their beliefs, and portray what they see as the heroism of Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army. More
Posted by Matthew Burton on August 25, 2004 at 12:37 PM in Al Arabiya, Aljazeera, Violence in broadcasting | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (214)
Guardian feature on Arab attitudes toward Aljazeera
Leader of the pack: Lisa O'Carroll reports from Qatar on how the satellite channel al-Jazeera has put the Gulf state on the map
I am descending in the lift in the plush, marble-clad interior of a five-star hotel in Qatar to rejoin an international conference which is ostensibly about Arab media versus the west but which has turned into something like a old-style Labour party conference, with tedious speech after speech.
The lift stops at the third floor and an Arab gentleman steps in. "Are you enjoying the conference?" he asks. "Yes," I reply politely, not wishing to offend in case he is an executive from al-Jazeera which is, after all funding the forum.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 16, 2004 at 03:32 PM in Aljazeera | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (90)
Daily Telegraph commentary on Allawi and press freedoms
Freedom needs free press
General Ghaleb al-Jazairi, police chief of Najaf, issued an instruction to journalists working in the Iraqi holy city yesterday that sounded remarkably like a threat. "I have received orders from the interior minister, who demands that all local, Arab and foreign journalists leave the hotel and city within two hours," he said. "We have information that there is a 250kg car bomb targeting them. Therefore you should leave immediately for your own safety."
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 16, 2004 at 03:28 PM in Aljazeera, Press freedom | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (150)
IHT on Nahrain (Baghdad TV Channel)
A calmer voice comes to nascent Iraqi television scene
Nicola Clark
He may not seem like a revolutionary, but Mohammed Gohar is hoping to play a part in the transformation of Iraq's broadcasting landscape.
The 52-year-old founder of Video Cairo Sat, an Egyptian production company, Gohar plans to begin beaming Nahrain, a new Baghdad-based television channel, this month to millions of Iraqis who for decades knew only the strictly controlled dispatches of Saddam Hussein's propaganda machine.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 16, 2004 at 01:57 PM in Native media, New television | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (136)
The Independent on Aljazeera and press freedom
NO WONDER THEY BANNED AL-JAZEERA. THE TRUTH HURTS; HAND-IN-HAND WITH A FREE SOCIETY GOES AN UNFETTERED PRESS.
JONATHAN FENBY
At the best of times, those in power rarely relish news organisations that carry negative news and act as channels for contrary views. In non- authoritarian societies, politicians in office often like to pretend that the media do not really matter to them. I have lost count of the number of times they have claimed they don't read the press, shrugging off the bearers of bad news as marginal to the business of government - probably before going to huddle with their spin-doctors to try to get a better headline the following day.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 15, 2004 at 03:38 PM in Aljazeera, Press freedom | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (129)
Visiting Iraqi public broadcasters meet British FCO minister
Text of press release from UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office web site dated 11 August 2004
Foreign Office Minister Dr Denis MacShane met with Mr Ibrahim al-Janabi, minister of state with the new Iraqi interim government, on 11 August, to discuss UK assistance to media development in Iraq. Dr MacShane welcomed the progress Iraq had made in establishing two independent institutions - the IPBS and the Iraq Communication and Media Commission. He said: "Independent Iraqi media institutions are very important to the UK. We stand ready to offer further support to help Iraqis develop the thriving independent media sector that they wish to have."
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 12, 2004 at 02:09 PM in NCMC, Public broadcasting | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (107)
The Australian: Bias, censorship and all that Jazeera
THE interim Iraqi government led by Prime Minister Ayad Allawi believes that Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite television network, foments sectarian violence, provides a mouthpiece for terrorists and encourages kidnapping by showing footage of foreign hostages. These criticisms echo longstanding complaints against the network by the US. But even if these claims are true, and there is evidence they are, the Iraqi administration has made a poor decision in closing down Al-Jazeera's Baghdad operation for a month. The vision of the network may well reflect pan-Arab nationalism rather than liberal democracy, but by muzzling the media Iraq's leaders compromise their own democratic credentials.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 10, 2004 at 03:39 PM in Aljazeera, Press freedom | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (159)
Banning Bad News in Iraq - New York Times (Editorial)
As interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi is supposed to be guiding Iraq toward democratic elections. Yet in his first six weeks he has begun yielding to the same kind of authoritarian mentality that has stifled democracy in too many neighboring states. His latest target is Al Jazeera, whose sometimes sensational news coverage is the Arab world's principal source of uncensored information.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on August 10, 2004 at 11:23 AM in Aljazeera, Press freedom, Violence in broadcasting | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2355)
U.S. Struggles To Defend Iraqi Closure Of Al-Jazeera Office In Baghdad - Agence France Press
The United States struggled on Monday to reconcile its normal forceful advocacy of international press freedom with a defense of the Iraqi interim government decision to close the offices of the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera television network in Baghdad.
Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on August 9, 2004 at 11:31 AM in Aljazeera, Press freedom | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (46)
IRAQI INTERIM GOVERNMENT SUSPENDS AL-JAZEERA - CPJ Press Release New York
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) www.cpj.org condemns yesterday's decision by Iraq's interim government to ban the Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera from working in Iraq for 30 days.
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Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on August 8, 2004 at 11:56 AM in Aljazeera | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (71)
Iraq Shuts Al Jazeera Baghdad Office for a Month (Reuters)
Iraq's interim government ordered Qatar-based Al Jazeera satellite television network to close its Baghdad office for one month, a move criticized as unjustifiable by the channel.
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Posted by Vanessa Hetherington on August 7, 2004 at 11:16 AM in Aljazeera | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (130)
Foreword to Issue 26
This issue of the newsletter is largely about early relationships between the new interim government (headed by Prime Minister Allawi) and the NCMC (the media regulatory commission) and the Iraq public service broadcaster as emerged in the last months of the CPA. In this issue we wish to give special attention to the developments of the last weeks. On June 28, in the CPA's final order, Order 100, adjustments are made to previous orders, including Orders 14 and 65, to account for the transition of power and substitute new authorities for the governance responsibilities of the CPA. On July 27, the National Communications and Media Commission, the CPA-established media policy body, passed a formal broadcast code.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 5, 2004 at 08:54 PM in CPA Orders, From the Editors, Higher Media Commission, NCMC | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (270)
Beirut's Al-Safir on TV and radio landscapes
It has become common to launch a new television or radio station beamed to Iraqis every week, and so it is difficult to work out how many there are. However, despite the proliferation of stations, Iraqis still prefer satellite channels, which rank first in terms of the number of viewers, with some exceptions here and there.
Along with Al-Iraqiyah Channel, which is not very popular among Iraqis despite its excellent programme production, particularly the political programmes (five each week), Al-Sharqiyah channel, which is owned by the well-known media mogul Sa'd al-Bazzaz, was launched. Iraqis jokingly call this channel "Al-Ba'thiyah", although its viewers are increasing in number owing to its focus on satirical programmes that make fun of public and political life in Iraq. As for the newscasts, they are unreliable, owing to their repeated mistakes.
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Posted by Matthew Burton on August 4, 2004 at 02:17 PM in Media landscape, New television, Radio | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (124)
