For shame, Morocco January 10, 2007
Posted by Delilah in : General, Maroc, World, Media, human rights , add a comment
This is depressing - Driss Ksikes is one of my favorite journalists in Morocco (a tiny crowd, the other one Abubakr Jamai also persecuted) and his magazine Tel-quel one of my favorites too (the second of 2: Le journal hebdomadaire). These two guys and their colleagues have radically transformed the media landscape and one had hoped - indeed expected, although, sadly, not demanded!) that the so-called “opening” of the late 90s would actually mean something in terms of freedom of speech.
Sadly - as long as these guys have been operating - they have been persecuted by the very individuals and government services they cover. They’ve been financially ruined by prosecution after prosecution and now - these bight young energies - are threatened with jail! It’s disgraceful and depressing.
Al Jazzera English Rocks November 19, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, World, Media , add a comment
I know, I know, been gone a while - a combination of being bored with the news and a lot of work. But, I have to comment of the arrival of Al Jazeera English on desktops everywhere. My own cable provider - Comcast - isn’t offering it but I went ahead and forked over $5.95 to check it out as soon as it launched.
Watching this is an entirely new experience for me - just as their most famous reporters have been saying on the promotion tours: this is truly unique in the world of English speaking news. The headlines pour in from around the world - with reporters on the groud and pics live: Palestine, Congo (Kinshasa, deep in a gold mine), Darfur, the Bush trip in Asia, etc. In that order from what I’ve seen so far - from the more acute down.
Overall, the atmosphere is very classy and neutral - the ads are particularly beautiful. I’d say sort of BBCish, with an extra dose of class and depth. Definitely far less euro/us centered that the BBC. This is another thing that seems to be true from the promotion hype: they give you the news of the world out there - minute by minute - from the details of post election Congo, to the turmoil in Mexico to Palestinians rushing in mass to protect a building from Israeli airstrikes to Indonesian protesting a Bush visit on the streets.
Those are the headlines, people, with - once again - live reporters on the ground!!! It’s extraordinary. If they keep this up, their slogan “setting the news agenda” will indeed prove very true because, truly, the competition will either scramble to catch-up or crumble. Thank you Qatar.
Let there be sunshine July 27, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, Islam/Arab Phobia, Lebanon, Media , add a commentI have to disagree with The Angry Arab when he says:
I am opposed to inviting Israeli propagandists on Arab TV. I am opposed to normalization with a state that is premised on religious preference, racism, terror, mass violence, and displacement. But Arab news stations now invite Israeli propagandists.
Au contraire, they are usually so over the line that they undermine their own filthy cause:
AlJazeera today invited this really fascist Israeli professor at Bar Ilan University–he fulminated and got so angry, that he started to drool. He said many crazy things. One of them: he said that there have been clashes in South Lebanon between “Khizbullakh”–I think that he meant Hizbullah here but I am not sure–and other Shi`ites opposed to “Khizbullakh,” and he accused AlJazeera of suppressing those news. He did not identify who whose Shi`ites were. Could they have been supporters of Michael Husayn Young, the well-known leader in South Lebanon? He also promised the people of South Lebanon that villages will be destroyed one after another.
See? Crazy, murderous people - let them come out to the light and be seen by millions.
PS: What’s up with the “khitzboolaaa” pronuniciation defect that all Israelis I hear seem to have? European Americans don’t have that problem, so is this just another case of Israelis having trouble hearing Arabic? Mind you, it’s hard to listen while blasting artillery and dropping bombs on people.
Contempt, rising
Posted by Delilah in : General, Lebanon, Media , add a comment
To anyone with a conscience and a modicum of knowledge about Israel’s historic role and colonical attitude in the Middle East - the general commentary from US establishment types and media defending Israeli actions come what may and kissing up to the multitudes of Israeli spokespersons (overt and not) are nauseating. With Lebanon’s destruction on everyone’s tv 24/7, the latest round of blather has taken on an unprecedented tone - especially from Israeli politicians.
They seem very comfortable adopting some seriously deranged, murderous, rethoric. It was just last week, wasn’t it, that the Israeli rep at the UN basically called all Hezbollah members “animals” during a press conference. He did the same thing on Charlie Rise a couple of days before, That was before his side started taking casualties, I guess.
I’m glad to see some folks starting to revolt.
Stop the posturing July 24, 2006
Posted by Delilah in : General, Palestine, Lebanon, Media , add a comment
It is not enough that WaPo’s editorial line has been - to their never ending shame - firmly on Israel’s side, supporting the endless carnage of innocent people, listen to this guy, trying to posture as some sort of impartial “media observer” (puke) when he is, in fact, a shill. He deems the flimsy reporting on Lebanese victims excessive, parotting the Israeli line that “Hezbollah started this”.
Not only is that pure BS designed to cover-up (or make more “palatable” - puke again) Israel’s crimes against humanity, as reported in his own paper, but it isn’t even true. The main US news outlets have taken their own sweet time covering the depth and extent of the devastation, just as the UN and the “international community” - these fountains of civilization - turn a blind eye to the horrors for 10 full days. And everyone is trying to “balance out” by covering, for hours, Israelis bored in their hot bunkers and a couple of holes in the ground. Let’s all stop pretending.
