Monday, June 27, 2005

The bad guys

Recently Aljazeera.net has begun its service in English and I've got to tell you that it's interesting. When searching the web for news I'm more likely to find a slew of BBC and AP pieces with a smattering of the big five news sources in the US: ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and CNN. These five are constantly recycling the same international news all day long, nothing new happens and there is very seldom a story covered from outside their confines of "journalism". Aljazeera is interesting. They cover a large percentage of the same stories but have a different take on the subject particularly when the subject is the conflict between the US and Iraq. They also cover a lot on international news that I've not found on traditional US based news sources too. One thing that I've found that I really like about Alj. is that they have an immediate link to their Code of Ethics. Questionable as it might be from our perspective I think it's respectful to state their practices and goals in an easily accessible place. What's funnier is that if you do a search for "fox news code of ethics" from the Fox News website the first hit is for Aljazeera. Maybe that says something about the great American scourge of foreign news propaganda. All of this is to say that knowing what ones "enemy" is actually thinking about might be a more informed perspective than what "we" have been told our enemy has been thinking.

4 comments:

bigsip said...

Al Jazira has its own take on stuff, but they have gone outside of ethical guidelines plenty of times. They had to be removed from Iraq soon after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein due to one-sided reporting causing massive insurrections among the people. I see your point, though. They report the news in the context of their own views of their political and social environment. For us, it is impossible to truly understand how they feel or what they must be thinking. However, some of their reporting can give us insight. But, just like the news we see from our own media machine, we must take their reporting with a shaker of salt. News is skewed no matter how objective you try to be. Perhaps we can find some truth by balancing the two sides against each other. I'd like to think so. But, there are plenty of lies to go around on both sides.

JS said...

As a side note, there is nothing more disturbing that a new organizatin that takes video from known terrorists of innocent americans being beheaded... and they do nothing to aid in the campute of such thugs nor anything to help said prisoners.

Perhaps our journalists do the same thing. I've seen known drug users and dealers on TV, all I can think is "why are they on TV? Why aren't they in jail?"

But I would hope if someone kidnapped an out-of-the-country visitor to America, that OUR new organizations would help the authorities capture the kidnappers, not just air thier threats or thier pocket-knife-beheading of the captured visitor, unedited...

mullinz8 said...

I agree with both of you guys. They have done some pretty atrocious things in their reporting. I just think it's an amazing insight into their society and mind set. I think there is a really good chance that they are as balanced on their side as US news agencies. I recently watched a documentary on female foreign news correspondents. One worked for Aljazeera who was in her 20's and a Us citizen or Arab background. It was really incredible that she was able to report a story from an American, Muslims, perspective for that network. She was on the front line and because she was "one of them" she was able to get a citizens view of a story. Once she filmed a car being destroyed but US soldiers only to realize that the car was actually a taxi and the guy’s lively hood had been redecorated by Bradley tracks. Obviously the guy could have been a “bad guy” but then again he could have just been a taxi driver.

bigsip said...

Yeah, there is truth in some of the reporting they do, too. There are just different "brands" of truth on both sides of the media and different "brands" of lies as well. I agree with y'all, too. There are interesting things to learn from foreign media outlets as far as how socio-cultural events unfold. I think that's why I listen to NPR. They tend to keep it pretty real. AP and Reuters do the same. But, even they have some leanings and inaccurate information on occasion. Human error persists even in the "fairest" reporting.