– fordi tiden kræver et MODSPIL

01. Dec 2005

Why did you want to bomb me, Mr Bush and Mr Blair?

 
Alle, der for alvor går ind for ytringsfrihed og ikke vil have den forvandlet til en gold ytringsret for dem, vi selv er enige med, må hilse den arabiske TV-station Al-Jazeera velkommen.

Siden dens grundlæggelse i 1996 har den rystet mediebilledet i den arabiske verden ved en rapporterende og kritisk journalistik, der forsøger at formidle oplysning og debat frem for den statslige propaganda, som de arabiske TV-kanaler ellers har severet.

En perlerække af diktatorer og deres lakajer, fra den saudi-arabiske kongefamilie til George Bush og Colin Powell, er gået til stationens ejer emiren af Qatar for at få lagt mundkurv på den løbske kanal - og lige lidt har det hidtil hjulpet.

Stationens leder Wadah Khanfar skriver i dag i The Guardian:
have lost count of the number of accusations levelled against al-Jazeera and the incidents of harassment to which it has been subjected since it was founded in 1996. It was rumoured to have been set up by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency with the purpose of improving Israel's standing in the Arab world. It has also been accused of being a CIA mouthpiece designed to disseminate western culture among the Arabs. Some have suggested that it is part of an international conspiracy to break up the Arab world by means of stirring up discord and creating problems for the Arab regimes. Others decided it was a front for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban; or funded by Saddam Hussein. And, at the same time, it has been condemned by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and bitterly criticised by Donald Rumsfeld.
Lyder i udgangspunktet som en pluralistisk kanal, der netop har vidst at gøre sit job!

Men ... Al-jazeera ...er det ikke noget med, at de er al-Qaedas forlængede arm og viser amerikanske gidsler blive halshugget for åben skærm?

Ikke helt:
[Al-Jazeera] has been accused by the US of inciting violence through the broadcast of al-Qaida tapes and of playing footage of beheadings. Our viewers know that no beheadings whatsoever were shown on our screens. And we follow strict professional rules in handling the tapes of Bin Laden and other al-Qaida leaders; we only play short, carefully selected and clearly newsworthy clips, and they are followed by analytical discussion, frequently including American commentators.
Med andre ord: De har håndteret disse bånd og udtalelser på nøjagtig samme måde, som CNN eller BBC havde gjort, om de havde modtaget dem.

Al-Jazeera burde støttes af os i Vesten - også selvom de kan finde på at dække begivenhederne i f.eks. Irak fra vinkler, som storebror i USA ikke bryder sig om.

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