Talk Islam » conflict

Ill-advised words and how the media work …

thabet — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:50:45 +0000

Ill-advised words and how the media works: Lyse Doucet is one of the BBC’s most experienced correspondents. Recently, she appeared at the Edinburgh International Television Conference to discuss the reporting of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. In the midst of trying to explain the complexity of the conflict and the difficulties in reporting in the region, she said the media needs to report on the “the humanity of the Taliban”.

I can understand what she was saying — put simply not everyone with a big beard and gun who is unhappy with foreign troops on their soil is ‘Taliban’. There was a need to inform readers, viewers and listeners of the complexities of the situation on the ground, which I suppose is difficult due to the nature of the conflict and the commercial, corporate and political pressures contemporary news media find themselves under.

Unfortunately, I don’t think anyone will bother to understand her point. All people will become fixated on are her poor choice of words: “the humanity of the Taliban”. It matters not she said what we call “Taliban” maybe “diverse” and not all are interested in fighting British troops. It matters not that there were early warning signs about the possibility of a full scale eruption in the country due to a badly managed reconstruction programme. It doesn’t matter that she mentioned the countless civilians who are dying due to Coalition actions (’fairly’ or not), or that this was swept under the carpet when Prince Harry’s time in Afghanistan was being covered by the media. All that matters is that a BBC correspondent mentioned something about “the humanity of the Taliban”.

While Defenders of Western Civilisation …

thabet — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:56:45 +0000

While Defenders of Western Civilisation cry into their cornflakes over the pulping of a trash novel, a genuine threat has developed to free press and reporting the conflict in the Holy Land:

The Israel Defense Forces has closed an investigation into the death of a Reuters cameraman in the Gaza Strip last April, clearing the tank crew that killed the young journalist of any wrongdoing and saying the soldiers will not face any disciplinary action.

Reuters said it was deeply disturbed by the findings and was considering unspecified legal action, while Israel’s Foreign Press Association warned the army probe could encourage further violence against journalists.

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 …

thabet — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:45:22 +0000

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 18 countries found that people in 14 of them expressed the belief that their governments should not take sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Respondents in three countries favoured taking the Palestinian side (not surprisingly these were Egypt, Iran, and Turkey). India remained divided. No country favoured taking Israel’s side, including the United States, where 71 percent favor taking neither side.

A majority of people in Muslim majority countries (Indonesia, Nigeria and Azerbaijan), rejected taking sides, as did the EU countries covered by the survey (Britain, France, Spain).

There was also significant support for the UN to be more involved through the use of peacekeepers.

(Via Glenn Greenwald, who also discusses what these sorts of views mean for American politics.)