>------ Forwarded Message
>From: Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli <mo at mo.md>
>Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2003 19:38:04 -0500
>To: dave at farber.net
>Subject: RE: [IP] Al-Jazeera in English
>
>Dear Dave,
>I've been doing a lot of listening, reading and thinking in the last few
>weeks, thanks in large part to your list. Because of your comment below,
>I'd like to share some of my thoughts with IPers. So, with your
>permission, here I go:
>
>In the Arab world today, we get a more informed perspective than you do.
>
>It's a little bit of a disappointment for me to say this - I am
>currently a guest in your beautiful country, and I came here because of
>the value that you place on free speech and intellectual excellence, all
>in the pursuit of better versions of the truth. I'm a scientist,
>pursuing such truth is my job. But when it comes to political truth, I
>think many Arab citizens today can have a more informed perspective than
>Americans.
>
>Don't get me wrong - that's not because my country is more democratic,
>has better journalists, or more intelligent analysis. None of these is
>true (not yet - but I remain hopeful for Bahrain's new democracy).
>
>But we do see your news as well as our news as well as Israeli news. In
>my (so far limited) experience of American life, Americans are extremely
>sheltered in the news that they see. When I read Haartez, I learn about
>Isrealis suffering from the conflict, I learn what they are worrying
>about, I learn how they deal with their own extremists, and I learn
>about their many citizens that would like to see peace. And I learn all
>this from an Israeli perspective, so I hear a positive human side.
>
>Americans do not seem to be learning such things about Arabs. Reading
>British commentary does not count as getting "a different perspective".
>Nor is French commentary, even though that small difference is still
>enough to enrage many against your ally country. If any Arabic
>perspectives ever get to American mainstream news, it is almost always
>surrounded by commentary that it is propaganda, or at the very least
>highly questionable.
>
>Al-Jazeera has attracted a huge amount of this negative commentary, most
>recently for showing the Americans hostages and their mistreatment. As
>an Arab, I got to see this, you did not. I think that you should be
>angry at Saddam Hussain, not Al-Jazeera. They are showing you the
>mistreatment of a human being, so that you know it happened. Al-Jazeera
>also shows footage every day showing the mistreatments of Palestinians
>in the Occupied Territories. As an Arab, I get to see this, you very
>rarely do. And Al-Jazeera shows Israelis being taken to hospital, their
>friends, relatives and survivors crying. As an Arab, I get to see this,
>you occasionally get to.
>
>There are many people being killed today. Please, at least listen to
>them.
>
>Yesterday I listened to NPR / C-SPAN broadcasting a press conference in
>Doha, held by two American commanders, and one British commander. It was
>embarrassing to listen to the sycophancy and deferent nature of the
>western journalists. Arab journalists are no better with our Arab
>leaders, but we have dictators, and America is supposed to be liberating
>us and teaching us democracy. This was not a good lesson.
>
>A journalist from the Sun asked "Could you explain to us the feelings of
>disgust that you felt as you saw your comrade paraded on television by
>the Iraqi regime, and shown to the world on Al-Jazeera." (I'm only
>quoting from memory here, but I'm pretty sure that I'm pretty close to
>what was said.) He then asked the general whether he would declare
>Al-Jazeera a "hostile station".
>
>Since when has a democracy's freedom been protected by members of the
>press asking softball questions of their leaders, and demanding that
>other journalists be declared hostile?
>
>Yesterday, only Al-Jazeera and Arabic members of the press were asking
>difficult questions. Of course, you might say, these journalists are
>against America's agenda. But these were fair questions, and your own
>press was not asking them. Besides, I always pay particular attention to
>the channel's coverage of Bahraini affairs - the channel is owned by
>Qatar, and Qatar's ruling family does not like the Bahraini ruling
>family. That means I get extremely useful coverage of my country's state
>of affairs by following Al-Jazeera.
>
>I do not think it is in Americans' interests to ignore such a valuable
>resource given your mainstream media's insistence on bowing to your own
>government.
>
>Once again, I fear I've sent you a long message for the IP List. My
>apologies for the length, but I hope that you can still share it. And I
>pray that God have mercy on all those who have died in Middle East. May
>it all end soon.
>
>mohammad
>
>Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli
>e mo at mo.md
>w www.mo.md
>
>