Journalists alert over media war crisis

October 11th 2001

The International Federation of Journalists has expressed concern over demands by the US administration of President Bush that media should exercise care over using material from the Arab media satellite channel al-Jazeera, which has been putting across the views of Osama Bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. This channel carried a pre-recorded video of Bi Laden and associates giving a response to the opening of the military action against Afghanistan. Press freedom groups report that Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamid bin Khalifa al-Thaniof, confirmed that he was asked by the US State Department, during a recent visit to Washington, to use his government's influence to soften the reporting stance of al-Jazeera. According to the US State Department, the television station has provided airtime for experts hostile to the US. The IFJ has noted that al-Jazeera is recognised throughout the Arab world "and has contributed to creating new levels of professionalism in Arab media." It has given both the US and Afghanistan positions equal airtime. Although the station has become Bin Laden's favourite way of getting his point of view across to the Arab and Muslim people, over the heads of the sheikhs and presidents whose rule he detests, al-Jazeera is also being used by western leaders, notably by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to put their point of view in the propaganda battle. "All governments should give media the professional space to work without interference," said the IFJ, "Journalists in the United States or the Arab world don't need the guidance of their governments to do their job. The antidote to propaganda is editorial freedom, not thinly-veiled warnings that hint of censorship." Additionally, the IFJ is exceedingly concerned about the general safety for journalists in Pakistan and the Middle East. On 8 October, a mob attacked members of the foreign press corps from different countries during anti-United States demonstrations held in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. There were reports that stones were thrown, causing minor injuries to a few journalists. Reports that Patrick Aventurier and Vincent Laforêt, photographers for the Gamma agency and the US daily the New York Times, were beaten by police on 9 October in Quetta, are "evidence that once again journalists are becoming the targets in a highly-charged confrontation," said Aidan White. The journalists were following an ambulance transporting the body of a boy killed in riots against US and British attacks on Afghanistan, when they were assaulted by police with batons and rifle butts. The IFJ has also condemned the arbitrary exclusion of journalists from the Gaza Strip in Palestine to prevent coverage of anti-American and anti-war protests and has called for the Pakistani authorities to lift a ban on foreign journalists leaving their hotel in Quetta near the Afghan border. After violent demonstrations, police and soldiers are blockading more than two hundred foreign reporters who have come to cover the conflict. In one recent incident, Taliban supporters threw stones at the hotel and tried to set it on fire. "What is developing is a profound crisis for journalists both in terms of attempts to manipulate the media message and incidents of violence in which reporters and media staff find themselves under attack," said the IFJ.

Fonte: IFJ, Bruxelles