'Don't shoot the messenger'
A must read by Amy Goodman about America's war against journalists in general and Al-Jazeera in particular. A snippet:
"U.S. warplanes bombed Al-Jazeera’s bureau [in Kabul, destroying it]...In spring 2003, the U.S. dropped four bombs on the Sheraton hotel in Basra, Iraq, where Al-Jazeera correspondents—the only journalists reporting from that city—were the lone guests. Another Al-Jazeera staffer showed his ID to a U.S. Marine at a Baghdad checkpoint, only to have his car fired upon by the Marines. He was unhurt. That can’t be said for Tareq Ayyoub, an Al-Jazeera correspondent who was on the roof of the network’s bureau in Baghdad on April 8, 2003, when a U.S. warplane strafed it. He was killed."
The MSM duly reported these incidents when they occurred, but quickly dropped them. Why? Why did the media meekly let these attacks pass into oblivion? Why didn't they consider these attacks as attacks against them, personally and professionally? Why didn't they react with outrage?
I guess they got the message.
Comments
I saw Amy Goodman speak last Saturday at a policy summit in Michigan and she was very good. I wanted to post something on my blog about it, but haven't had more than 10 minutes here and there to put coherent sentences together. :-( I'll try to do that by the end of the week.
Posted by: Kathy | May 13, 2008 03:20 PM
I'm shocked - what's more important, your personal life or your readers? ;-)
Posted by: abi | May 13, 2008 06:02 PM