Al Jazeera Breaks the Israeli Media Blockade

[leftchick]

Source: New America Media



New America Media, News Report, Shane Bauer, Posted: Jan 06, 2009 Review it on NewsTrust

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Throughout the 11 days of Israel's pummeling of Gaza, live coverage of the war hasn't made it into most American living rooms.

That's because Israel, America's staunch ally, isn't allowing journalists to enter Gaza while Al Jazeera, called anti-American and pro-terrorist by many in Washington, is the only network broadcasting live images from Gaza to the world.

The 350 reporters who descended on Israel when the conflict began are stuck at the border between Israel and Gaza. Israel says that opening border crossings to journalists would put their soldiers in danger, but many have accused them of trying to control the story. Instead of giving their viewers up-close pictorial evidence of what is occurring in Gaza, television networks have been restricted to showing their viewers plumes of smoke as they rise in the distance.

But Al Jazeera, the Qatari network that has previously undergone attacks and had its reporters arrested by the U.S. military, remains typically defiant. While other networks are increasingly severed from Gaza as phone lines are cut and 75 percent of the territory is without electricity, Al Jazeera is bringing its approximately 140 million English- and Arabic-speaking viewers live images of bombings, tanks rolling through Gaza's farmland, and interviews with civilians and aid workers inside Gaza city.



Read more: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=db5f72890b1f8e4fad37c77329277907

[Idealism]

1. It shouldn't surprise anyone that the US media is censored to the truth

The government won't have a repeat of Vietnam.

[tama]

2. The society of spectacle

Only what happens on the telly (the circus games) is real. "We the people" reduced from citizens to spectators.

Stop watching, go to the streets - that was the banner of the Greek protesters who took over a national channel for a moment.

[Idealism]

3. The corporatists have taken this planet over and it must be stopped.

"People shouldn't be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people."

[davekriss]

10. Do you mean to say...

The fetishism of the commodity — the domination of society by "intangible as well as tangible things" — attains its ultimate fulfillment in the spectacle, where the real world is replaced by a selection of images which are projected above it, yet which at the same time succeed in making themselves regarded as the epitome of reality.
-- Guy Debord, Society of the Spectacle

Yes that does seem to be highly operative in our culture. Also, it was the intention of early "public relations", as birthed by Bernays, to render the vast majority of citizens as "spectators", blissful on the sidelines while the important people made the geo-political decisions for us (to their own advantage, of course).

I also recall the byline of a list server I used to use a while ago: "Get off the internet; I'll see you in the streets!" (appeared at the bottom of every displyed page).

[dipsydoodle]

4. Ours in the UK seems to be pretty much uncensored.

I was amazed that we saw, given an early warning , the pictures of the dead children lined up on the mortuary floor on ITN New At Ten last night.

Very very sad.

[Hydra]

5. "Israel says that opening border crossings to journalists would put their soldiers in danger"

Uh...would those be the same soldiers who are fully armed and using white phosphorus and cluster bombs?

What sort of threat could they present? Israel has already shown willingness to attack doctors and UN people. Unless, of course, their official line couldn't support what would be reported?

Nah, it couldn't be that! Israel NEVER lies!

[Idealism]

6. I dont understand why they claim their soldiers are the reason

When they have barred journalists from Gaza for months before this. The Israeli Supreme Court even had to rule on it, saying it was a violation and that Israel must allow them in. Israel then said they would allow I believe a pool of 12 in, but has yet to do so, and now they have a fresh excuse of "the soliders."

My question: Why were they not allowed in before this happened? Why did their courts have to even rule on it? What are they hiding?

[Hydra]

11. Frankly, they are hiding slow genocide

I don't know why they bother, though- no one is in a position to stop them as long as the US backs them up.

[Dover]

7. Al Jazeera -

http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/war_on_gaza/2009/01/200914102257130539.html

[ShadesOfGrey]

8. That was an excellent article. Thanks for the link.

I'm bookmarking that site.

[malaise]

9. AL Jazeera has more credibility than all of M$Greedia

Isn't that amazing.

[Selatius]

12. CNN earned its reputation when it reported live from Baghdad during the First Persian Gulf War.

The people in the Pentagon were pissed off to no end that somebody was reporting outside their controlled media pools. They gained a lot of street credibility in those days, only to lose it 12 years later when they simply parroted Pentagon talking points and simply embedded their journalists with American units instead of doing it the gum-shoe way, the old-fashioned way.

[rvablue]

13. And the least US media outlets like CNN could do right now in face of the embargo

is to at least have their anchors announce on air that the Israeli government is barring them from Gaza and that is why they are only showing plumes of smoke in the distance.

But you never hear a word.