Where you stand depends on what you watch

St. Petersburg Times ^ | April 4, 2003 | SUSAN TAYLOR MARTIN

[Cincinatus' Wife]

AMMAN, Jordan -- After a Baghdad market was destroyed March 28, purportedly by a U.S. missile strike, viewers of CNN saw nothing more jarring than a man lying on a gurney with a bandage around his arm.

But those watching Al-Jazeera, the world's leading Arabic-language channel, witnessed far more gruesome scenes. A young woman's severed head. A dead child with horrific abdominal wounds. A worker at the morgue displaying one lifeless form after another.

"I agree they are very ugly pictures but we have to see that -- sometimes the facts are ugly," says Adnan Friej, a Jordanian electrical engineer.

"If there are a lot of civilian casualties I can see them straight away on Al-Jazeera, but if I switch over to CNN I get nothing. They are selective -- they should show what's happening."

Unlike the 1991 Gulf War, when CNN had the only live coverage from Baghdad, viewers can now choose among dozens of channels with live reports from inside Iraq. But it often seems as if Arab and Western correspondents are covering entirely different conflicts.

On CNN, Fox and other Western channels, which have dozens of journalists traveling with U.S. and British soldiers, much of the coverage is devoted to tanks kicking up sand in the desert and reporters giving dramatic, if deliberately vague accounts of allied military activities. On Western TV, it appears to be a high-tech, low casualty war.

On Al-Jazeera and other Arab stations, meanwhile, cameras dwell on dead and wounded civilians, wailing relatives and frantic rescue workers, clawing through the rubble of ruined homes and stores. The impression is of innocent people being slaughtered by the dozens.

Some in the Arab world find the coverage on both sides distressing.

"Every day, I scan through 20 different Arab and American TV services," Rami G. Khouri, a respected Jordanian commentator, wrote in the Jordan Times.

"This is a painful exercise because the business of reporting and interpreting the serious news of war has been transformed into a mishmash of emotional cheerleading, expressions of primordial tribal and national identities, overt ideological manipulation by governments and crass commercial pandering to the masses in pursuit of the audience share need to sell advertising."

To most Arab viewers, the difference in TV coverage has only reinforced a widespread perception: that the United States and Britain are ruthless aggressors trying to control the entire Arab world.

"At the start of the war, I used to watch Fox News every day and I'd get frustrated and angry," said Iyad Kayyali, a Jordanian factory owner who attended college in Texas. "They give just one side of the story and are very prejudiced. It's like they are supporting the Jewish people and all Arabs are terrorists."

Kayyali also tried Britain's BBC, which he found "much better than the American stations. Most of the time they tell the truth." But now he watches Arab stations exclusively, convinced they are the only ones that show the uncensored suffering of the Iraqi people.

Until recently, Arab viewers wanting news in their own language had nothing but state-controlled media. Now there are three relatively independent channels -- Abu Dhabi and Al-Arabiya, both in the United Arab Emirates, and Al-Jazeera in Qatar, the Persian Gulf state from which U.S. Central Command is directing the allied war effort.

Of the three channels, Al-Jazeera is the oldest and most popular. Founded in 1996 by Qatar's progressive ruler, it claims more than 35-million viewers in the Arab world and some 175,000 who pay to see it on cable in North America.

Al-Jazeera's iconoclastic approach has angered both Western and Arab governments. Jordan and other Arab countries have periodically banned its correspondents for coverage deemed offensive to their regimes, and on Thursday Al-Jazeera said Iraq is expelling one of its reporters from Baghdad and barring another from reporting. During the war on terror, Bush administration officials accused it of being a mouthpiece for Osama Bin Laden by airing tapes of the al-Qaida leader.

And in the current conflict, Al-Jazeera has angered the administration by showing graphic footage of dead American soldiers and terrified POWs. Nonetheless, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and other allied leaders have continued to give interviews on the channel because of the huge audience.

But Al-Jazeera's war coverage has hurt it in other respects. Hackers disabled its new English-language Internet site, and the New York Stock Exchange banned its correspondent.

"It was wrong because so many Arab people are investing in Wall Street and they have the right to know what's going on in their own language," said Kayalli, the Texas-educated factory owner. "America is supposed to have freedom of the press, but after Sept. 11, it's not the democracy I used to know."

Like their U.S. and British counterparts, the Arab channels feature military analysts, many of them retired Egyptian generals. Instead of focusing on Anglo-American military successes, as the Western stations do, the Arab ones highlight the setbacks.

"CNN says American troops are advancing here and here but it's all lies," says Al-Zabe, the produce dealer. "They couldn't even capture Umm Qasr for days."

Viewers think the Arab channels also are more credible when it comes to showing the war's toll on civilians. Scenes deemed too graphic for American audiences don't faze Arabs used to the carnage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"It's part of our life," says Waseem Tayeh, a graduate student. "Every day you open your newspaper or turn on TV and you see killing -- it's nothing new."

Many even let their children watch coverage of the war, though one young mother shields her sons' eyes from gruesome images. "I don't want to let hatred and filth build in their hearts," says Ranya Barghoot, a banker.

Like Barghoot, most adults interviewed here in Jordan watch the Arab channels almost constantly. They don't want to miss any news of the war, no matter how depressing.

"I watch until 3 a.m. and even while I sleep, the TV is on," says Friej, the engineer. "Most of us are taking either Valium or Elavil -- it's terrible."

[EternalVigilance]

"Most of us are taking either Valium or Elavil -- it's terrible."

Dang, shoulda bought stock in the companies that distribute that in the ME...

[patriciaruth]

They will never hear that this destruction was probably caused by a failed missile launched by Saddam's cousin who was subsequently fired.

They hate already. The only protection we can muster is for them to fear us. They are never going to love us.

It's sad.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Yes, strength is respected if not feared. As noted, Arab countries are used to a higher level of violence and apparently have an appetite for it.

[WomanofStandard]

"It's part of our life," says Waseem Tayeh, a graduate student. "Every day you open your newspaper or turn on TV and you see killing -- it's nothing new."

It is NOT a part of our everyday life here in the USA, and we are fighting this war to help keep it that way. Just because they choose to live with an attitude of carnage and distruction, does not mean we need view it on a daily basis JUST because we were forced to deal with Saddam by waging war against him.

"I watch until 3 a.m. and even while I sleep, the TV is on," says Friej, the engineer. "Most of us are taking either Valium or Elavil -- it's terrible."

This is the way they want us to live? Folks are on drugs just to bear what they see on TV and in their streets and we should be showing those gruesome images on CNN and other channels so we too can be a drug addicted population just to get through life? The man is a selfish, pig, moron. Have I got that right?

[patriciaruth]

Well, judging from American TV and movies, I'd say that we also have an appetite for violence and are used to it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Re drugs. I posted a Chavez/Venezuela article that describe how the people were popping pills and going to psychiatrists trying to handle the chaos. Here Bush is trying to give them freedom as LIBERALS insist he's helping drug companies. It's amazing what a daily dose of freedom will do for your health.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Apparently. But it looks like we're just babes in the woods compared to some.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

You got it. Turn off the tube until Britt Hume comes on Fox's Special Edition (5PM EST). You'll get the news and fair commentary, have time to enjoy life and will have no need to take sedation.

[patriciaruth]

I hear the Turks are really hell on wheels.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

If these Arab countries would give their woman some say, they'd be civilized too!

[SkyPilot]

"CNN says American troops are advancing here and here but it's all lies," says Al-Zabe

Delusional--that is the only word I can think of to describe this thinking.

In all my travels, the Arab mindset has puzzled me the most. It is almost psychotic is some ways. Do I think, "all Arabs are terrorists" as the man above stated. Surely, no. However, there is an incredible inferiority and persecution complex in the Arab world that is unlike anything else I have ever encountered.

Once, I was at a hotel swimming pool in Bahrain--very luxurious. I had lunch with a very nice man and his family. His little daughter and I swam and played tag in the pool--and we got along splendidly. Later, over a poolside drink--he wanted to engage me in politics. As we talked, he started getting angry, and mentioning the "Jews--those bloodsuckers!" --phrases like that. His mood swing was incredible to behold.

Even Mr. Spock would not be able to endure it long.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

If you're fed a daily diet of hate by government run news, I suppose you become filled with hate. It will take generations to change this, But hey! We have the time and the talent. No reason for not bringing freedom to the world.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Never seen, only heard: the sickening crunch of bone One of four journalists expelled from Iraq after more than a week in prison, Matthew McAllester describes the horror, frustration and finally relief when they were finally released into Jordan.

[happygrl]

The sound of wood against bone. This is what Jessica Lynch experienced.

Can you imagine ? Breaking arms and legs ? Shudder

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I can't. The doctor reported she had a broken ankle and foot, along with a spinal fracture, two broken legs and a broken arm. On his show, Rush said they strip women prisoners, then hang them upside-down by their ankles. This is one brave little gal.

[Stultis]

They will never hear that this destruction was probably caused by a failed missile launched by Saddam's cousin who was subsequently fired.

[patriciaruth]

Thanks for the picture. There can be problems with nepotism. Too bad this cousin didn't build Saddam's bunker.

[patriciaruth]

So for nicotine they formed an "alliance" with the beast.

Another day and Stockholm Syndrome would have been solidly entrenched.

Unbelievable.

[patriciaruth]

Can you tell me how to find your source for PFC Lynch's injuries. There has been a lot of "fog of war" reports on just what her injuries are.