Coverage in Arab media was limited
Posted on 05/13/2004 5:20:57 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Reaction to the video of the beheading of Nick Berg has been muted and cautious in the Arab media.
|
Coverage in Arab media was limited
|
After the horrifying pictures first appeared on an Islamist website on Tuesday, the main Arab satellite TV stations, al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya, did not follow their Western counterparts by leading with the story overnight.
Both showed short items on the killing, but did not dwell on its consequences. They chose instead to lead with the latest on the situation in Gaza.
On Wednesday, they did show longer items on the killing, but still placed considerably less emphasis on it than the Western media.
Some other Arab satellite stations like the Lebanese-based al-Hayat-LBC did lead with the story early on, but did not run long items on it.
Also in Lebanon, the Hezbollah backed TV station, al-Manar, ran a statement condemning the killing as shameful and ignoble.
None of the major satellite and national channels showed the moment of the beheading - saying that the story was strong enough without those images and it would have been indecent to show them.
Limited coverage
The Arab press followed the pattern of the TV stations in reporting the story but giving it limited coverage in their Wednesday editions.
 |
 The beheading was not an eye for an eye - it was a scene for a scene  Al-Safir, Lebanon
|
There was a mixed response in the national press in the Arab world. Many newspapers in Lebanon and Kuwait put the story on their front pages with a photo taken from the video. But newspapers in Syria - where the government controls the press - did not run the story at all.
The leading newspaper in Egypt, al-Ahram, had nothing on the beheading on Wednesday, but ran a story on page four with no photo in its Thursday edition. Other pro-government newspapers in Egypt gave the story cursory coverage.
Killers 'not Muslims'
There was little direct comment in editorial or opinion pieces in Wednesday's Arab press on the beheading - partly because the news had broken too late for commentators.
In Thursday's press, the killing was addressed by columnists - although most concentrated on the continuing scandal over American abuse of Iraqi prisoners and the US decision to impose sanctions on Syria.
The editorial in the United Arab Emirates paper, al-Ittihad, said the killers had committed a heinous crime and could not be called Muslims.
Kuwait's al-Ra'y al-Am said those who carried out the beheading were harming their own county, while another Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Qabas, warned that the crimes committed by terrorist organisations in Iraq would be exported to neighbouring countries.
War of images
In its commentary, the well-regarded Lebanese newspaper, al-Safir, said the beheading "was not an eye for an eye. It was a scene for a scene." The paper continued: "Competition has begun between the disgusting pictures from Abu Ghraib prison and the one of Nick Berg's slaughter - just like advertisements marketing various products."
This expands on a point made by several Arab commentators in interviews given since the killing of the young American in which they expressed their concern that it would distract attention from the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers in a war of extreme images.
That may indeed have been the case in the Western media, but not in the Arab world where the focus has remained firmly on the torture scandal and the latest events in Gaza.
BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.
Basically the reaction is just a confirmation that arabs are held in low regard everywhere.
sure--uh huh...
"...the killers had committed a heinous crime and could not be called Muslims."...
Such B>S> is Islam--read Mohammed and say the above again with a straight face. It's part of Mohammed's rules for getting into "Allah's Heaven"--kill a kufir, and paradise is yours.
That is what being a Muslim means--kill the non-believers.
Perhaps we need to start a new tradition and pass around candy everytime an arab is killed! At least until we hear some apologies from the scum (we'll be waiting a looong time).
I quit holdong my breath yesterday...
Yes, even by fellow Arabs.
Excellent statement...
I don't really care enough about them to open a bag of candy. Which is why I'm really pissed off that Bush keeps telling me this is now a war to "bring freedom to the iraki people." I don't give a rats ass for the iraki people. Worthless scum.
Screw these SOB's! I've had it with all of'em!
You and me, I keep waiting for the "Final Solution" to start in Gaza, and quickly spread to the rest of them. Of course, GWB is hoping that this can occur after the election, but I hope it happens before that. Time for real Americans to stand up and be counted.
The fact they don't get upset tells you one thing. They are the ENEMY. It strikes me as really stupid to expect them to be "fair." It is a waste of time, emotion and ink to even consider it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.