This also explains the ownership of Fox News, and the Saudi share of that group, interesting, even if already known to you, it is too long to post all of it.
granny
http://www.aim.org/aim_report/4220_0_4_0_C/
AIM Report: Radical Arabs Seek Influence Over U.S. Media -
December A
December 6, 2005
This war, unlike any other we have confronted, presents us with an
enemy that is everywhere and nowhere. The media are a key
battleground.
By Wes Vernon
Are the U.S. media being courted by those who hate America? Or is
an honest attempt at "international understanding" at hand?
The Arab Thought Foundation, which has strong financial connections
to Saudi Arabia, is convening a conference in early December that is
advertised as being designed to "enhance interaction between Arab
and international media organizations and bridge the gap between
them." It is an invitation-only meeting in Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates, one of only three nations, along with Saudi Arabia and
Pakistan, that recognized the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Its website informs us that "[t]op journalists and media executives
from around the world will join their Arab colleagues at the
invitational gathering" where "[d]elegates will discuss changes in the
Arab world, build relationships, validate assumptions, develop a
deeper understanding of the region, and make sure they are 'Getting
it Right.'"
Advertised speakers include Karen Elliott House, publisher of the Wall
Street Journal; David Ignatius of the Washington Post; Ed Bradley of
CBS and 60 Minutes; Barbara Slavin of USA Today; Pat Mitchell,
President and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service; Matthew
Winkler, editor-in-chief of Bloomberg News; and Jim Kelly, managing
editor of Time magazine. "Proud Sponsors" include Reader's Digest,
CNBC, and Al-Arabiya television.
A conference seminar, "Chasing Bin Laden's Truth," features Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoogi, who has interviewed Al Qaeda leader
Osama bin Laden several times.
The conference program also features a "spotlight" on Prince
al-Waleed bin Talal, described as "one of the world's most influential
investors." That is certainly the case. He has just accumulated a
significant financial interest in a major American medium that is
trusted by conservatives—News Corporation, parent of Fox News
Channel.
Al-Waleed is the same Saudi prince whose $10 million donation for
the Twin Towers fund was returned when he blamed U.S. policy in the
Middle East for the 9/11 attacks.
Bakr Mohammad Bin Laden, general director of the Bin Laden Group
in Saudi Arabia, a construction company based in Saudi Arabia, is a
member of the Board of Trustees of the Arab Thought Foundation.
Despite the popular notion that Osama bin Laden is the black sheep
of the family, the bin Laden Group, three Saudi princes and the
government of Sudan have been sued by 9/11 Families United to
Bankrupt Terrorism for allegedly bankrolling al Qaeda, Osama bin
Laden and the Taliban.
Pro-Terrorist Media
The Al-Arabiya channel is not as well known as Al-Jazeera but it also
has a notorious reputation. It was ordered out of Baghdad in 2003 by
the post-Saddam government. The new authorities accused it of
inciting violence against innocent citizens and American military
personnel. At the time, Jalal Talabani, then Council President in
Baghdad, said, "Al-Arabiya incites murder because it's calling for
killings through [what was purported to be] the voice of Saddam
Hussein."
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher defended ousting
Al-Arabiya, saying the aim was "to avoid a situation where these
media are used as a channel for incitement, for inflammatory
statements, and for statements and actions that harm the security of
the people who live and work in Baghdad, including Iraqi citizens
themselves."
On July 2, 2005, Al-Arabiya TV aired a sympathetic report about the
movement of "martyrdom seekers" in Iran preparing to attack the
U.S. because of the war in Iraq. The Al-Arabiya reporter said,
"40,000 time bombs in Iran—this is the number of volunteers so far,
and the registration is still open. There is no distinction between men
and women, Sunnis or Shiites. 'We all sacrifice for the sake of Islam,'
they chant. This is the movement of martyrdom seekers, whose goals
and organizational structure are still unclear. They refused to give
further details, but did not conceal their determination to sacrifice
their lives. The reason—what America has done in the holy places of
Najaf and Karbala."
Another Al-Arabiya report on "martyrdom" aired on July 22, 2005,
and showed the son of a suicide bomber who watched film of his
father blowing himself up in a car loaded with explosives. "Of course,
I miss him and remember his words," the son said. "Sometimes it
saddens me, but I love to watch him."
Clash Of Civilizations
When the Cold War ended, centuries-old religious hatreds returned
to the forefront. 9/11 cemented them to the front burner, likely for
decades to come. There are terrorists in the Muslim world seething
with hatred for all Americans. This war, unlike any other we have
confronted, presents us with an enemy that is everywhere and
nowhere. The media are a key battleground.
It is a war largely without nation-state soldiers in uniforms. To add to
the confusion, our enemy has skillfully blurred the lines between
bloodthirsty murderers and legitimately religious people. Thus, the
pressure for "tolerance" that often fails to distinguish the former from
the latter.
On many fronts, there appear to be concerted efforts to mold the
U.S. media so as to give Americans a view of U.S. foreign policy in
the Middle East that is slanted toward the Muslim side in the great
divides of today's world.
What raises alarm bells, of course, is that this can compromise the
nation's safety and security in the War on Terror. Psychological
warfare has played a big part in conflicts throughout history. Public
opinion plays a major role in a nation's will to make the sacrifices
necessary to achieve victory. In this case, we are talking about
possibly giving an advantage to those who want to kill Americans.
There is already much complacency out there in this war. We do not
need more of it.
The Fox News Connection
Billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, the world's fifth richest man (as
listed by Forbes magazine), now owns 5.46% of the voting shares of
NewsCorp, Rupert Murdoch's media empire that includes Fox News
Channel. The business media—including the Wall Street Journal,
Bloomberg, and the rest—portray this as an act of the Prince's
friendship with Murdoch, and an effort to help the media mogul fight
off a hostile takeover attempt by John Malone's Liberty Media, which
has acquired 18%. That is second only to Murdoch's 30% share.
Fidelity Management and Research comes in third at 5.8%.
To the casual observer, 5.46% may be small change. Not so. There is
potential clout in that 5.46%, especially since it is ostensibly meant
to bail Murdoch out of a jam. Moreover, in most of my years at CBS,
there was never any doubt that the "big boss" was the legendary
William S. Paley. And his stake in what was then the nation's largest
media company (the "Tiffany network") was a mere 8%. The rest
included banks, insurance companies and others whose interests
were not "hands on" and would not challenge Paley's supremacy.
One might say that the Prince's "clout" can be for the good. What if
he is one of the "good guys" of the Arab world? So let's take a look at
his comfort level with our War on Terror.
Insult To America
Following 9/11, at a memorial service, this same Saudi prince
presented then-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani with a check
for $10 million for relief efforts. Everyone was mindful of the fact that
15 out of the 19 terrorist hijackers were Saudis.
Several days later, families of the victims of the murderous attacks
learned there was a catch: Prince al-Waleed issued a statement
saying the attacks were America's fault for its support of Israel. At
which point Mayor Giuliani returned the check and said his city would
not be bribed into accepting the "Blame America First" game.
"There is no moral equivalent for this attack," America's mayor
declared. "The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification
when they slaughtered...innocent people…Not only are those
statements wrong, they are part of the problem."
While denouncing the 9/11 attacks, Prince al-Waleed has castigated
U.S. support for Israel in other venues.
On CBS's "60 Minutes," Prince al-Waleed told Ed Bradley (listed as an
attendee at the UAE conference) that Saudi Arabia was a country with
"no problems." Sure, the country had "these bombs here and there,
but they were all related to a certain subject."
Backlash
That prompted Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy to
remark that the "certain subject" deserves more attention from the
American media, not less." That problem was defined by Gaffney (an
alumnus of the Reagan Pentagon): "The Kingdom is beginning to
experience what its largesse and Wahhabi [radical Islamist] ideology
have visited upon the rest of the world for decades: Islamofascist
terror."
"The Wahhabis are [America's] enemies," former CIA Director James
Woolsey told AIM. "The Wahhabis hate us and everything we stand
for."
He recalled that earlier this year, some 20 Wahhabi clerics,
"including some of the leading clerics in leading positions in the
universities...in Saudi Arabia," issued a "Fatwah" calling on young
Islamic men to go to Iraq, and become suicide bombers. Indeed,
"depending on which numbers you use, something between slightly
over half and around three-quarters of suicide bombers in Iraq are in
fact Saudis," Woolsey told us.
The U.S. complained about it to the Saudi government, "and so a few
weeks after it happened, the Saudi government issued retractions.
But they were sort of interesting in their form," according to the
ex-CIA boss. "Two individuals issued them, and only two—the Saudi
ambassador in London and the Saudi ambassador here in the United
States. And they issued those retractions only in English." In short,
Woolsey says, "those retractions essentially were non-retractions."
For the Arabic-speaking world, "there was no retraction."
Media watchers note that the Murdoch/al-Waleed deal may do more
than merely strengthen Murdoch's defenses against Malone.
NewsCorp owns not only Fox News but also the New York Post and
Boston Herald (two of the very few conservative daily newspapers in
the country), and The Weekly Standard—a ten-year old conservative
magazine.
Corporate Pressure
(continued)
This is background for the the Free Republic thread that I just posted on the Saudi's removal of the "Riot Banner" on Fox.
We no longer have a main news source that is even close to honest news.
post #4087
Abu Qatada, one of the best-known radical Islamic preachers, made an unprecedented televised appeal from prison yesterday for the release of the anti-war activist Norman Kember.
Mr Kember, 74, is being held hostage in Iraq and is threatened with execution.
Abu Qatada Appeal: Abu Qatada awaits extradition -
Abu Qatada, who is accused of providing vital "inspiration" for the September 11 hijackers, is said to have volunteered to intercede on behalf of Mr Kember and three other Christian activists captured on Nov 26 by a group calling itself the Swords of Righteousness.
Speaking in Arabic at Full Sutton prison, near York, the preacher said: "I, your brother Abu Qatada,... beseech my brothers in the Swords of Righteousness in Iraq, who are imprisoning the four Christian peace activists, to release them in accordance with the fundamental principle of mercy of our faith.
"Our prophet said mercy should be shown unless there is a reason in Sharia [Islamic law] that prevents it."
Taking a leaf out of the militants' favourite tactic of sending recorded videos to Arabic satellite television channels, Abu Qatada's lawyers were due to hand his plea to al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya.
In a similar move, Gerhard Schröder, the former German chancellor, recorded an appeal for Iraqi kidnappers to release a German archaeologist and her Iraqi driver.
The hostages from the Christian Peacemaker Team captured with Mr Kember, are the Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and an American, Tom Fox, 54.
(There are several more links and more info at the site)