Sunday, August 27, 2006
Al Jazeera's Lowly Tactics
This morning, I happened to come across a remarkable video clip in Al Jazeera's online Magazine section. The clip was the first of a four-part Fox news investigation on the possible presence of a large Israeli spy-ring operating in the United States prior to 9/11.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAoe26MaTew&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Faljazeera%2Ecom%2F
According to the Fox News report, approximately 60 Israelis have been detained for allegedly accessing classified information from dozens of government agencies such as the DEA and FBI in an effort to track suspected Arab terrorists. Brit Hume, the host of the show, added that "these Israelis may have turned up information on the planned terrorist attacks back in September that was not passed on."
Shortly following the airing of this series in December, 2001, Fox permanently removed the incendiary story from its website. The video lives on today in transcripts found on various hate blogs and Youtube.com.
The decision of Al Jazeera's editorial staff to dredge up a dated 2001 video disowned by the very network that created it and post its link on the front page of its website casts serious doubt on its journalistic integrity. While its anti-Israel agenda has always been a matter of little dispute, this story highlights the great lengths to which Al Jazeera will pursue its aims.
# posted by Jonathan Noble @ 4:33 PM 
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Hmmmm. . . .So FOX runs a story you object to (fair enough -- but you assume the reader knows what was accurate, what was inaccurate, etc.: this reader doesn't, so help him out a bit), but it's Al Jazeera that is most to blame? Needs a bit more information here for me to know whether that's fair or not. And, for our purposes, there is no conventional wisdom. So, stay away from locutions like "its anti-Israel agenda has always been a matter of little dispute," (little dispute among whom?) and, instead, marshall evidence, fairly and honestly, in an effort to identify, measure, and explain what you perceive to be an agenda or bias. Don't just tell the reader about what you perceive to be bias, or rail against it, document it so carefully and thoughtfully that even people who might disagree will be inclined to reconsider their views. That, after all, is the power of REAL deliberation and debate in a democracy.
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