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Monday, 6 Nov 2006
Yesterday I was watching the arab news channels (Al Jazeera, Al Hurra, Al Arabiya and our very own Nile news) looking for the reactions to the Saddam verdict. The coverage went as follows:
Al Jazeera: Amazingly pro-Saddam coverage. Not a single person they interviewed viewed the verdict as a good thing. People on the street in Jordan and Palestine were big on denouncing the verdict, some as feverently as the so called experts that the channel interviewed to comment on the topic. They showed the footage of the 200 people in tikrit who were protesting the verdict, and yet only provided a blurb, with no visuals, of the hundreds of thousands who were taking down the streets in celebration. The most interesting part: A slight subliminal anti-Iranian undertone.
Al Arabiya: Schizophrenic at best. Can't decide what to do: Show Happiness that Saddam got sentenced, Trying to look as if they are not happy for the sake of their viewers, or to try to spin the whole thing as part of their "we hate Iran" campaign. It was pretty funny.
Al Hurra: We hate Saddam and we are oh so very happy he is gonna die central. It was all footage of jubilant kurds and Shia, iraqi politicians publically supporting the verdict and loving every moment of it. The most fun one.
Nile TV: Ran muted footage of the obviously happy and celebrating shia with a subtitle that says: "Iraqis protesting the Saddam death verdict"! I love Nile TV. They don't even try!
November 6th, 2006 at 7:55 pm
LOL! You made my day! Thanks!
November 6th, 2006 at 11:08 pm
It seem the Arab media is taking the verdict better than the American media.
November 7th, 2006 at 5:09 am
Thanks for keeping us informed. I had some inkling that the Arab media are biased, however that it is that blatant I did not know. This calls for the little deskbutting person.
Many thanks again, I’ll just give up now and go and have a beer.
November 7th, 2006 at 6:09 am
Someone has something nice to say about Al-Hurra? I’m surprised.
November 7th, 2006 at 8:55 am
The sentence is not a good thing. Not because he doesn’t deserve to die but because the whole trial was a farce.
Basically they told him during the trial: “You are guilty because you signed death orders that were recommended to you by the tribunal. This tribunal was a farce and therefore you are guilty”
Well, a farce trubinal condemned him to death… what does that make them?