Al Manar Responds to Obama's Plan for Afghanistan

Today, coinciding with Obama’s announcement about his new plan for Afghanistan, Al Manar added a number of opinion pieces highly critical of the United States to its news homepage. These articles are both critical of US involvement in Afghanistan thus far as well as critical of US past actions and treatment of Muslim communities. All of these critical articles are written by Western authors, predominantly American liberals.

Among the new articles is a call to indict Dick Cheney for war crimes by Matthew Rothschild, who is the editor of American political magazine The Progressive as well as an article about Obama’s manipulative control over Afghan President Karzai by Ron Jacobs from the website antiwar.com. Additionally, there is an article by Canadian research institute Global Research detailing how the Western presence in Afghanistan is both failing and expanding, and a piece from the Christian Science Monitor about deteriorating relations between the FBI and American Muslim communities.


As for Al Manar’s own coverage of Obama’s plan for Afghanistan is less notable. The stories provide quotes from Obama as well as American officials and note that the governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan have welcomed Obama’s plan to root out extremists.It is interesting that Al Manar has thus far refrained from criticizing Obama’s strategy regarding Afghanistan but instead allowed proxy communicators to provide critical information. This critical information is not directly addressing Obama’s new plan but instead looks at America’s past efforts in the Middle East, as well as the Bush administration’s legacy of human rights abuses and tensions with Muslims. I believe that the op-ed articles are consistent with Al Manar's spirit of resistence to Western dominance and attempt to cast American presence in the Middle East in a negative light. Al Manar is trying to shape audience response to Obama's plan indirectly by providing the audience with stories reminding readers of American misteps in the Middle East and mistreatment of Muslims on American soil.

Al Jazeera Global Distribution

Today several sites have reported Al Jazeera's global distribution of programming, which includes over 50 hours from Al Jazeera English's documentary strand Witness, the Arabic-language content includes Al Jazeera Documentary Channel's four-part documentary "Arab Christians" and, from the Al Jazeera Satellite Channel, "The PLO" - a 13-part documentary looking at the creation, establishment and existence of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

As the push of Al Jazeera, particularly the English station, for a more global audience continues, specifically in North America, there are several interesting aspects surrounding their initiatives, like the global distribution one above:

1.) The availability of high quality content is always an issue in broadcasting, whether it be news, in-depth investigating, entertainment, etc. In content distribution networks and companies, there is always a HUGE competition for dynamic content because it is often so scarce. In the wake of newspapers crashing, foreign news bureaus, both print and broadcast, being closed left and right, the footage made available by Al Jazeera should logically be in very high demand.

2.) As a "conciliatory media" (el-Nawawy & Powers, 2008), AJ pro-actively promotes a free-flow of ideas, as seen through their Creative Commons Repository. This is where Al Jazeera video footage is free and open for the public to use under special licensing. The concept of a creative commons promotes the theory of an open use of content in order to spur a dynamic flow and layering of new creativity. This approach steps away from the stringent, stifling and prevalent copyright paradigm running rampant in every creative industry today.

Founder of the creative commons, Lawrence Lessig sees Al Jazeera's efforts as, "teaching an important lesson about how free speech gets built and supported. By providing a free resource for the world, the network is encouraging wider debate, and a richer understanding." This seems to align with el-Nawawy and Power's exploration of how Al Jazeera "[opens] new venues for freedom of expression and [provides] a platform for dialogue", making it a broadcaster that is interactive with audiences rather than a one-way stream of information.

So why won't North American cable companies engage in this creative commons?

In a news environment that screams for more and more content, a connection with AJA & AJE seems like a sound business move. Al Jazeera was the only broadcaster in Gaza when it was under siege. And the audience not wanting Al Jazeera English is a fallacy in many respects. From November to January, during the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, the Web audience for Al Jazeera English shot up 22 per cent, 600 per cent when it came to video reports. (Vue Weekly)

So, using this blog to rant a little, my question to the North American broadcasters reading this is:

Why? Why not? Why not open up the airwaves to Al Jazeera?

Al-Bashir Joins the Resistance

Al Manar has continued its coverage of Sudanese President Al-Bashir, reporting on his travels to other African nations as “defiance.”
On March 23rd, Al Manar covered Al-Bashir’s first trip outside of Sudan for a one-day visit to Eritrea. A similar story ran today about Al-Bashir’s trip to Cairo and meeting with Egyptian President Mubarak.

The articles shared a similar format. Both articles first featured quotes from the host nations about the illegitimacy of the ICC indictment. The story about All-Bashir’s visit to Egypt quoted Egypt’s foreign minister who said that many Arab and African states do not support ICC proceedings and that Egypt and Sudan must work together to

“secure the humanitarian situation in Darfur, so as not to allow any foreign party to claim that there is a humanitarian crisis in Darfur."

Similarly, the story on Al-Bashir’s visit to Eritrea featured the following quote from an Eritrean government document:

"The drama being orchestrated by the so-called ICC amply demonstrates the anti-people stance and defamatory conspiracy on the part of external forces. Eritrea sees the decision by the ICC as irresponsible and as an insult to the intelligence of African countries."

The articles then also quoted Sudanese officials who said that Al-Bashir’s ventures outside of Sudan were a deliberate show of defiance and that Al-Bashir would continue to travel to African, Arab and Asian countries. While both articles mention the charges Al-Bashir is facing, neither offers any details which would give the charges any credibility in the eyes of the reader.

Al Manar’s reporting equates Al-Bashir’s travel abroad with acts of defiance. As mentioned previously, I believe the repeated appearance of the word defiance in Al Manar’s coverage of Al-Bashir’s response to his indictment is meant to frame Al-Bashir as someone to be admired for his resistance to Western dominance. This notion of resistance is very important in Al Manar and Hezbollah’s rhetoric and I believe Al Manar is trying to frame Al-Bashir as part of this greater struggle against Western oppression in order to garner sympathy and admiration from its audience.

Report from the front: receiving int'l broadcasting in Stockholm, SE

Sitting in a Best Western hotel room in Stockholm, Sweden, the following int'l broadcasting channels are available on TV: BBC World, CNN, AlJazera English.

Where to put MTV, Discovery, Eurosport, and ESPN America, which are also there?

Let's not forget channel 6, broadcasting American shows in English with no subtitles -- VIP's on at 8:00, and Knight Rider comes on at 8:30.

Where do we draw the line?

Cartoons...on IRINN

It is time for another post about cartoons! I have yet to see cartoons broadcast by IRINN while watching their television broadcast or on their online site. However, after doing some research, I was able to find some old cartoons that IRINN had shown on previous television broadcasts. After viewing many cartoons, it becomes evident that the cartoons are mainly political in nature with a negative take on U.S. foreign policy. Here are two of their cartoons, one titled "Bush is Lying to the World" and the other "Media as Bush Weapon":

Nowrooz on IRINN

Since we have mentioned Nowrooz a few times, I thought I would display some of IRINN's coverage of the holiday. Nowrooz is an ancient Persian pre-Islamic holiday that marks the first day of Spring - or new year, that Iranians across Iran celebrate every year. IRINN marked Nowrooz with a broadcast on television and online.

IRINN's online site had a page dedicated to Nowrooz titled "Spring has come", with pictures of flowers and traditional haft seen's (7 S's) in Iran:

Khamenei Responds to Obama's Nowrooz Overture

The Nowrooz ("New Day") message President Obama directed to Iran for the Persian New Year has not been shown on IRINN or IRIB. Many international broadcasters and outlets are waiting to see whether or not IRIB or IRINN will show Obama's message. It seems that it will not be shown. Instead Iranians in Iran will have to look up the message online or on Persian-language satellite programming from abroad, as The Washington Post reported:

Iranian woman Marzieh Masaebi watches a TV video showing US President Barack Obama's new video message addressed to the Iranian people, and broadcast from the Tapesh Farsi-language satellite TV beamed in from the United States, at her home in Tehran, Iran, Friday, March 20, 2009. Obama released the video to coincide with the major Iranian festival of Nowruz, a 12-day holiday that marks the arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year in Iran. Iran authorities played down Obama's video message saying it welcomed the overtures while warning that decades of mistrust can't easily be erased. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) (Vahid Salemi - AP)

Today, however, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei responded to Obama's message. IRINN reported that thousands of people gathered in Mashaad, Iran today to listen to Khamenei. The Iranian leader said that U.S. policy towards Iran has remained the same as it has been in the last 30 years and "as long as these policies do not change, then Iran will not change its policies." IRIB reported Khamenei as saying: "Has your enmity with the Iranian nation ended? Have you released the Iranian assets or cut the sanctions? Have you quit negative propaganda against Iran? Have you ended your absolute support to the Zionist regime?" 

So far, CNN, BBC, and other sources have reported on the Iranian response, citing the upcoming elections in Iran as an important element effecting rhetoric. 

Leader pardons 905 prisoners

A top story in the Iran section of Press TV the "leader of the Islamic Revolution" Ayatollah Kamenei has pardoned "nearly 1,000" prisoners sentenced by Iranian courts. The story doesn't say much more than that. With the Iranian Presidential election coming up, it will be wise to keep a lookout for stories on Press TV trying to play up good things happening in the country so that conservative incumbent Ahmadinijad gets reelected. This tactic is used in the US as well, such as when gas prices go down around reelection time. Speaking of the Iranian election, a new section can be found on Press TV entitled Iran's Election 2009. Not as catchy as the catch phrases US international broadcasters came up with during the US elections but it looks like Press TV is trying to drawn in more world wide attention to the campaign.

PressTV: Obama scores points with Iran message

In a video released today, President Obama sent a message to Iranians wishing them "Eideh shoma mobarak" or happy Persian new year. Friday marked Nowruz which is the Persian New Year.

"I would like to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nowruz is just one part of your great and celebrated culture. Over many centuries your art, your music, literature and innovation have made the world a better and more beautiful place," he said.

Calling Nowruz a time of 'new beginnings', President Obama charged Iran with a new beginning of its own, revamping the relationship between it and Iran. Obama said his administration was committed to 'diplomacy' with Iran, promising to pursue 'constructive ties' with the Islamic Republic. He mentioned that the US policy 'will not be advanced by threats', insisting Washington seeks 'engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect'.

PressTV's report on the message stated that "Obama's direct message to Iran, however, reverberated with the rhetoric of the Bush era." Citing Obamas statement;

"You too have a choice. The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right -- but it comes with real responsibilities, and that place cannot be reached through terror or arms, but rather through peaceful actions that demonstrate the true greatness of the Iranian people and civilization."

According to Press TV, "Iranian officials say they welcome the idea of talks based on 'mutual respect', urging a 'real' shift of policy in the US administration and not a change in tactics." Then the story mentions that "last week, President Obama extended for another year sanctions imposed against Iran under Bill Clinton in 1995."

Another front page story announces that Obama's remarks are "a significant departure from the tone of the previous administration, were well-received around the globe."

"European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he hoped the Obama initiative would "open a new chapter in relations with Iran." France and Germany both welcomed the offer of an olive branch.
'We have been waiting for years for the Americans to re-engage in the Iranian issue,' French President Nicolas Sarkozy said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the message 'reflects exactly the message the Europeans have been trying to send to Iran. 'Russia also welcomed Obama's decision to renew dialogue with Tehran. "

"Although Iranian leaders are yet to respond to the message, an aide to President Ahmadinejad welcomed 'the wish of the president of the United States to put away the past differences. If Mr. Obama takes concrete action and makes fundamental changes in US foreign policy towards other nations, including Iran, the Iranian government and people won't turn their back on him,' Ali-Akbar Javanfekr told Press TV."

Iran Unblocks Facebook and YouTube

Iran blocked the popular social networking site, Facebook in 2006, saying it was "illegal." They also blocked YouTube. But in February, Tehran unblocked both sites. Since then, the site’s Iranian membership has been growing making Facebook is the 10th most popular website in Iran.

28 year-old Hashemi, a member of Iran’s largest pro-reform student group, Daftar Tahkim Vahdat, which is a regular target of pressure from the state, says this has opened new avenues for discussion of human rights and other political passions.

"Given the fact that I’m a political and social activist, I’m also attracted to human rights issues when I’m on Facebook," Hashemi says. "I join causes that support human rights and democracy, or those that protest against human rights violations in Iran."

Iran is known for banning dissenting media.The international media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders, states that Iran has the highest number of journalists in jail in the entire Middle East.

"Iranian officials have offered no explanation for why they decided to restore access to Facebook -- or why they moved to block it in the first place. Christophe Ginisty is the president of the French group Internet Without Borders, which promotes freedom of expression online. He says some governments with a history of Internet censorship choose to open some sites not to improve their image, but to gain a surreptitious toehold in an online community frequented by political opponents and activists. "During election periods, as in the case of Iran, it allows the government to give the impression that it is offering more freedom," Ginisty says. "But that’s absolutely not what’s happening, because the first thing that happens following an opening is that filters and controls are established. It means that they reopen Facebook when they have the possibility to put people in place who can control it. Hadi Nili is a Tehran-based journalist who specializes in social and information technology issues. The Iranian government may have opted to unblock Facebook as a way to better monitor the actions of journalists, who have flocked to Facebook in droves. Nili also speculates that the unblocking of Facebook and YouTube could be a way for the government to win the support of young voters ahead of presidential elections in June."

I found out about this via a EurasiaNet. org article. It has not been reported by PressTV. I think it is safe to say that this won't be a permanent thing.

Iran's Top Story is John Stewart

Millions of Americans watched the The Daily Show's Jon Stewart's showdown with CNBC's Jim Cramer but apparently Iran was tuning in as well... or at least the PressTV foreign corespondents. One of the Press TV top stories was reporting just that.

In a series of pointed verbal barbs, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart's funnyman has taken Cramer and his cable network employer, CNBC, to task by claiming they were "in bed" with Wall Street executives and former government officials.

"I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a fu**ing game," Stewart said during a recorded interview, segments of which aired on Thursday night.

During the face-off with Stewart, however, Cramer appeared contrite.

Stewart accused analysts -- including Cramer -- of betraying average people who trusted financial advisors and poured money into market-oriented accounts for the long term only to lose their money and allow Wall Street to use those savings to generate short-term profits.

If you missed the episode, feel free to watch it here. I wonder why they didn't pick up the story on the Colbert Report, which comes on right after, about Iranian New Year, and Ahmadinijad's involuntary endorsement of American-Jewish products.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Mahmoud's Non-Consensual Endorsement Deal

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

Russia Today Round Up - March 12, 2009

More headlines from RT.  Trend?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Same as before, click on the date for story/video.

(3.12) It's time to shut down U.S. bases abroad

(3.12) One in fifty U.S. children are homeless

(3.12) Obama is pushing U.S. economy downhill

(3.12) 'American syndrome' hits Europe (about recent school shootings in Germany)

RT also hosts a collection of blogs.  Here is a  recent post from a RT blog entitled Untimely Thoughts:

(3.13) The curious case of Hilary's button.  Peter Lavelle writes,

It seems to me that the new administration in Washington still doesn't see Russia to be all that important - it is deemed as a problematic country only to be dealt with. But all the same there is the recognition that not much can be done on many global issues without Russia's engagement and help. Viewed from the Potomac, Russia remains a bridesmaid. This is a huge mistake inherited not from the George Bush administration - look further back to Bill Clinton's time in office to understand this. I must admit I remain sceptical. I have no doubt there was an obvious and embarrassing translation error made when Clinton gave the button to Lavrov. But I can't but help sense that the same tried and failed policies toward Russia remain in play. The "reload" translation is somehow not serendipity. For almost 20 years, Republican, Democratic, Republican - and now again Democratic administrations have continued the same ritual.

Online coverage pushes AJE to the top

In an article yesterday on Foreign Policy in Focus, John Feffer discusses the heated 'war online' between Israeli and Palestinian bloggers, commenters, YouTubers and hackers. Accounting for all different sides, one of the most interesting observations is the overwhelming popularity of Al Jazeera English's online viewership.

"Al Jazeera benefited most from the large audience drawn from Twitter links and Facebook
groups. The Qatar-based network reported a 600% hike in hits from its online video stream
during the fighting. Al Jazeera's English station, while unavailable to most cable subscribers
in the U.S., drew significantly more viewers through the internet: in January, visitors to
YouTube watched more clips from Al Jazeera English than from any other English news
station."

Despite the fact that it still may not be carried on North American cable or satellite, with the amount of coverage of Middle Eastern affairs, particularly the Israeli-Palestine conflict, Al Jazeera English's online presence may be the only thing necessary to catapult it to number one.

Russia Today Round Up - March 11, 2008

There is a trend to recent RT headlines.  I'll let you decide what narrative their editors are trying to weave.  

Note: Click on dates for articles/videos.

• (3.11) U.S. saying one thing, doing another
• (3.11) From Guantanamo inmate, to Taliban militant leader 
• (3.10) After 9/11, Russia helped the U.S. more than any other country.
• (3.10) Russia has no imperial ambitions
• (3.09) The collapse of America is unavoidable
• (3.04) Some Americans still stuck with Cold War mentality

Just for fun:

• (3.10) Reindeer industry braces for downturn as export orders slump

Hollywood Delegation in Iran, Part Deux!

Here is a report by CNN on the Hollywood delegations visit to Iran, the first of its kind since the Revolution in 1979. It mentions the two Iranian government officials asking for an apology for certain Hollywood films in an interview with delegation member Sidney Ganis - President of the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences. Once again, even though television broadcasters IRINN and IRIB failed to mention this delegation or the request for an apology, four online Iranian news sources have reported on it so far: Tehran Times, ISNA, Ayand News, and Press TV.  Perhaps it speaks to distinctive agendas for state news on television vs. online.

"Media and the Economy" Conference in Iran

The third conference on "Media and the Economy" was held in Tehran, Iran on Monday. It was a one day conference attended by President Ahmadinejad and Mr. Zargami, the head of Iran's state media. IRINN reported that Mr. Zargami said that the country is at a very sensitive historical turning point, where certain lagging sectors of the economy need to be strengthened in order to move towards a bigger economy. Interestingly, Mr. Zargami also said that this approach was supported by the Leader of the Revolution (Khameinei).

The overall message of the conference was that political and side issues should not be brought to the table when discussing the economy.  And that the focus needs to be on the economy alone and this is a responsibility experts and of the media. The media should talk about the ideas and opinions of experts, to be supportive and bring attention to the lagging sectors of the economy.

This conference was not mentioned by other broadcasters outside Iran, except for China View:

"At a seminar on media and economy, Ahmadinejad said he believed Iranian scientists possess the capability to do so and called on them to start working on a global economic models based on ethical and humanitarian values. 

'The Iranian scientists would focus on schemes leading to elimination of poverty,' Ahmadinejad 

said, hoping that 'Iranian scientists would embark on the task the soonest possible.' 

Ahmadinejad's statements come amid the domestic concerns over the steady rise of the country's inflation since he took office in summer 2005."

The Peregruzka Gaffe

From RT:

Before their two-hour meeting on Friday, things got off to a rather comical start as Clinton handed her Russian counterpart a small gift box that was wrapped up in green paper and a green ribbon. With the reporters looking on in suspense, Lavrov unwrapped the gift and produced a red reset button fixed to a bright yellow box, symbolic of Vice President Joe Biden’s memorable pledge to “hit the reset button” on US relations with Russia. But there was one small glitch.  

Unfortunately, the American side had attached the word “peregruzka” on the makeshift device as the Russian translation for the word reset. Lavrov could not resist a lighthearted remark on the oversight. “You’ve got it wrong,” Lavrov commented with a smile. He then explained that the words the Americans chose –“peregruzka” meant “overloaded” as opposed to “reset” (The correct choice of word should have been ‘perezagruzka’). But the Russian minister nevertheless thanked Clinton for the warm intentions. 

Hat tip to the The Cable who picked up on this earlier today.

Chavez invites Obama to 'path of socialism'

Press TV reports that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called upon the US President Barack Obama to follow the path to socialism, which he termed as "the only way."

The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez

"Come with us, align yourself, come with us on the road to socialism. This is the only path. Imagine a socialist revolution in the United States," Chavez told a group of workers in the southern Venezuelan state of Bolivar on Friday.

This is just one of many stories PressTV publishes about Chavez, devoting an entire section of news to Venezuela. Not surprising as Iran sees Chavez as an ally in the region.

"That murderous, genocidal empire has to end, and some day there has to come a leader ... who interprets the best of a people who also include human beings who suffer, endure, weep and laugh," the outspoken Chavez said.

One Cartoon Deserves Another

Like Al Manar, Telesur runs political cartoons on its website regularly. Lately there’s been a running theme about a kind of villainous capitalist, poisoning the world economy through greed and corruption. Generally, the ‘villain’ is heavyset, dressed in black and, in the most recent cartoon (left) he’s got a big nose and sharp fangs. The caption reads “This one is mine” and shows the cigar-chomping capitalist cutting down ‘wages’- the branch he’s sitting on- not realizing apparently that he’s gonna go down with it.

Mossad linked to 9/11 attacks

According to a recent Press TV article, there is new "proof" that Israel's Mossad was linked to the September 11th attacks on the US. In citing American Free Press, Press TV reports that the cousin of alleged 9/11 hijacker Ziad al-Jarrah was in fact working as a longtime Mossad agent, which according to Press TV "is proof that Israel had a hand in the terror attacks on US soil."

"Al-Jarrah reportedly admitted that he had been conducting covert espionage activities against Palestinian groups and the Lebanese Hezbollah since 1983."

"Israeli connections to 9/11, according to the New York Times, can be traced back to the five 'dancing Israelis' who were witnessed jumping and high-fiving with shouts of 'joy and mockery' as Flight 11 and Flight 175 slammed into the World Trade Center in New York."

I couldn't find such an article that talked about these "joyous Jews" but did find an NYT article from Sept. 13th that said the following;

The New York Times reported Thursday that a group of five men had set up video cameras aimed at the Twin Towers prior to the attack on Tuesday, and were seen congratulating one another afterwards.

I did, however, find a Harretz article to corroborated this claim. The Press TV article went on to say;

All the [intelligence services] of America and Europe ... now know well that the disastrous attack has been planned by the CIA and the Mossad in order to put under accusation the Arabic countries and in order to induce the western powers to take part ... in Iraq [and] Afghanistan," the Italian ex-premier was quoted by Corriere della Sera as saying.

"Jewish personnel working at the center were reportedly advised to skip work on September 11, 2001." (Press TV)

His argument was further strengthened by leaked reports that employees of Israeli telecom firm Odigo -- which provides instant messaging services -- received a warning two hours before the attacks on the World Trade Towers and forewarned Jews to stay away from work that day.

Accepting the fact that the CIA and Israel was behind the Sept. 11th attacks on the U.S. may seem like a far fetched idea to many westerners, but apparently this is not an uncommon belief in the Arab world. A recent study conducted by World Public Opinion.org demonstrates the prominence of this idea. In this study, respondents in Arab countries were asked “Who do you think was behind the 9/11 attacks?” and responded in open-ended fashion, without options being provided. The second most frequent answer was that the US government was behind the attacks: Turkey (36%), followed by the Palestinian territories (27%), Jordan (17%), Egypt (13%), Indonesia (11%) and Azerbaijan (5%). And the third most common answer was Israel, cited by Jordanians (31%), Palestinians (19%), Egyptians (17%), and small numbers of Azerbaijanis (6%), Pakistanis (4%), Indonesians (3%), and Turks (3%).

Among seven nations, only in Azerbaijan did the majority of respondents name al Qaeda or "Islamic extremists or militants" and many respondents did not give an answer to this question.

The Case of the Disappearing Cartoon

In an earlier post, I reviewed Al Manar’s online gallery of political cartoons. The cartoons express Hezbollah's political stance and some embody Hezbollah's criticisms of Israel and Western-dominated organizations such as the UN. The cartoon on the left appeared several days ago in the Caricature gallery and is the most emotionally charged image I have come across in the archives of political cartoons. Within hours of coming to my attention, the cartoon was taken down and replaced with the cartoon below, clearly a less dramatic criticism of Israel. Yesterday, however, the cartoon reappeared. I think it is noteworthy that Al Manar decided to remove such a powerfully suggestive image and then reversed its decision and re-released the cartoon later in the week.









While I am not in a position to understand the editorial decisions being made at almanar.com.lb, I noticed that the reappearance of the cartoon coincides with a new article about a U.S. army document that describes Israel as a nuclear power. The article has an ominous tone and reports that

“Israel is believed to be the sole nuclear entity in the Middle East with more than 200 nuclear warheads already in possession.”

Al Manar: Rallying Public Support for Al-Bashir

Over the weekend, the ICC warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir continued to garner the most attention and audience involvement on alManar.com.lb. Four out of the five most commented stories are related to the ICC warrant and Al-Manar’s coverage continues to support Hezbollah’s rejection of the ICC proceedings against al-Bashir and is very similar to coverage on Iranian state-sponsored network IRINN.

An article on March 6th which detailed Al-Bashir’s intentions to travel to Darfur this week said that the Sudanese President “vowed to press ahead with peace efforts in Darfur despite the international arrest warrant against him,” implying that the ICC prosecution was hindering the peace process. The article also reported that the African Union is planning to send a delegation to the UN to “try to halt the warrant to give a chance for peace in Sudan.” While the articles do not take the additional step of directly saying that the ICC prosecution is intended to hurt the Sudanese peace process, quotes from al-Bashir fill in the gap. Al-Manar quotes al-Bashir who refers to ICC prosecution as a “neo-colonial plot” and says

“If someone wants to fight us, then they should not come with resolutions from the United Nations Security Council or the ICC. They have to come to our land to fight us themselves."


The article also detailed Sudanese protests of the ICC warrant where Sudanese nationals burnt American flags and stomped on photos of ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo attempting to illustrate that Sudanese popular will is supportive of al-Bashir.

There were several articles covering Al-Bashir’s visit to Darfur, which was repeatedly referred to as a “act of defiance.” I believe that this expression is meant to resonate with readers who admire organizations and individuals who are seen as standing up to America. The tone of audience comments was supportive of Al-Bashir and skeptical of the motivations of the ICC, which is seen as a tool of the West. For instance, an audience member from Trinidad and Tobago posted the following comment.

“It does not mater how far one goes to appease the White Man, he forever thinks that his station here on earth is god-like and we are all bound to his self anointed authority. Africa and the Middle East must come together and establish an impregnable block that no Authority or foreign entity shan't penetrate or influence.”

Rather then serving a news function and informing its audience about unfolding events in Sudan, Al Manar is seeking to color its coverage to rally its audience to support Hezbollah's stance of supporting Sudanese President Al-Bashir.

Another Big Step - NRK Offers Torrents

From BoingBoing (emphasis added), 

Eirikso from NRK, the Norwegian public broadcast, writes to tell us that they've set up their own BitTorrent tracker, adding, "The tracker is based on the same OpenTracker software that the Pirate Bay has been using for the last couple of years. By using BitTorrent we can reach our audience with full quality, unencrypted media files. Experience from our early tests show that if we're the best provider of our own content we also gain control of it."

Remember Shawn's post about Al Jazeera going Creative Commons with their video footage from Gaza?  AJ's decision was a transformative moment in broadcasting that no one seemed to notice.  While I don't think what NRK did is as momentous, it is still a fascinating move.  It will be interesting to see if a non public IB follows suit and allows for the free download of their footage. At what point does control over content outweigh the potential loss of profits?

Al-Jazeera's Gaza Bureau Under Attack

From the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, via Ma'an News:

"At approximately 8pm Saturday a news producer at Al-Jazeera in Gaza City, received a phone call from an unidentified person who informed him that an explosive device had been planted near the door of the office and was going to be detonated. De facto government police were successfully able to diffuse the explosives, which were attached to a note demanding the news agency quit its operations in the Gaza Strip. The Al-Jazeera office is on the eleventh floor of the al-Jalaa' Building in the center of Gaza City and was full of employees at the time the threat."

Who is responsible? The note attached to the package read: "To those with unfair media consciences, if you think of a solution it will be well-known. Leave immediately. The statement was signed by persons identifying themselves as 'Ghosts of Samih Al-Madhoun.'"

Who exactly are the Ghosts of Samih Al-Madhoun? Well, in June 2007 Fatah Leader Samih al-Madhoun, who had previously pledged to kill all members of the Islamist movement Hamas was allegedly captured in Gaza, dragged into the streets by Hamas, shot six times in the chest, and then dragged through a refugee camp, all while be filmed by Al-Aqsa. I'm guessing that the "Ghosts" are what's left of Samih's entourage. And they, apparently, are not happy with the way Al-Jazeera is covering events in Gaza.

Happy that no one was hurt.

It's the Economy, Stupid

Under the headline, “Chavez Blames U.S. for Economic Crisis,” Telesur ran a story yesterday with a sharp critique from the Venezuelan president about the “greed, speculation, and immorality” of the capitalist system responsible for the global economic crisis. Chavez also made highly questionable claims about Venezuela’s supposed insulation from the economic crisis so far, and justified the government’s take-over of a Cargill rice plant this week, saying the government would insure that employers abide by the Venezuelan constitution.

Chavez claimed, “The crisis hasn’t touched us yet, in Venezuela we haven’t felt it, but this continues to move on in the world, and it will ultimately effect us too if the crisis continues to deepen, because we’re interconnected with the international community.”

Considering the tumbling prices of oil which both preceded and have been accelerated by the global economic crisis, it’s hard to believe Venezuela hasn’t been touched by the downturn. Chavez assured citizens that social spending and public works projects would continue uninterrupted, and boasted that while jobs were being lost in the U.S. he had just signed a law protecting jobs in Venezuela because, “government’s responsibility is to protect workers.”

Chavez’ comments are especially interesting considering a Bloomberg story from yesterday about the Cargill rice plant situation- according to Bloomberg, Venezuela has the highest inflation in Latin America and food and beverage prices have risen 40% just since last February. “Private investment and manufacturing have slowed in Venezuela and the private sector had zero growth in 2008...Morgan Stanley predicts the Venezuelan economy will contract 1 percent in 2009.” Sounds like Venezuela has been touched by the global downturn just like the rest of the world.

Best in Show?

From Joshua Keating on FP Passport:

If Russia Today is to be believed, out of 12,000 dogs competing at the recent Eurasia-2009 dog show in Moscow, President Dmitry Medvedev's three dogs just happened to all win top prizes . . . The judges are just lucky Putin's dogs Koni and Tosya weren't competing. Awkward.

Awkward indeed.  Dog shows are where democracy goes to die.  Here is the RT clip covering Medvedev's victory.  Stay tuned for posting about Secretary of State Clinton's meeting with Lavrov and US/Russian cooperation on Iranian proliferation.

IRINN Coverage of Sudan

IRINN indeed has an English news segment. The English segment comes after the Persian news program has concluded. Among the news covered on the English broadcast (as well as the Persian broadcast) was the arrest warrant issued for Sudanse President Omar al-Bashir. 

The coverage by IRINN of Sudan was titled "Thousands rally in support of al-Bashir in Khartoum", alongside images and video from the protests. Furthermore, Iranian Foreign Minister Motaki met with Sudanese Parliament speaker in Tehran and said the prosecution of al-Bashir was wrong. Motaki said that Iran and Sudan have firm bilateral ties based on mutual interest. 

Coverage then again went to the protests in Sudan and a speech by al-Bashir condemning the warrant and agencies such as the UN Security Council, the International Monetary Fund, and the International Criminal Court as being neo-colonialist.

This coverage was lacking in reporting, as there was no coverage of those who oppose al-Bashir, particularly those Sudanse from that were affected by the years of fighting with Khartoum - such as Darfur, both the east or the south. 

Competition for Russia Today

From RussiaProfile.org Kim Andrew Elliott:

New Russian radio stations could compete with international stations. "Billionaire Alexander Lebedev announced his intention to set up two new Russian radio stations – one of which would broadcast in English. They would offer talk-based, 'public-service' style programs and be self consciously uninterested in chasing a profit. ... Lebedev’s comments (and they are so far little more than that—his press service declined to comment on the remarks) come months after the BBC Russian service came under fire from British Russia watchers for scaling back its broadcasts in favor of its Internet service. Is it possible that this new station could represent a resurgence of public service broadcasting? It will enter a market already dominated by Radio Svoboda [RFE/RL, on medium wave in Moscow], funded by the U.S. Congress, and Echo of Moscow, the outspoken opposition station that is funded by advertising, but is majority owned by Gazprom. ... But could it compete with Echo of Moscow or Radio Svoboda, the two analytical stations that tend to compete for the audience that is Moscow’s intelligentsia?" Roland Oliphant, RussiaProfile.org, 4 March 2009. Posted: 05 Mar 2009

Some initial thoughts:

• Russia Today is not even mentioned as a possible competitor in the heavily-saturated Russian market.
• Lebedev is an interesting character.  The Guardian describes him as "clearly a member of Russia's establishment [but] Lebedev has used his wealth to fashion a career as an independent political actor." 
• Will this new IB be broadcast in America, the U.K.?  

I look forward to watching RT ignore this story.  Prove me wrong.

Iran 'safe and sound for world tourists'... and their money

Apparently Press TV is being used to gain tourism investors for the country. In typical international broadcasting, public diplomacy fashion, Iran opens its arms to tourism investors by posting a slew of tourism related stories in order to let people know that Iran is safe and sound for world tourists'... and their money.

“Besides the financial revenue stemming from the industry, tourism can fundamentally change the perspective of humankind from a tribal to a global view," says Iran's president.

The deputy head of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization announced that Iran is one of the most secure places in the world for tourists.

"Unfortunately, the Western media publishes negative propaganda against Iran and works to present an untrue image of the country," said Hamid Baqaei.

He called on tourists to travel to Iran so that they may "personally witness the level of security."

What caught my eye, was a story about the number of South Koreans applying for tourist visas to Iran has quadrupled following The Glory of Persia traveling exhibit in Seoul. Another story stated that Iran experienced a 100-percent growth in foreign tourist arrivals until 2007.
It seems that at least Iran's cultural diplomacy is working.

Hollywood Delegation in Iran

                                                                                                                              

It seems that IRINN has failed to mention the visiting delegation of Hollywood actors and movie industry officials. This is even after an art advisor to Iranian Presdient Ahmadinejad spoke out about the delegation and requested an apology for films insulting to Iranians. After watching for any announcement of the visit or the request for an apology on IRINN, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that it will not be covered. A sad realization for a student of public diplomacy.

According to an AP article, "An adviser to Iran's presdient on Sunday demanded an apology from a teacm of visiting Hollywood actors and movie industry officals, incuding Annette Bening, saying films such as '300' and 'The Wrestler' were 'insulting' to Iranians. Without an apology, members of Iran's film industry should refuse to meet with representatives from the nine-member team, said Javad Shamaqdari, the art and cinema advisor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad." 

The article goes on to say: "Most ordinary Iranians were not aware of the visit since state radio and television did not widely report it. But those who had heard said they hoped it would improve relations between the two countries. 'The two countries have tried to wrestle in many ways,' said Mahrokh Razani, a self-described movie fan who said he found out about the trip on the Internet. 'I hope they can have better ties through movies.'" 

I think that the lack of coverage by IRINN displays the clear state line that the broadcaster walks. It is interesting, though, that the Iranian film industry and Hollywood delegation have met and carried on their meetings and seminars - even when Shamaqdari (art and cinema advisor to Ahmadinejad) said there should be an apology and and a refusal to meet. It reveals the inner complexities within Iran, such as the divergences between Iranians themselves and government rhetoric.

Furthermore, an interesting report on the "Iranian art boom" was recently shown on CNN on February 27, 2009 that discusses what's really going on in Iran's art scene: 

France 24: a left-wing breed of fair and balanced?

I’m wondering if France 24 is trying to invent an altermondialist version of Rupert Murdoch’s creed. Today’s edition of The Debate was quite instructive. The topic of the show was “trade unions asking for more concessions.”

http://www.france24.com/en/20090305-politics-the-influence-of-trade-unions

But it wasn’t quite a “debate.” The two guests who were physically present on the set were a representative of the Trotskyite union Force Ouvrière, and a representative of the altermondialist group Attac. Meanwhile, the guest appearing via satellite was a representative of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions movement. As a result, the “debate” that took place was as balanced as a Bill O’Reilly monologue (granted, with less yelling). Based on this showing, France 24 can rebuke any allegation of being President Sarkozy’s carpet.

On a side note, a very striking feature of this show was the relatively high level of English-speaking skills displayed by the French Trotskyite union representative, Didier Hotte. Very surprising, and very refreshing, especially given the respective English-speaking skills of President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Francois Fillon, opposition leader Francois Bayrou, not mentioning former foreign affairs minister Philippe Douste-Blazy, who could not produce an English sentence.

Sarkozy en anglais



Bayrou en anglais



Fillon en Anglais

Al Manar Follows Hezbollah's Lead

The biggest story for the past two days on Al Manar’s website has been the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue a warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir. Al Manar’s online coverage of ICC proceedings against Al-Bashir has changed remarkably since Hezbollah came out publicly condemning the ICC decision.

On March 3rd, in anticipation of the ICC warrant, Al Manar covered ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s statements on his strong case against Al-Bashir. The story, entitled “ICC Has 'Strong Evidence' against Sudan's Beshir: Prosecutor,” covered both Ocampo’s statements and Al-Bashir’s reaction, as well as a concluding remark about the death toll in Darfur and a quote from Desmond Tutu where he says it is shameful how many African leaders are supportive of Al-Bashir. The report also refers to the protests staged in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum as “an apparent show of support for the president who seized power in a coup.” This article appears fairly even-handed, with slight tones of support for the ICC.


On March 4th, the day the warrant was issued, there was a lengthy story at the top of the news homepage, “ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Beshir; Sudan Dismisses Move,” which explained the situation and provided a wide range of perspectives, including the African Union, the Sudanese government, the ICC, and human rights groups. While the story gave more coverage to viewpoints dismissive of the ICC decision, it did expose readers to viewpoints supportive of the ICC.


However, today, Hezbollah has taken a stance and declared itself strongly opposed to the ICC proceedings against Al-Bashir, so Al Manar’s online coverage has changed to reflect Hezbollah’s viewpoint. The top story today was entitled “Hezbollah Denounces Arrest Warrant Against Beshir” and the story detailed Hezbollah’s vehement denouncement of the ICC decision, which Hezbollah feels is

“an obvious suspicious attempt to blow up the situation in the province and to threaten Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity through the promotion of separatism."

The story only offered Hezbollah’s viewpoint and provided multiple reasons why the ICC proceedings are illegitimate, by drawing into bigger themes such as distrust of the U.S. and Israel.

Additionally, the second most prominent story today was also a rejection of the ICC warrant for Al-Bashir, entitled “Arrest Warrant Draws Global Scorn, Beshir Joins Mass Rally,” details all of the nations and organizations opposed to ICC proceedings and concludes that the legal basis for the ICC proceedings are undeveloped. The article implies that the rejection of the ICC decision is common among Arab leaders and is part of a show of Arab unity with Sudan’s Arab President and is trying to gain legitimacy for the cause it is championing by showing the array of voices both in the Arab world as well as outside of it who share Hezbollah’s perspective.