The world, it seems, is watching two different wars. On Al Jazeera and Arab-language television, there is a war with pictures of Iraqi children, frightened American prisoners, bodies of dead soldiers, ferocious bombs exploding over Baghdad. With the exception of showcasing those big bomb pictures, most of the major American networks are covering the war through the eyes of embedded journalists reporting on the movements, morale and technical superiority of U.S. troops. Each view is incomplete. It’s impossible ever to be completely unbiased. But this sharp division of images is adding to the deep rift between the United States and the Arab world.
Guests:
Gebran Tueni, Editor of An-Nahar newspaper, Beirut, Lebanon
Mohammed el-Nawawy, co-author, “Al Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East”
Anthony Shadid, Washington Post reporter, now in Baghdad
Khaled Al-Maeena, editor, Arab News, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Barbara Plett, BBC reporter, in Gaza.