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Which Truth?

Entry 130, on 2005-02-14 at 13:54:40 (Rating 1, Politics)

I listened to an interview this morning with Hugh Miles, a journalist who has recently written a book about the Arab news service, Aljazeera. I have accessed the English version of the Aljazeera web site many times since the war in Iraq started, and its an excellent source of information because it is free from the pro-US bias of most western services, and also doesn't censor the less pleasant news like organisations such as CNN do.

I'm not saying Aljazeera is unbiased, but I think its less biased than most western sources. Its actually financed by the leader of Qatar, who is quite pro-Western, but it also has links with Arab organisations, including al Qaeda. It doesn't support terrorist organisations, but it does receive information from them that no one else does.

Many aspects of war are unpleasant and its hard to know where to draw the line between reporting the facts and showing gratuitous images of death and destruction. Western organisations have tended to sanitise their reporting (often as a result of political pressure from the American and british governments) by leaving out pictures of dead Americans and maimed children resulting from US bombing. But Aljazeera is a place you can see the reality - and its not pretty.

Aljazeera are in the process of setting up an English language service worldwide, including America and Europe. Needless to say, the coalition is not happy about this. Donald Rumsfeld has accused them of cooperating with extremists, but there is no evidence that this is actually true. the Americans will be very afraid of graphic images of their soldiers suffering and dying in Iraq of course, so the Bush administration will hinder Aljazeera as much as possible.

At this point you might be wondering which part of the world really represents truth and freedom, and which represents repression and censorship. I think its clear that America is heading down the path of lies and deceit. The western media are censored and controlled too much by their governments - and this even includes the better services, such as the BBC. Its just as well there is the opportunity to get some balance from alternatives like Aljazeera (even if only the English web site is available at the moment).

Link at: http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage

Comment 1 (10) by A on 2005-02-15 at 23:31:31: You're right. Agree with that.

Comment 2 (12) by Anonymous on 2005-02-17 at 12:07:21:

What do you mean? Don't you think aljazeera is biased as well?

Comment 3 (13) by OJB on 2005-02-17 at 13:23:01:

Yes, I'm sure they are, but maybe not to the same extent as western media (because of government control). Also, even if they are biased, its important to get information with a *different* bias from western media.

Comment 4 (14) by TheMonkeysUncle on 2005-02-17 at 15:36:58:

Jack Nicholson's character in A Few Good Men said 'You can't handle the truth!' - something that applies on a much wider context. Truth is highly subjective. If I hit someone in the face, he (or she - let's not be sexist - but I'll stick to he because its shorter to type) knows I hit him. I know I hit him. Someone 20 metres away might know I hit him. Someone 50 metres away may have some idea something happened and someone 5 km away will have no idea.

We see the world through a myriad of filters - those imposed by the journalist, the editor, the program director, shock! horror! even the government. There is no easy way to ensure that what we see and hear, particularly with regards to those of us down the nether regions of the world, is true.

Having a diverse range of media organisations is IMHO the most convenient way to tackle this issue. Contrary views and opinions sometimes help to uncover the truth. Of course, they may help obfuscate at times as well. Perhaps the choice is between blissful ignorance and confused enlightenment. Okay - that's a generalisation but hopefully you get my drift.

The downside is that more debate can fuel greater divisions. It is incredible to read the amount of spite that gets posted in various blogs by political opponents. It is often unpleasant to read but perhaps that is the price we have to pay for 'freedom'. It's funny that one does often hear that quote about not agreeing with someone's view but defending to the death their right to give it.

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