At Least Its Not Janet

Ghostdog

From the Associated Press

Cairo, Egypt – Even before its first broadcast, a satellite television station financed by the U.S. government and directed at Arab viewers is drawing fire in the Middle East as an American attempt to destroy Islamic values and brainwash the young.

Al-Hurra, or The Free One, is to start broadcasting Saturday. President Bush has promised the news station, which will build up to 24-hour programming within a month, will “cut through the hateful propaganda that fills the airwaves in the Muslim world.”

It already has landed a one-on-one interview with Bush. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has said the interview allows Bush to tell of “his commitment to spreading freedom and democracy in the Middle East.”
The Bush administration’s hope is that a fashionably produced Arab-language station will help stem anti-Americanism fueled by the war on terrorism, the occupation of Iraq and U.S. support for Israel. (See full story)

Related Posts

Australian Soccer and the Hijab

I saw this article on the BBC website and figured this would make a good first posting. Now really what the hell was the referee thinking by stopping a women playing soccer because she was wearing a headscarf! Was the referee scared she might not see the ball! Thank goodness that her team mates and the team she was playing realised how ridiculous the referee was and supported the player. I’d love her to take the case to court and see how the referee tries to make an arguement that his/her actions were not discriminatory. I also have a problem…

British Elections and Muslims [update][4x]

I just saw this piece over at TPM. I don’t know enough about “Gorgeous George” to make a detailed comment yet. However, at least superficially, the argument makes sense. There is a potential for anti-Muslim backlash. [update]: More from the Exiled Afrikan. [update 2]: ThaBit weighs in, as does Crooked Timber. Follow the trackback as well. [update 3]: Apparently the stupidity regarding Muslims has begun. [update 4]: Galloway is now officially included in the oil-for-food debacle. Muslims as a fifth-column rhetoric should begin soon. Technorati Tags: George Galloway

I’d Rather Go Back to Yemen than Face NYPD | Religion Dispatches

I’d Rather Go Back to Yemen than Face NYPD | Religion Dispatches. A coalition of civil rights organizations just released “Mapping Muslims: NYPD Spying and its Impact on American Muslims” which pulls together what we know of the NYPD surveillance of Muslim communities throughout the Northeast, places the surveillance in a legal context, and more importantly, interviews Muslims to understand the real world impact of the surveillance.

4 thoughts on “At Least Its Not Janet”

  2. i wonder why we have to put money into a new news outlet. isn’t this doing what the network and cable news stations have been doing for the last three years?

  4. Persistent link to AP story:
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3741026,00.html
    Is state-controlled propaganda Bush style different than state-controlled propaganda Mubarak style? 🙂
    I think that the idea of the US putting its message out like this has to be detrimental. I would think not arresting and/or killing Arab reporters would be a much idea to promoting open journalism in the Arab world. The war of propagandas is not the same as the marketplace of ideas. To really butcher Mill, we are simply putting up more sacred cows.
    I would rather we set-up exchange programs for journalism schools, and work with educational institutions to bring about a generational change. Paolo Freire anyone?

Comments are closed.