by Natasha Tynes | Feb 27, 2006 | Media watch
I always get a kick out of Alarabiya.net’s picture choices. I blogged once about how the photo editor (or whoever) at Alarabiya had selected a picture of a Halloween party to illustrate an article discussing the activities of devil worshipers. This time, Alarabiya.net is using a picture of two people hugging to illustrate an article discussing the banning of porn movies in a city in Florida.
I mean, come on, two people hugging is definitely not a good illustration of porn! Not that I’m suggesting they put a picture of a porn movie up there or anything like that. But couldn’t they have used something like a photograph of a movie reel or something. Equating an image of people hugging with porn films is just another fine example of Alarabiya’s poor photo picking problem.
by Natasha Tynes | Feb 27, 2006 | Jill Carroll
The Feb 26 deadline set by Jill’s kidnappers passed by yesterday with nary a word about Jill. But I believe, at this stage, no news is good news. This morning, some reports from notable sources emerged indicating that Jill is still alive. These statements came from an Iraqi official and US Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad, with the Iraqi official claiming to know the kidnapper’s name and address:
A top Iraqi official tells ABC News that he believes Jill Carroll is alive and that he believes she will be released, even though the latest deadline for the kidnapped journalist has passed with no news of her fate. Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabur al Zubaidi said he knew who had abducted the 28-year-old freelance journalist. "We know his name and address, and we are following up on him as well as the Americans," Zubaidi said. "I think she is still alive." The minister said the problem was that authorities don’t know where Carroll is being held, and that the original kidnappers may have sold her to a more radical group.
U.S ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad told ABC News that he also believed Carroll was alive. "We do believe that she is in fact alive," Khalilzad said on "Good Morning America." "I have discussed the issue with the interior minister. As I said, we will work as hard as we can to get her released. She clearly is in a dangerous situation, but we’re working hard with the Iraqis and others to get her released. That’s what we’re working for."
Source: [ABC News]
From my part, I’m still hopeful. For those reading this, please keep praying!
by Natasha Tynes | Feb 24, 2006 | Books
One new initative that has sprung forth from the constantly evolving realm that is Jordan Planet is an online book club — the brain child of Jordanian blogger Ohoud. The members of the club are currently discussing Diana Abu Jaber’s novel novel Crescent. Although I haven’t read the book, I highly enjoyed reading the discussions taking place between club members.
Surprisingly, a majority of members slammed the novel saying it had a number of factual errors! It is very refreshing to see such bright Jordanian voices dissecting literature and giving their take on the work of a Jordanian-American author! Kudos to those behind the Book Club. I hope time will permit me to take part in an upcoming discussion.
by Natasha Tynes | Feb 23, 2006 | Political mayhem, The Disturbing
I am really shocked by the horrifying news today of the murder of Alarabiya reporter Atwar Bahjat and her crew in Samarra, Iraq.
Two gunmen pulled up in a pickup truck, shooting in the air and shouting: "We want the correspondent," The Associated Press quoted Al-Arabiya as reporting. "Atwar was in the news van and shouted to the crowd to help her."
"The crew tried to speak to the gunmen, but they snatched them and took them [to] an unknown location. By this time, night had fallen," Reuters quoted Al-Arabiya’s Baghdad correspondent Ahmed al-Saleh as telling viewers. Saleh said the bodies had been dumped near the town of Dawr near Samarra. All three were Iraqi citizens. Source: [CNN]
I met Atwar briefly last year in Doha, Qatar. I remember her as being so extremely friendly. I’m really just appalled by such a cold-blooded murder. May her soul rest in peace. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has issued a statement on the killings:
We are horrified by this appalling act. We will never stop repeating that journalists are neutral and vital observers. They are neither combatants nor targets to be shot down. Their work must be protected and respected, whatever their nationality and regardless of which media they work for.
… A total of 82 journalists and media assistants have been killed since the start of the war in Iraq. Seven of them have died since 1st January 2006, making this start of the year the most deadly in three years. Atwar Bahjat is the 7th woman journalist to be killed since the war in Iraq began.
The situation in Iraq seems to be getting worse by the day. When will all this mayhem come to an end once and for all!
by Natasha Tynes | Feb 22, 2006 | Jordan, my nation, Media watch
I was pleased to find that Nir Rosen, author of the New York Times feature "Iraq’s Jordanian Jihadis," took time out to reply to my post on his article, saying the following:
hi, as the author of this article, i understand why it would disturb jordanians, and regret that. although what i wrote was true, certainly saudi arabia is a far more dangerous exporter of both the jihadi salafi ideology and of the fighters themselves. unfortunately because of space limitations a very important point i was trying to make was left out. the point was not so much that jordan is responsible for this phenomenon, but that between the american occupation of iraq and the brutality associated with it, and the israeli occupation of palestine and the brutality associated with it, jordan is experiencing some of the blowback of being caught in the middle of the two most painful crises in the arab world. thats not to say that there are not internal problems, but the real danger is the reaction throughout the arab and muslim world to the US war on terror and the anger this has caused.
What he mentions here is an important point that — for some reason — was edited out of the original article. Anyway, instances such as this make me glad blogs provide interaction not only between bloggers and their readers but also between the original author of an article being discussed and the blogging community at large.
I always get a kick out of Alarabiya.net’s picture choices. I blogged once about how the photo editor (or whoever) at Alarabiya had selected a picture of a Halloween party to illustrate an article discussing the activities of devil worshipers. This time, Alarabiya.net is using a picture of two people hugging to illustrate an article discussing the banning of porn movies in a city in Florida. 
