Mental Mayhem

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Archive for the ‘Media watch’ category

Rana’s Husseini’s upcoming book

July 11th, 2007

I was very pleased to stumble upon the website of my former colleague Rana Husseini , who is currently working on a book on honor crimes. I really can’t wait to put my hands on this intensive piece of work. According to her site, the book:

… will provide people with a credible source based on real-life experience tackling a sensitive issue which is often susceptible to misconception. The book is entitled Murder in the name of honour and is expected to be published in the next few months.

It should be good. I can’t wait!

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Posted in Books, Media watch

Reactions to alleged involvement of Jordanian doctor in UK plot

July 3rd, 2007

The Jordanian blogosphere is filled with reactions to the alleged involvement of Jordanian doctor Mohammad Asha in the UK terror plot. Blogger and journalist Batir Wardam is hoping that Asha is innocent, saying:

I am deeply in hope that Dr. Mohammad Asha (27) who is a Jordanian will turn out to be innocent from the suspicions of an alleged role in the planning of terror attacks in London and [Glasgow]. Not only because he is Jordanian but I feel very alarmed that the profile of Dr Asha is very far away from the typical terrorist, in fact he can be a replica of thousands of Arabs and Muslims trying to seek a career of excellence in Europe.

The story of Asha is all over the news here in the US. The Today program is showing a picture of him with Queen Noor. Nothing has been confirmed so far and he may turn out to be innocent as his family claims. But I think harm has already been done. Jordan’s name is now linked to this terror plot. What a shame! I do disagree with Batir on the issue of Asha’s profile. I’m of the opinion that the current "profile of a terrorist" is not that of the disenchanted and the unemployed. On the contrary, many of those involved in terrorism are highly educated. Here is an excerpt from today’s Washington Post:

Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy leader of the network, is an Egyptian-trained physician. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged chief planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot, earned a degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina A&T University. The lead hijacker, Mohamed Atta, studied architecture. Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was educated as a civil engineer.

Meanwhile, blogger Firas is not surprised by the possible radicalization of Asha. Firas showed a more recent picture than above of Asha with him fully-bearded, something that could be interpreted by some as a shift towards extremism. He says:

If he is truly involved, there might be some explanation, and I’ve personally witnessed this: What happens is that Arab students go to study abroad in countries where political and religious freedoms are granted for all, say countries like: US,UK,Canada and Australia. Now these students get to know other Muslim students usually Pakistanis who got some extremists among them, and that’s when they are fed with all this crap. And this is out of personal experience (a close friend would stop talking to you, because you are a Christian,the guy was transformed in 5 months). As in Pakistan extremist groups and parties are deeply rooted in that country, and for an Arab student who finds him/herself in an alien culture and lately a hostile culture to Islam (think of post 9/11,the Danish cartoons,the Pope’s lecture,etc) these guys would have some affect.

Regardless of whether Asha is innocent or not, it is a shame to see Jordan’s name dragged into this. As if the effect of Zaraqwi on Jordan’s reputation was not enough!

UPDATE: The International Herald Tribune is running a story that highlights comments from Asha’s colleagues who are saying that he was "absorbed in his studies and had no ties to terrorism." The story quotes a Jordanian government source saying that British authorities described Asha as a "possible subject" not charged with any crime. The same source called connections to the physician "very sketchy."

Azmi Mahafzah, Mohammed Asha’s instructor at the University of Jordan medical school, said he knew Mohammed Asha during his studies and training from 1998 to 2004 and did not have the impression that he was religious. "He interacted with others, both boys and girls. He has no prejudices. He is not a fanatic type of person," he said. "I wouldn’t believe that he would risk a very, very bright future in medicine for going into such things. He’s very smart," Mahafzah said. He said Mohammed Asha graduated with top honors from his medical class.

Another colleague of Asha’s in Amman, Aseel al-Omari, described herself as a "close friend" of the Jordanian doctor. She said she knew him for the past decade since they attended a school for gifted students. The school, founded 14 years ago by Jordan’s Queen Noor to promote religious tolerance, is mixed — a rarity in this conservative Muslim society, which often separates the sexes.

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Posted in Jordan, my nation, Media watch, The Disturbing

Newsweek’s interview with Ali Farzat

July 1st, 2007

Reader Peter S. drew my attention to this Newsweek interview with Ali Farzat, whose cartoons were banned by the Syrian regime but eventually picked up by the BBC in the form of an animated series.

Hassan Abdallah: Bashar al-Assad used to come visit you at home before he became president, and he’s responsible for [at first] legalizing the publishing of your drawings. Why this change of heart?

Ali Farzat: Before he became president, he used to attend my exhibits and a friendship developed as a result. But there are those who thought that Al-Doumari had crossed the line in exposing corruption and putting into doubt the reputation of some institutions and individuals. We used to cover important issues dealing with reform and the things holding it back, and we sent an open letter to the president asking him to institute needed reforms.

They viewed that as a threat to their control. They wanted me to follow the official line, they offered all sorts of incentives, and then they threatened. Finally, they shut down the paper. People in Syria remember that Al-Doumari preferred telling the truth, even if that led to its demise, over lying to the people and staying alive. There are Baathists who consider Syria their property and they behave as if they are first-class citizens, better than the rest. Syria has become the property of a group of monopolists.

Source: [Newsweek]

You can read the whole interview here. I really do not know why authoritarian regimes spend all of this time and effort trying to stifle freedom of expression when nothing can be censored anymore in this globalized era. The public is no longer naïve. They can see it all.

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Posted in Media watch

Media watch: The work of consultants

June 19th, 2007

For those that care about media issues, here is an article I wrote about the work of The Rendon Group in Afghanistan.

Consultants say they focused on skills, not influencing media

Rendon Group, a public relations firm known for helping the U.S. government make its case for the war in Iraq, denied any direct influence over Afghanistan’s news media at a June 8 event in Washington, D.C. Linda Flohr, a consultant at Rendon, said the group’s work in Afghanistan was only with training that government’s press officers. "We only worked on skills," she told IJNet.

The work of Rendon Group and other public relations contractors hired by the Pentagon was once nearly unknown to the public. But they have faced higher public scrutiny since 2005, when news outlets reported that another firm, The Lincoln Group, paid Iraqi journalists and newspapers to publish stories favorable of the U.S. military’s work in Iraq. Flohr said that any articles connecting Rendon Group with those efforts have since been retracted.

Read more: [IJNet]

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Posted in Media watch

MEMRI: Lost in translation?

May 17th, 2007

Besides writing and editing, I spend a big chunk of my day as a linguist, translating Arabic to English and vice versa. Although the process itself is tedious and hectic at times, I enjoy it for the most part, particularly when I’m trying to find the exact word match. I look at a challenging text as a riddle that can only be solved by hunting for the most accurate missing pieces. It is an elusive game but I enjoy it and better, I even get paid for it. Any translator dreads the time when they end up choosing words that do not match. It is the ultimate horror when the translator "mistranslates" especially when it comes to the business of news. Misquoting someone’s words and then broadcasting them to the public is the news translator’s ultimate bad dream. Luckily, I have yet to face my interpretation nightmare.

All that said, it should come as no surprise that I was extremely intrigued by Brian Whittaker’s piece in The Guardian that highlighted the mistranslation of the now infamous Al-Aqsa TV clip, which was eaten up by US media outlets. While I found the show and its content extremely off-putting, as children are being cajoled into parroting political ideologies, Whittaker makes a very valid point: The MEMRI translators either mistranslated or intentionally decided to embellish what was said on the tape. What was most intriguing about his piece was the argument that occurred between MEMRI’s founder and one of CNN’S Arabic speakers, Octavia Nasr.

Among those misled by Memri’s "translation" was Glenn Beck of CNN, who had planned to run it on his radio programme, until his producer told him to stop. Beck informed listeners this was because CNN’s Arabic department had found "massive problems" with it. Instead of broadcasting the tape, Beck then invited [MEMRI's] Carmon on to the programme and gave him a platform to denounce CNN’s Arabic department, and in particular to accuse one of its staff, Octavia Nasr, of being ignorant about the language.

Carmon related a phone conversation he had had with Ms Nasr: She said the sentence where it says [in Memri's translation] "We are going to … we will annihilate the Jews", she said: "Well, our translators hear something else. They hear ‘The Jews are shooting at us’." I said to her: "You know, Octavia, the order of the words as you put it is upside down. You can’t even get the order of the words right. Even someone who doesn’t know Arabic would listen to the tape and would hear the word ‘Jews’ is at the end, and also it means it is something to be done to the Jews, not by the Jews."

And she insisted, no the word is in the beginning. I said: "Octavia, you just don’t get it. It is at the end" … She didn’t know one from two, I mean.

As a native speaker myself, I heard nothing about annihilating the Jews. What I heard was: بطخونا اليهود which translates into: "The Jews are shooting at us." So the question becomes: Did MEMRI embellish their translation on purpose or was it simply an innocent translation mistake? I cannot say for certain. What I do know is media organizations should take MEMRI’s translation with a grain of salt, especially after this incident. Here is what Whittaker thinks:

The curious thing about all this is that Memri’s translations are usually accurate (though it is highly selective in what it chooses to translate and often removes things from their original context). When errors do occur, it’s difficult to attribute them to incompetence or accidental lapses. As in the case of the children’s TV programme, there appears to be a political motive. The effect of this is to devalue everything Memri translates — good and bad alike. Responsible news organisations can’t rely on anything it says without going back and checking its translations against the original Arabic.

Hat tip: [Jordan Journals]

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Posted in Everyday me!, Media watch

Can’t wait for the ‘Newseum’

May 9th, 2007

I’m really excited about the opening of the new news museum dubbed the "Newseum" in Washington, DC in October of this year. It looks to be a top-notch museum and will focus on issues in news-making, which happens to be both my passion and my career.

Here is a brief description:

The Newseum is located at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Sixth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., between the White House and the U.S. Capitol and adjacent to the Smithsonian museums on the National Mall. The 250,000–square–foot Newseum will feature seven levels of galleries and theaters that will take museum-goers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made, and will offer them an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up–to–the–second technology and hands–on exhibits.
Source: [Newseum website]

Among the exhibits featured in the museum will be an interactive newsroom, a great hall of news, "Today’s front pages," and a journalists’ memorial. How cool is that? I’m literally counting the days until it opens. This city gets more and more exciting by the day. I really can’t wait for this phenomenal museum to open its doors to all the news junkies out there.

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Posted in Media watch, Metro Daze

Jordan’s latest press freedom violations

May 2nd, 2007

The nature of my current job requires me to keep a close eye on press freedom violations across the world. I was surprised to see Jordan’s name pop up twice over the last ten days or so as a violator. The first violation involved the confiscation of an Alajzeera interview tape. The second involved the banning of Almajed newspaper because the Jordanian government alleged its front page article "harmed relations with the Palestinian government". Here is an excerpt [full article here] from the Committee to Protect Journalists’ report:

Jordanian authorities should lift their ban on today’s edition of an independent paper, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Fahd al-Rimawi, editor of the weekly Al-Majd, told CPJ that security agents moved Sunday to prevent printing of the edition because of a front-page story about a "secret plan" to oust the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Al-Rimawi said security officials told him they would ban the April 30 edition if he did not remove the article, the Associated Press reported. In an interview with CPJ, al-Rimawi said the issue had already been sent out for printing. Like many small tabloids in Jordan, Al-Majd is printed by larger publications that own printing presses. In this case, the leading pro-government daily Al-Rai handles Al-Majd’s printing.

Are we witnessing a press freedom backslide in Jordan? For the past several years or so Jordan has been making baby steps towards safeguarding the freedom of the press. One step was the recent scrapping of an article that allowed for the imprisonment of journalists. However, from what I read this week, things are not looking good. It seems the kingdom is regressing to previous years where stifling press freedoms was the norm. I don’t want to jump to conclusions quickly here so I must point out that the Jordanian government has denied banning the newspaper.

Government Spokesperson Nasser Judeh told journalists Tuesday that the government had nothing to do with the issue of printing or banning the fortnightly. Meanwhile, the commercial printing press of the Jordan Press Foundation said it did not print Al Majd because it carried items "violating Article 26 of the Press and Publications Law," which prohibits publishing any material that might threaten national security.
Source: [The Jordan Times]

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Posted in Jordan, my nation, Media watch

Danish daily’s chairman stands by decision to publish Prophet cartoons

April 27th, 2007

I attended a discussion two weeks ago given by the publisher of the
Danish daily that published the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that unleashed a major row last year. During the lecture, given at the National Press Club here in DC, the publisher stood by his paper’s
decision to publish the cartoons. Here is a link to the full article I wrote about the event with an outtake below.

Launching his speech by displaying the controversial
cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, the Chairman of JP-Politikens Hus, a Danish
media conglomerate, defended his paper’s decision to publish the caricatures, while
criticizing U.S.papers for failing to republish them.

Joergen Ejboel, speaking at the National
Press Club in Washington, DC, on April 11, insisted on his
publication’s right to free speech in regard to the cartoons that sparked a
wave of demonstrations and riots throughout the world last year resulting in more
than 100 deaths. Ejboel dubbed the unrestricted freedom of speech as a
"truth" that should not be compromised. "A lot of people were offended by the truth," said Ejboel, referring to a recent court decision of a libel suit filed by French Muslim organizations
against the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo for republishing the cartoons.

"The truth can never be characterized as defamation," he
said, expressing discontent at the French judge’s usage of the word "offensive"
when referring to the cartoons. "If a cartoon can be legal in one context and a crime in
another, then this will leave the door wide open to any group that can come
forward and insist that any cartoon of their leader or hero amounts to
defamation," he told the audience at a lecture organized by the World Press
Freedom Committe. Source: [IJNet]

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Posted in Media watch

Aljazeera vs. Jordan … again

April 24th, 2007

It seems Aljazeera has upset the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan yet again, though this time the event involves HRH Prince Hassan. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported the following yesterday:

The Committee to Protect Journalists protests the Jordanian government’s seizure of a taped Al-Jazeera interview with former crown prince Hassan bin Talal last week. Ghassan Benjeddou, Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in Beirut, told CPJ that Jordanian intelligence officers stopped his producer at Amman’s Queen Alia Airport on Wednesday, shortly after the interview. They proceeded to confiscate the videotape of the interview, as well as several photographs taken of Prince Hassan during the interview.

In the interview conducted by Benjeddou, Hassan spoke critically of Saudi Arabia and U.S. policies in the Middle East, the journalist told CPJ. Citing a U.S. report, the prince said a Saudi official was financing Sunni militants to confront the Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. Al-Jazeera identified the official as Prince Bandar bin Sultan, secretary-general of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council, The Associated Press reported. Hassan also criticized Saudi Arabia for holding political negotiations in the holy city of Mecca, home to Islam’s holiest site, Masjid al-Haram.

And the Jordanian response:

On Saturday, Benjeddou used his program to discuss press freedom in the Arab world and discuss what happened to him. He invited Nasser Judeh, the chief Jordanian government spokesman, to comment. The Jordan Times reported that Judeh told Al-Jazeera that Prince Hassan is "an intellectual whose views are respected the world over," but "there are national interests that should be protected."

The Jordan Times quoted Judeh saying "we cannot afford to have any misinterpretation of Jordan’s stand at this delicate stage," adding, "after all, remember that we live in the Middle East where media outlets are sometimes employed to serve political purposes."

I can see how HRH Prince Hassan’s comments could be controversial but at the same time I’m someone who believes in the total freedom of the press. In my humble opinion, I believe harassing journalists in this fashion and confiscating their work should not occur in a country that strives to be "democratic ." But then again, many would argue that things are not so black and white in the Middle East, and that sometimes there are exceptions. Ah well, I will agree to disagree!

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Posted in Jordan, my nation, Media watch

‘Invisible money’ hindering Mideast independent media development

April 4th, 2007

Last week, I got the chance to attend a lecture in Washington, DC delivered by Alghad newspaper CEO Mohammad Alayyan on "Developing Media as a Business Model in Jordan." Alayyan raised some very intriguing points while focusing on what he called the "invisible money" hindering the development of independent media. Here is an excerpt from an article I wrote on the lecture:

Publisher and CEO of the Jordanian independent daily Alghad, Mohammad Alayyan, cited what he referred to as "invisible money" as one of the major obstacles hindering the progress of independent media outlets in the Arab World. Alayyan who is planning to launch Jordan’s first independent terrestrial and satellite TV station, Al Ghad TV, on June 1 made his remarks during a lecture entitled "Developing Media as a Business Model in Jordan" in Washington, D.C., United States, on March 28.

"Historically, investment in media has not been that great because governments have always invested in the media. People were afraid of opening up media [outlets], so basically it created insufficient funds [for] the development of independent media," Alayyan told the audience at a talk at the Human Rights Campaign building. But this has changed since 2001, according to Alayyan, as investments in the media have dramatically increased in the past few years.

However, Alayyan argues that investments are not made in a transparent way. "A lot of invisible money is going into the media and I think this is one of the major obstacles facing independent media in the Arab World," he said.

Source: [International Journalists' Network]