Monday, June 11, 2012

Meet a new clueless correspondent in the Middle East: Lucy Fielder of France24

So I watched this segment on Franc24 on Al-Mayadin: one of the worst pieces of journalism that I have seen, and I see lousy pieces of journalism daily, and in more than one language.  1) the "scoop" of the segment is a revelation that Al-Mayadin is funded by Iran and by Rami Makhluf: but the source is a person who does not provide evidence for his claim (Omar is on my Facebook and I asked him for a source of the claim and he sent me this clip: but what is the source of the claim in the clip???).  And the source is a supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood, to my knowledge.  So this is your scoop, France24? 2) The anchor ask Ms. Lucy if the channel is objective.  I kid you not. She asked that question PRIOR to the beginning of broadcasting.  So the objectivity of the channel was to be evaluated before anyone had a chance to watch.  3) Ms. Lucy decided to address the question of objectivity by saying that the matter is clear because of the funding.  If that is the standard, then all the channels are non-objective as they are funded by this regime or that, including France 24.  4) the objectivity of Ms. Lucy (and her political agenda) is revealed when she relies on the "objective" professional opinion of a media specialist with...HARIRI TV.  I kid you not.  You have to watch to believe.  5) Ms. Lucy reveals in the report that the overwhelming majority of Arabs are supportive of the Syrian exile opposition.  Ms. Lucy--has her pulse on the famous "Arab street", you see--conducts public opinion surveys about Arab public opinion hourly.  But if Ms. Lucy is true, why are we not seeing demonstrations in support of the Syrian National Council in Arab countries, including countries ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood (I am not talking about ten or so people who raise a banner as part of a larger gathering in Tahriri).  6) Ms. Lucy tells us that Al-Arabiyyah is wildly "popular" by Arab audiences and adds that channels that are funded by Arab oil and gas dictatorships are all objective and professional.  After I watched Ms. Lucy's report, I learned about my region what I knew not before.  Thanks Lucy.  Keep it up.  Oh, since you judge objectivity of channels even BEFORE they are launched (and even without knowing the language of the broadcast), there is a new channel coming out soon, called Al-Yasariyyah, is that non-objective or objective like Saudi media? Please help me here.  I am just trying to learn from you, given your psychic abilities.