Sunday, January 13, 2013

Aljazeera's standards

"Last week the Arab Journalists Union meeting in Baghdad called on the Qatari authorities to "immediately release" the Tunisian journalist. Needless to say this has not been reported in the Qatari press which has previously ignored the sentencing of Qatari poet Muhammad al-Ajami, 36 to life for a poem in late November 2012. Al Jazeera English (not the Arabic channel) covered the case 48 hours later after a barrage of online criticism. I was informed by sources inside the channel that the good journalists there put up a fight with the channel's administration over the issue and finally were able to report on the appeal. (the same method of only reporting appeals and denials is employed in the UAE and other Gulf States, just Google "UAE denies" for fun)." (thanks Sultan)