Political correctness (and gratuitous Harry Potter references) run rampant in this premium-only Salon piece by American uber-Liberal Arianna Huffington. She insists that women should be part of the Afghan government – after all, “Harry Potter is smart enough to seek Hermione’s indispensable assistance” (!) Of course it is important that women in Afghanistan be allowed to exercise their human rights again, but insisting on political representation is surely a demand too far for the present.
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22 November 2001
Fouad Ajami, a writer for the New York Times, takes a detailed look at the news coverage of Al Jazeera (registration required). He concludes that it is biased against the US and that instead of responding to it the American government should concentrate on giving interviews to the “less inflammatory” Arab TV stations (which also, it appears, have more viewers). Admittedly, the way the news is presented in the segments the author highlights doesn’t seem too fair, but much of the West’s TV has not always been even-handed either, and it is unfair to mix description of the “straight news” segments with the “talk radio”-style programming.
Whatever you think of Al Jazeera, in my view only agreeing to talk to the “official” Arab news stations which the author himself admits are “pompous” and “sycophantic” can hardly be the answer.
For a shorter but more involving take on the same subject, listen from about 7 minutes in to this excellent recent This American Life episode – Rashomon. A Palestinian teenager living in Chicago gets most of her news from Al Jazeera and other Arab broadcasters – unsurprisingly, her world view is a little different from the average American’s.
