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Militants kill for airtime [old article]
These articles originally aired August 9th, but I did not see them on Rantburg. The massacre in Russia makes these comments even more disgusting.Militants in Mideast Kidnap More Hostages Al-Arabiya TV chief Abdulrahman al-Rashed knows Iraqi militants use his station to get their message to the masses and understands that each time he airs a video of a kidnapped foreigner, terrorists are encouraged to grab others. At rival station Al-Jazeera, chief editor Ahmed al-Sheikh says he faces the same agonizing dilemma every time militants deliver yet another tape bearing a shivering hostage or a deadly threat. But both men, like those at many news organizations, say that though it is becoming increasingly difficult to decide whether to report developments like videotapes of hooded gunmen surrounding captive truck drivers, they can't shirk their responsibilities to cover the news and Militants: 'Kill for air time' Al-Rashed said his station checks each tape sent by militants for authenticity and the most relevant, newsworthy segments to consider airing. Like many tapes that end up in his station's hands, many are rhetorical rants from militants that provide no hard news. Without images of a kidnapped foreigner, such videos are ignored, al-Rashed said. But when the tape includes a hostage, beheading or any other "newsworthy" event, parts are aired, even if it might encourage more of the same. "There is only one condition for me to stop airing all these videotapes, which is that all TV stations in the region agree not to show them," al-Rashed said. "If they agree, I will also." Posted by: Cog 2004-09-05 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=42456 |