| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq-Jordan |
| Arab media muted in coverage of beheading |
| 2004-05-12 |
| Arab media reacted cautiously Wednesday to the videotaped beheading of an American civilian by Islamic militants in Iraq, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it. The biggest pan-Arab satellite television channels broadcast an edited version of the gruesome video, not showing the actual killing of Nick Berg, 26, of West Chester, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb. The businessman was abducted in April. In one of the most explicit displays, Kuwaitâs Al-Siyassah daily ran a photo of a masked militant holding up Bergâs severed head. The video of the execution was released on the Internet too late for some Middle East newspaper columnists to react to it. The killing, attributed to Abu Musab al-Zarqawiâs group, appalled many Arabs, including Iraqis who said described it as just the latest atrocity in a cycle of violence that is driving them to despair. Some opinion-makers condemned the killing. âThis shows how base and vile those who wear the robe of Islam have become,â said Abdullah Sahar, a Kuwait University political scientist. Some said it surpassed the American militaryâs abuse of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison, which has been the top story for the past 10 days in the Middle East. âWe were winning international sympathy because of what happened at Abu Ghraib, but they come and waste it all,â said Abdullah Sahar, another political scientist at Kuwait University, referring to the Islamic militants responsible for the killing. In the video, the masked militants said they were taking revenge on Berg because of the abuses at the Baghdad prison. Mustafa Bakri, editor of Al-Osboa weekly newspaper in Egypt, said Bergâs death will only hurt efforts to expose American offenses against Iraqis. âSuch revenge is rejected,â Bakri said of the execution. âThe American administration will make use of such crimes just to cover their real crimes against Iraqis.â Bakri spoke as he took part in a Cairo demonstration by about 50 Egyptian journalists and lawyers against American human rights abuses in Iraq. Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, the big two satellite networks, aired carefully edited versions of the video. In Al-Arabiyaâs edit, a militant is seen drawing a knife and jerking Bergâs body to one side. The rest is not shown. âThe news story itself is strong enough,â said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. âTo show the actual beheading is out of the realm of decency.â Lebanonâs private Al Hayat-LBC station led its bulletins Wednesday with the video. Its news presenter said: âWe apologize to our viewers for not showing the entire tape because of the ugliness of the scene.â Kuwait state television broadcast the news of the execution late Tuesday but not the video. Iraqi newspapers reported nothing about the killing, although the story may have broken too late for them. Egyptâs leading daily, Al-Ahram, ignored the beheading Wednesday. Two other major pro-government newspapers ran news agency reports on their inside pages, without photos. An Al-Ahram editor, Ahmed Reda, said the news came too late Tuesday night for the paper to confirm the videoâs authenticity with the U.S. government. Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report it at all. A professor of journalism at the American University in Cairo, Hussein Amin, said the handling of the story by Egyptâs pro-government papers was political and appropriate. âI think that the government does not want to show this on the front page as a main item because it shows a very poor â poor is not the proper word; disgusting maybe is the better word â example of revenge,â Amin said. âThere is also the threat that it could be happening to other Americans. If they put it on the front page, (it could be seen as) they are favoring this kind of action.â Jordanian newspapers, state television and radio reported Bergâs killing, but without commentary. Most Lebanese newspapers, such as the left-wing As-Safir, published the report and a photograph of Berg sitting in front of the militants. As-Safir ran the headline: âAl-Zarqawi slaughters an American to avenge Iraqi prisoners.â In many Arab newspapers, the beheading received less display than the news of Americaâs imposing sanctions on Syria and the killing of six Israeli soldiers in Gaza City. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #2 just found out from Kesher Talk, that Berg was Jewish, a Conservative Jew, and becoming more observant over the last year. |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-05-12 5:21:45 PM |
| #1 Watched ABC news last night. They also refused to show even part of the video as they mentioned it on their way to the their extensvie coverage of the prison humiliation. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-05-12 4:26:43 PM |