Thought-provoking documentary about the way the media is covering the war in Iraq, concentrating on the work done by the Arab network Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera is continually accused of bad reporting and using anti-American propaganda, but the truth revealed in this documentary is that they are, if at all, only slightly more biased than any U.S. news organization. And that's only because they are under pressure from Arab officials and of course, because they actually live where the bombs are falling (one reporter who is interviewed in the film is killed by a U.S bombing raid that seemed almost intentionally aimed at Arab news networks).
Despite the way U.S. politicians try to portray them, the Al Jazeera staff are on the whole balanced, calm, intelligent, and many admire the U.S. (one man even plans to send his children there for school), but strongly oppose the way The Idiot (oops, I mean Bush) is handling it. And who can blame them? They're the ones with bombs falling on their heads.
The best scenes in the film are the discussions between an Al Jazeera journalist named Hassan Ibrahim and a U.S. Military Press Officer named Josh Rushing. They are on opposite sides of the war, but both men are kind and open-minded and willing to truly listen to and consider the other's points. Discourse like this, between two rational and humane people, is what we need more of.
Al Jazeera is continually accused of bad reporting and using anti-American propaganda, but the truth revealed in this documentary is that they are, if at all, only slightly more biased than any U.S. news organization. And that's only because they are under pressure from Arab officials and of course, because they actually live where the bombs are falling (one reporter who is interviewed in the film is killed by a U.S bombing raid that seemed almost intentionally aimed at Arab news networks).
Despite the way U.S. politicians try to portray them, the Al Jazeera staff are on the whole balanced, calm, intelligent, and many admire the U.S. (one man even plans to send his children there for school), but strongly oppose the way The Idiot (oops, I mean Bush) is handling it. And who can blame them? They're the ones with bombs falling on their heads.
The best scenes in the film are the discussions between an Al Jazeera journalist named Hassan Ibrahim and a U.S. Military Press Officer named Josh Rushing. They are on opposite sides of the war, but both men are kind and open-minded and willing to truly listen to and consider the other's points. Discourse like this, between two rational and humane people, is what we need more of.