Zimbabwe opposition offices raided

So reads the headline on the Yahoo news report. It then continues:

President Robert Mugabe's government raided the offices of the main opposition movement and rounded up foreign journalists Thursday in an ominous indication that he may use intimidation and violence to keep his grip on power.

Hands up, everyone who is surprised. It may be an ominous indication, but I personally am surprised that Mugabe has shown this much restraint. It's totally out of character. Power will slip out of his hands when they are cold and dead, and not a minute earlier. His use of intimidation and violence is well-documented and goes way back.

It's rather uncomfortable for journalists to document that though. Mugabe was a former media darling. It is difficult to admit mistakes, especially ones that never should have been made. To this day journalists seem incapable of summoning the moral outrage they applied (rightly, in that case) to apartheid and turning it against Mugabe. This despite the fact that he has turned his formerly prosperous country into a hellhole that most of his people would cheerfully leave for South Africa - present or past - or for old-time Rhodesia.

It is the African tragedy writ large all over again: a "liberator" who is really only interested in his own power. And a politically correct world that should be howling in outrage but doesn't. And journalists who express polite amazement at the inevitable.

I think I shall go be ill.


Technorati tags: Mugabe, Journalism, Zimbabwe

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Oct. 29

What is Al-Jazeera up to? The Arabic news channel comes in for some fierce criticism - in the Arab media.

Writing in Asharq Alawsat, Hussein Shobokshi wonders just what Al-Jazeera TV is about.

He notes that the TV channel is right out there condemning Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, but has remarkably little—try nothing—to say about Lebanese imprisoned in Syria. We hear a lot about the US 'occupation of Iraq', but nothing about Iranian occupation of islands in the Persian Gulf claimed by the UAE. To pretend that Al-Jazeera speaks for the Arab world is nonsense, Shobokshi says.

John Burgess has more at Crossroads Arabia.

Technorati tags: Al-Jazeera

Dealing with media bias

The BBC admitted behind closed doors to a strong liberal and anti-Christian bias. Rats! Somebody went and leaked the information, but I'm willing to bet the BBC will find a way to avoid dealing with it. Which is a shame.

I am becoming convinced that the only way to avoid media bias is to mix things up in the newsroom and on the editorial board. If your columnists or reporters have varied political and cultural leanings and are allowed to refute each other publicly, something approaching objectivity and a genuine search for the truth just might come out of the mix. And by allowing rants from different sides, you hold on to your partisan readership or audience. They tend to avoid moderate, balanced opinions, so giving them strong flavours from opposite ends of the spectrum should keep them coming back.

I offer as an example the Ottawa Citizen which has columnists ranging from the extreme right to unabashedly left and most of the spectrum inbetween. I just wish they'd argue with each other a little more often. It's fun and often informative. I'd also even out the weighting a bit more, but still, they're on the right track.

I do appreciate the dilemma the media face. Calm, objective, rational approaches aren't popular. If you don't believe me, take a look at the most popular blogs. They are almost all highly partisan and quite often nastily so. They rant. They rave. They demonize. They fling insults around with self-satsified abandon. And they always know what to say about every story the instant it breaks, which says to me that they are not great fans of research or deep thought. (There are a few exceptions, thank goodness, but they still tend to be openly partisan. They're just more reasonable about it and will tolerate dissent without getting apoplectic.)

So to all the newspaper editors and network executives who eagerly hang on my every word and are just dying for my advice on how to attain objectivity without alienating their partisan readers/audience, I would highly recommend diversifying the backgrounds of your journalists and let them have at each other.

No need to thank me. That's the freebie. Next time you pay.

Hat tip to Stubborn Facts.

Technorati tags: BBC

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Oct. 16

Dave Schuler at the Glittering Eye explains, facts and statistics in hand, why he thinks it will make little difference whether the Democrats or the Republicans take control in November's elections. He compares the historical results of Democratic or Republican dominance.

It didn’t make a bit of difference. Taxes went down during periods of complete Democratic control. Taxes went up during periods of complete Democratic control. Taxes went down during periods of complete Republican control. And up. We’ve been to war, expanded entitlements and civil rights, had booms and busts under both Democrats and Republicans.

Media distortions seem to be hitting all sides. Vues d'ici tells us (in English) how Liberal leadership candidate Michael Ignatieff has had his words twisted by removing the context.

Technorati tags: Michael Ignatieff

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Oct. 14

Islamic scholars are taking up the Pope's challenge and engaging in interfaith dialogue, reports Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters. Their response to the Pope will be delivered Sunday, but it is already available online. It's a small start, but it's a start. As you can read in the Bible, "Do not despise the day of small beginnings."

Continuing the Islamic theme, John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia tells us the Saudi government has set up an English/Arabic website with the express purpose of combatting Muslim extremism.

A moderate Muslim journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, is literally running for his life in Bangladesh. Reader_iam at Done With Mirrors brings us up-to-date on his situation, with more than a note of despair.

Technorati tags: Salah Choudhury

YouTube Pornography and Hypocrisy

There has been a great fuss in the blogosphere lately about Michelle Malkin's censored YouTube video. From Michelle's website:

Back in February, you may remember, I cobbled together a little mini-movie called "First, They Came" inspired by the Mohammed Cartoon riots. It's a simple slideshow highlighting the victims of Islamic violence over the years. We posted it at YouTube a while ago. No problems. Until last week, when I received this e-mail: ...

Suffice it to say that YouTube pulled the video for inappropriate content. (And no, I don't normally read Michelle and I don't know what the original video was like. That isn't really the point, as you will see.)

Now I found YouTube's action very peculiar, because a YouTube employee made it quite clear some time ago that there was no way they could police the content on their site and that they don't even try.

However, an employee of YouTube called Think & Ask following publication of "Fetish Videos Land on Family Entertainment Website YouTube" and for that individual's own protection we agreed not to publish the informant's name or gender. The company has relatively few, but tightly knit employees.

"It [pornography] was bound to happen, but we don't have the [manual] resources to control what people post here," the informant said.

"For our future business model the issue is very sticky. I'm sure upper management won't comment for that reason," the informant said.

It would appear that they have plenty of time for political censorship, but can't be bothered with sifting out porn.

"Rev." Billy Gisher of Those Bastards (The Meanest Weblog on the Web) declared war on YouTube on August 15. He was upset by the fact that about 80% of the videos on YouTube are pornographic, that they are readily viewable by any child surfing the Internet, and that YouTube refuses to do anything about it.

So Gisher started informing the advertisers (including WalMart, the Girl Guides of America, and just about any large corporation you can think of) that their ads were appearing with pornographic content. He had screen captures in hand to prove his point. A good number of advertisers started pulling ads. You can read the whole saga over on their website, although I think it only fair to warn you that it's not family viewing. He includes largish thumbnails of screen captures.

Gisher proposed a simple method to YouTube to restrict access by children, but needless to say, they haven't implemented it. He's now started to put "real reverends" on the case, concluding he just doesn't have enough clout on his own. He cites a New York Times interview with one of the founders of YouTube, Chad Hurley:

Yesterday evening, I took notice of this interview published on September 30, 2006 in the New York Times. Chad Hurley, one of the founders of YouTube, spoke with their reporters and editors to answer some questions, which were excerpted to compile this story, from which I have extracted the following question and response:

Times staff: "But you said a vast majority of your stuff was user-generated and kind of wacky unpredictable stuff. Why would an advertiser want to be next to something where it might be something disgusting?"

Chad Hurley: "Well, I think it's the nature of the Internet. There's not really any safe places on the Internet. And they just want to get in front of audiences.....And I think they're just looking for new opportunities to get in front of an audience, and that's what we're providing for them."

I think that Chad Hurley's comments come as close as you possibly can to stating that he believes most major advertisers care more about getting their message in front of an audience than they do about offending their audience.

(The NYT didn't pursue this line of questioning, perhaps because they themselves advertise on YouTube. No possibility of disinterested journalism here.)

Gisher has been on this story for about two months now, contacting advertisers on a daily basis, reporting their reactions and refusing to give up on the issue. He wants this material to be made inaccessible to children and is doing everything he can to see it happen. Despite his online moniker, there is nothing reverend about him, nor about the group blog he is part of, so opponents are going to have a difficult time characterizing this as coming from some uptight religious prude.

Technorati tags: Billy Gisher, YouTube porn, YouTube, Michelle Malkin

Maher Arar's dual citizenship

A Challenge to Canada Free Press

Dick Field at Canada Free Press has come out with a particularly snarky article that makes a really big deal out of Maher Arar's dual citizenship, implying that Arar had divided loyalties, is not really committed to Canada, and brought his misery on his own head.

First, and exceedingly strange, is the fact that our media has persuaded the public that Mr. Arar is an ordinary immigrant Canadian of Syrian descent. No, he is not an ordinary Canadian like most of us. He is a citizen of Canada and a citizen of Syria. For months this writer has tried verify this fact by listening to every newscast and reading every newspaper possible in order to find out if Mr. Arar was indeed a dual citizen but no luck, nary a mention. Why the silence? Why the mystery? Apparently, the fact was discussed early in the O'Connor Inquiry and then dropped, so there is no excuse for the media.

...

Mr. Arar knew the torture practices in his own country, so we should ask Mr. Arar why he risked keeping his Syrian citizenship. Certainly by retaining his Syrian citizenship, Mr. Arar must be partly responsible for his own misfortunes, even if he is totally innocent.

I have a lot of pet peeves and dishonest, nasty journalism figures high on the list. You may remember that I participated in my own small-scale way to helping to spread the fuss about the CBC's skewed report on Prime Minister Harper.

This article raised my ire in a similar fashion. While Field castigates the media for not doing their homework, he (un)studiously neglected doing his own. So I did it for him. And sent Canada Free Press the results.

Syria makes it very difficult for expats to renounce their citizenship.
http://www.opm.gov/extra/investigate/IS-01.pdf

LOSS OF CITIZENSHIP:

VOLUNTARY: Though voluntary renunciation of Syrian citizenship is permitted by law, the Syrian Information Office stated that it is so complicated that it is best not to attempt the process. In effect, according to that Office, the process is complicated in order to discourage renunciation of Syrian citizenship. Former citizens of Syria probably maintain an unofficial dual citizenship status and would be subject to Syrian law as citizens should they return to Syria.

Therefore your rant on Maher Arar (http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/field100406.htm) is highly inaccurate. Are you going to publish a retraction?

Two days later, no answer, no acknowledgement of receipt, no posting of my letter on their "letter blog" (about one letter a week, none negative), no apology to Arar, and of course, no retraction.

The Syrian Information Office itself, in correspondence with the American government states baldly that they make it deliberately difficult to renounce Syrian citizenship. I have heard it rumoured, though I can't confirm it, that relatives remaining in Syria are targetted if you try to renounce your Syrian citizenship.

I can handle highly partisan media if they stick to truthful reporting. Canada Free Press does not seem to feel obliged to live by those standards. Smearing a man who has already endured much with shoddy, unprofessional journalism and pretending not to hear when you are called on inaccuracies is not the way to win my respect.

Dick Field and/or Canada Free Press is invited to respond.

Technorati tags: Maher Arar, Dick Field, Canada Free Press

Kat in Iraq

Callimachus at Done With Mirrors has started a new series on life in Iraq for American contractors. Kat, the young lady on the right, is the contractor in question.

This opens a series of posts that will run here over the next few days. It expands the account written by my friend Kat, who worked in Iraq for a contractor in infrastructure reconstruction. That story was told in outline here.

A large part of her message is her frustration with the lack of media coverage of work such as she did for almost two years.
...
A week or so ago I sent her a link to an interview with New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins. As the interview was written up, it justified the MSM in its lack of complete coverage of Iraq by presenting Iraq as a place too dangerous for them to go out and do their jobs. I knew this would get under her skin, and I hoped it would provoke her to writing a rebuttal to that attitude.

She did, privately, and later she agreed to let me publish it.

Kat was more than a little blistering in her attack on the courage of reporters. She was challenged by a commenter, and her response has grown into a three-part series on life in Iraq for an American contractor. It's a fascinating read, and more than a little disturbing, something like looking into an alternate universe.

Kat had made an earlier appearance on Done With Mirrors, which I linked to here.

Technorati tags: Iraq contractors

The RCMP and the government have to do more

The injustices against Maher Arar did not stop with the faulty intelligence delivered to the Americans. When Arar's media-savvy wife refused to let his case die and kept it in the public's eye, someone in the RCMP or the government undertook to smear his reputation through unnamed leaks.

In his inquiry into the Arar affair, Justice Dennis O'Connor found that one or more government officials had leaked false and damaging statements about Arar to a number media outlets around the time of Arar's return from Syria to Canada in the fall of 2003.

Among other things, the leaks alleged Arar had trained with al-Qaida, and that he was ''not a virgin'' to terrorist activity.

''This case is an example of how some government officials, over an extended period of time, used the media to put a spin on an affair and unfairly damage a person's reputation,'' O'Connor stated in his report.

The only investigation that is currently open is a criminal probe by the RCMP into a November 2003 article by Ottawa Citizen reporter Juliet O'Neill.

The Canwest report contradicts itself a few paragraphs later when it states:

The leaks, which may have come from within the RCMP's A-division in Ottawa, or from within Canadian Security Intelligence Service or the Foreign Affairs Department, are being investigated by RCMP officers from New Brunswick. In response to questions from MPs, Zaccardelli said he never considered calling in another police force to conduct the probe.

Be that as it may, full light has got to be shone on this shameful incident. Somebody has got to be held accountable for spreading malicious rumours about Arar. Talk about kicking a man when he is down!

Journalists too have got to step up and take some responsibility. If unnamed sources must be used, the information should be corroborated if possible. When it can't be, it shouldn't be used without full and explicit disclaimers.

My normal cynicism would cause me to throw up my hands in despair at this point and say, "As if," but events over the last year lead me to some optimism. The blogosphere, though still maligned and ridiculed and still having all too many elements worthy of it, has flexed its muscles over the last year, discovering a vocation for fact-checking mainstream journalists. From doctored photos of the Lebanese conflict to skewed reports on the CBC, bloggers have been playing detective, and smoking out examples of dishonest or sloppy journalism. I hope the trend continues, and that governments and journalists alike will find it harder and harder to spin and mislead.

The government should obviously be offering Arar both an apology and compensation. Negotiations are underway for the latter, so I'll withhold commentary for the time being. An apology should be forthcoming though, and the sooner the better. By and large, I think Harper has been doing a good job, but he has dropped the ball on this one. I have difficulty buying the "legal ramifications" explanation, which he hasn't really given anyway. There hasn't been an explanation of any kind really. While I'm still prepared to believe it isn't malicious, it still looks bad, even to the people who are not trying to interpret everything he does as evil or misguided. Step up to the plate, Stephen, it's time.

Technorati tags: Maher Arar

It's so nice to know they care!

I am rather amused, or perhaps bemused, by the fact that I've had several visits to this site from the CBC. Every one of them had done a search for Christina Lawand in some form or another. I guess it's good to know they care what we think.

Christina, if it's you checking in, I for one am willing to let bygones be bygones. A personal apology and a promise to play fair in the future would about do it. And of course, coming through on that promise. Where have they been hiding you these days, anyway?

By the way, I also don't really care if you or the entire CBC is biased. As long as you're scrupulously fair and truthful in your reporting, which admittedly, is more difficult when leaning hard to one side.

Technorati tags: Christina Lawand

The untold story of Iraq

Callimachus (I always wonder which Callimachus he named himself after) of Done With Mirrors has nothing but contempt for NYT reporter Dexter Filkins and his reports of grave danger in Iraq, but he expresses it much more effectively by letting Kat tell her story. Kat is 5 feet tall, 89 pounds and worked for two years for a contractor in Iraq without the elaborate security precautions Filkins talks about and lived to tell the tale with nary a hair-raising experience to show.

All in all, I'm really thankful that Dexter was able to share his experience with the rest of the press. It's difficult to live in a hardened bunker, not going out to do your job, and relying on others not too skillfully chosen to do your job for you. I can almost taste the fear as he describes it, and my first response is certainly to slap him and his co-hibernators on the back for their selfless display of courage, innovation, and integrity in doing their job.

I'm sure that Dexter will remember me and all of the other contractors and civilians who worked in Iraq slightly shorted of all the elaborate defence mechanisms dedicated to those in his profession. I'm sure he could appreciate the depth to which one of my rather small size five appendages could install itself within his and his cohort's posterior sections. It would be pleasurable to me at any time to let him accompany myself on one of our less important or threatening rides to a place of little or no interest to anyone but ourselves. Thank goodness for the New York Times.

Kat had appeared before at Done With Mirrors to talk about her work in Iraq. Must reads if you want a different perspective on what is really going on over there.

Gleanings from the blogosphere, Sept. 22

Steve Janke at Angry in the Great White North is on a bit of a roll today. He has caught the NDP in a flagrant misprepresentation of President Karzai's opinion of Canadian military operations in Afghanistan, which they have ironically titled Reality Check. This one is downright slimy.

The Anchoress assesses the Day of Rage that ended with more of a whimper than a bang and sees some cause for hope.

Steve Janke at Angry in the Great White North posts about a "scary native leader," and commenter Sandra informs him that Chief Louie is not at all uncommon in British Columbia.

John Burgess at Crossroads Arabia links to one of the thoughtful Muslim responses to Pope Benedict's recent lecture in Regensburg. Amir Taheri first takes issue with the violent reactions to the speech and then takes issue with the speech itself, debating its points in an academic manner.

Reader_iam at Done With Mirrors highlights the case of a Bangladeshi journalist, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who may soon pay with his life for his calls for tolerance and understanding between different faiths, most notably with Jews. She is particularly incensed that no one in the West seems to be picking up his cause.

Technorati tags: Pope Benedict, Choudhury, NDP

Padded cell vs. open road

Open letter to MP John Baird and Prime Minister Stephen Harper


Dear Sirs,

The Anti-terrorism Act is coming up for review. This law was passed hastily in the aftermath of 9/11 and contains some of the most alarming provisions ever enacted in a Canadian Parliament.

I have been impressed by the level-headedness and willingness to act according to principle that your government has demonstrated. Could you please use both in retooling this act?

Security certificates and the extremely broad wording limiting freedom of the press are especially troubling, as they dangerously undermine the foundational values of a free society. Allowing this legislation to be reintroduced in its present form would leave a legacy of open doors for legally sanctioned despotism. While you may have no intention of abusing the possibilities of this highly regressive act (although one could argue that any use at all is abuse), you cannot guarantee the actions of your successors.

I am confident that there are ways to protect our society from terrorism without sacrificing our most fundamental principles: freedom of speech, presumption of innocence and open trials.

I for one, am willing to accept some measure of risk in protecting these principles. Padded cells may be safe and even comfortable, but I prefer the risk of the open road.

On a related note, I believe it is high time that charges against Juliet O'Neill were dropped. This was a shameful move by the previous government and it dishonours you to allow it to continue.

Respectfully,

Technorati tags: Juliet O'Neill, Anti-Terrorism Act

Keep those cards and letters coming!

Stephen Taylor has a mole in the CBC who has informed him that the CBC has never received as many complaints about the work of reporter as they did over Christina Lawand's newsclip last month. I was still shocked to hear that only 118 people wrote or emailed. Still, politicians and media executives are accutely aware that for every person who writes in, there are many, many more who think the same thing but who don't express it, at least not to them. Never underestimate the power of a complaint!

Or a note of approval. I've actually sent a couple of emails to elected officials when I way particularly pleased with what they were doing. I think it's fair to say that an email can have more practical impact than a vote.

Technorati tags: Christina Lawand, Stephen Taylor

An apology of sorts from the CBC

Stephen Taylor is running a clip from last night's CBC news broadcast in which Diana Swain apologizes on behalf of the CBC for not making it clear that Harper was not responding to the protester preceding him on Christina Lawand's newsclip. You may recall that Stephen Taylor had done a devastating exposé of the report, putting Harper's comments back into context and showing how that put an entirely different spin on things.

Most commenters on Stephen's blog felt that this was the best we could expect from the CBC although some were of the opinion that the apology was totally inadequate.

Far from displaying the merest hint of contrition, the tone suggests that they are reluctantly obligated to apologize because of the poor comprehension skills of those who complained. "It appeared as if the Prime Minister was responding directly to that particular protester."

Well no, it didn't. How could the PM, at a later press conference, possibly have been aware of and responding to the CBC's selected soundbite from a protest? The issue is that Lawand and her producer tried to make it look that way.

The CBC manipulated the edit to serve an obvious editorial agenda. They apologize, in effect, for a supposed editing mistake that accidently gave a false impression, when it is baldly obvious that the edit served the purpose of the entire piece, and was completely congruent with the editorial tone.

What about the totally gratuitous Bush/Harper slur in the piece? What about Lawand's insinuating tone of voice in the opening line when she refers to Harper meeting "a safe distance away"?

[...]A credible apology involves acknowledging what the wrong behaviour is, and a promise to change. I don't see a hint of that. We shouldn't be so credulous.

While I agree that the apology was inadequate and failed to acknowledge that the "misunderstanding" had been deliberately engineered, I am heartened that the CBC felt obliged to address this issue publicly. This is a tacit admission that they were surprised by the volume of complaints and felt the need to do damage control. I hope it also means they are aware now that any future shenanigans run a real risk of being exposed. We owe Taylor a debt of gratitude.

Technorati tags: CBC, Christina Lawand

"Absenteeism" in the Blackberry age

The Ottawa Citizen has its knickers in a knot because Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Transport, did not sufficiently interrupt his PEI family vacation following the terrorist arrests in Britain. I'd link you to the article but it's for subscribers only and nobody else seems to care enough to publish an article on it. Telling.

Could somebody please let them know that in the age of Blackberries and telecommuting, physical presence in the office is no longer requisite? The poor guy did fly back for a day, and has been in electronic contact with the office several hours a day on his now rather compromised vacation, but the Citizen is trying hard to sound shocked anyway. On the front page, not in the editorial section.

To be fair to the Citizen, they did pillory Liberal minister Pierre Pettigrew for his lengthy stays in Paris too, so at least they're bipartisan in their indignation. But I think they should drop it altogether. First, it makes them sound like dinosaurs, and whiny ones at that. Second, it begs for an investigation into how much time their reporters and columnists actually spend in the office, and how much time they're only in contact electronically. Because we all know that you can't do real work when you're away from the office, right?

Technorati tags: Journalism, Ottawa Citizen