France 24, one of the newest of the government-funded channels, did cover reactions on Twitter and Facebook, mostly from users in North Africa hailing Bin Laden’s death. They also used Google maps to profile Abbottabad, and discussed the story of the Twitter user who had unwittingly live blogged the operation on Bin Laden’s compound.
However, France 24’s effort to take viewers to Bin Laden’s compound digitally were trumped by Al Jazeera’s on-the-ground reporting. By the time Americans on the east coast woke up Monday morning, Al Jazeera had an eyewitness account of the raid from Abottabad local Ali Sikander.
Al Jazeera also had analysis from Beirut-based journalist Robert Fisk of The Independent in London, who had met Bin Laden three times during his career.
Fisk drove home the main theme in Al Jazeera’s reporting: The Arab awakening of the last few months had already politically defeated Bin Laden. It showed that Arabs rejected the Islamic Caliphate that Bin Laden had advocated, preferring instead transparent, democratic governments.
Not to say that Al Jazeera did not recognize that Bin Laden’s death was a momentous event with potentially brutal consequences. As reporter Tarek Bazley said at the conclusion of an Al Jazeera profile of Bin Laden, “Al Qaeda has now lost its figurehead, but many will argue that this will have little effect on the group whose followers have sworn to see his vision through to the end.” That vision remains clear. What seems to be getting blurrier is the global media landscape.
Weak. You piss on RT's "peculiar brand of skepticism," yet offer nothing to disprove or discredit RT's conclusions. Apparently, in your mind, anything that questions the glorious U.S. govt is not worthy. How sickening. And speaking of state-"funded" and state-controlled news: you left out NPR, VoA, WaPo, the AP, the NYT, et al., whose glowing reports of govt heroism surely would have made the grade in your mind. Epic fail.
#1 Posted by Dan A., CJR on Thu 5 May 2011 at 03:26 PM
How about "I seen it on CIA TV?"
[Questions Abound Over How Fake Bin Laden Photos Duped Lawmakers
By Cristina Corbin Published May 05, 2011 FoxNews.com
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the intelligence committee, still claims to have viewed the official photos.
Rogers spokeswoman Susan Phalen told FoxNews.com that Rogers was shown the images by members of the CIA.
"He happened to be at the CIA on Monday and he saw the photos there,” Phalen said in an interview. “It was not something that was emailed. He saw the photos that were in the custody of the CIA.”]
#2 Posted by Clayton Burns, CJR on Thu 5 May 2011 at 05:24 PM
It's difficult to believe that Obama would be stupid enough to take credit for Osama's death unless he had absolute knowledge of Osama's demise or he had total control over him in a secret place of detention. Nonetheless, it doesn't take a genius to realize that the whole thing about Obama giving the order to take out Osama was a farce. Most likely Osama was already on a slab waiting to be picked up by our guys. The fact is that nine years ago Osama fled Afghanistan into Pakistan and has been hiding there successfully ever since. Our government couldn't find him until the Osama's henchmen gave up his body after he died of natural causes. How embarrassing is that? The DNA bubbamises is a feeble attempt to divert attention from the real story that Osama's people made a deal to hand over his body for the 25 million dollar reward and other considerations. Obama needed the drama because his approval ratings have been in the toilet so he staged the phony raid after receiving proof that the carcass was really Osama's. Getting rid of the body in quick time, claiming to have DNA verification, announcing that there are classified video footage and photographs and then refusing to show this so-called evidence all leads me to conclude that if they had Osama's body it was already decomposed to the extent that everyone could see that Osama had been dead for much more than a couple of hours. More at http://moshesharon.wordpress.com
#3 Posted by Moshe Sharon, CJR on Fri 6 May 2011 at 03:36 PM
Lear:
It were a delicate stratagem to shoe
A troop of horse with felt: I'll put't in proof;
And when I have stol'n upon these sons-in-law,
Then kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!
Except for one detail, Moshe, your account rings true.
But how about the felt-sheathed Black Hawks?
It is a CIA device right out of central casting.
#4 Posted by Clayton Burns, CJR on Fri 6 May 2011 at 06:16 PM
I think the lack of cut-aways is just a symptom of what makes state media different. Unlike corporate news which can make mistakes and corrections, the stakes are higher when the story needs to represent the national interest. What I'm saying is, it takes a while to call the press guy over at your government's foreign office at 10pm EST on a Sunday to figure out what the right reaction is going to be for a story this big.
#5 Posted by Antoine Dodson, CJR on Sun 8 May 2011 at 03:42 PM