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Qatar's Al-Jazeera Repels U.S. Attacks Citing Press Freedom
DOHA, Oct 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite television channel has firmly rebuffed U.S. attacks on its coverage of the Afghan crisis, vowing to continue to give air time to any messages that come from Osama bin Laden in the name of press freedom.
"We will continue our work in a professional manner whether it be in Afghanistan or elsewhere... offering a margin of freedom in the Arab world," Al-Jazeera chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer al-Thani pledged Thursday.
Al-Jazeera is reveling in the scoops bin Laden's tapes have provided since U.S. and British air strikes on key military installations and training camps of the Saudi-born dissident's al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan began Sunday.
CNN has also capitalized on Al-Jazeera's access to such scoops as the American news agency benefited from an exclusivity contract with Al-Jazeera allowing it to broadcast bin Laden's message this weekend.
The White House warned Wednesday that bin Laden, blamed for the devastating September 11th terror attacks in New York and Washington, may be using the taped statements to give coded orders to his followers to kill more Americans.
It urged television networks to reconsider airing them in their entirety.
"At best, Osama bin Laden's message is propaganda, calling on people to kill Americans. At worst, he could be issuing orders to his followers to initiate such attacks," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
His comments followed those of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell accusing Al-Jazeera of giving too much airtime to "Islamic extremists" and others with radical views in its coverage of the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
"There have been comments from the United States and we have listened to them. If there are errors, which is possible in any journalistic work, it will be normal to rectify it," Sheikh Hamad said.
"Yes, we will do it," he said when asked if the channel would continue to broadcast bin Laden's video messages, adding it would also go after "scoops whatever their origin ... and news wherever we find it."
During the 1991 Gulf War, "CNN broadcast speeches by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein without being accused of incitement" against the West, Sheikh Hamad reasoned.
One diplomat in Doha told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the issue "risks harming Qatar, whose leaders do not seem to be able to take stock of the deep anger of the United States."
Another diplomat said that, "up until now, the United States has supported Qatar. But America's national interests are now at stake ... if Qatar does not cooperate on Al-Jazeera's broadcasting of bin Laden's messages, it risks a lot in a geopolitical context in complete transformation."
After a conference call with Condoleezza Rice, U.S. President George W. Bush's national security advisor, executives from U.S. television networks ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and Fox, agreed Wednesday not to broadcast videotapes of remarks by bin Laden or his aides without reviewing them first.
That did not, however, prevent CNN from broadcasting live footage of Al-Jazeera's anchorman in the station's Doha studios and their correspondent in Kabul on Thursday with simultaneous translation into English.
Despite U.S. accusations that Al-Jazeera peddles "inflammatory rhetoric", Bush has also not ruled out an appearance on the Arabic station - the only 24-hour news channel allowed to operate in Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan.
Powell raised the matter of Al-Jazeera last week with Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar who, as the station's main backer, has been projected as a champion of a free press.
Powell's move drew angry responses from the network, as well as press freedom advocates, who said the United States was trying to muzzle one of the few independent voices in Arabic-language media.
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