Asia Times reports that “Aljazeera is coming in for increasing criticism in the Arab world after a spate of embarrassing revelations that suggest it has capitulated to United States pressure and tamed its news coverage.”
Exactly how did it tame its coverage? “Aljazeera’s top management chose not to air several Osama bin Laden tapes; pulled from its news websites caricatures the White House deemed offensive; and removed its former general manager following US complaints to the Emir of Qatar about the channel’s coverage of the war in Iraq.”
Now I don’t know about the caricatures and the Emir of Qatar, but what’s that about Osama? Al-Jazeera is being criticized for not giving him publicity? Ibrahim Hillal, the editor-in-chief, explained: “We don’t want to become the fanatic’s channel.”
Precisely. After all, I thought that Osama’s version of Islam was a discredited ideology, rejected by the vast majority of Muslims. So who is criticizing Al-Jazeera for not putting his mug on the air?