January 31, 2006

Al Jazeera Making Money on Jill Carroll Hostage Video?

I've always thought al Jazeera was the most despicable media organization on Earth. They are objectively pro-terror, pro-tyranny, and pro-fascism. What I did not know, however, was that the frequent hostage videos aired by al Jazeera are then sold to Western media outlets for rebroadcast. If this is true, then the Western mainstream media is partially culpable for the plight of Western hostages in Iraq.

While many hostages are taken for purely financial reasons, others, including Jill Carroll, were taken for their propaganda value. Their terrorist captors find value in the fact that the Western media will replay her hostage videos over and over. Just like they did Giulana Sgrena's. This reinforces the notion that the terrorists are winning. And if people in the West believe the terrorists are winning, they will have less of a will to fight. Why fight a losing battle?

If true, shame on the Western media for paying the terrorists' media arm, al Jazeera, for a news story.

Human Events:

Having gotten their scoop, Al-Jazeera will then sell rights to the video to other networks, including American news channels. This generates income for the money-losing network and provides a measure of cover: If everyone else is airing them, why single them out?

Networks like hostage videos because they are newsworthy and form the basis for follow-on stories. There are relatives pleading for the release of their loved ones, generals asserting that we don't negotiate with terrorists, and pundits moaning that things must really be going badly. And at many networks, the "if it bleeds it leads" rule has a corollary: If it hurts Bush, give it a push.

The problem with these hostage videos is two-fold. First, they provide aid and comfort to our enemies in time of war. While a 30-second tape by a random terror groups may lack the propaganda punch of a rambling Osama tape, it will be followed by another almost exactly like it, and then another, dampening resolve and eroding morale.

Second, the publicity these tapes provide teaches aspiring terrorists that the price of admission for an airing of their grievances is not joining the political process, but simply grabbing a foreign hostage. This endangers every foreigner in Iraq, not just those seen as occupiers. [emphasis mine]