Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Yes, some reporters are honest

the National Review reports:


Twenty-two staffers of al-Jazeera quit in protest over orders from the brass to tilt coverage apparently in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood. This comes after reporters from al-Jazeera were kicked out of a news conference because of their sympathetic coverage of the Brotherhood.
from GulfNews:


Anchor Karem Mahmoud announced that the staff had resigned in protest against what he called “biased coverage” of the events in Egypt by the Qatari broadcaster.
Mahmoud said that the resignations had been brought about by a perceived lack of commitment and Al Jazeera professionalism in media coverage, adding that “the management in Doha provokes sedition among the Egyptian people and has an agenda against Egypt and other Arab countries.”
Usually AlJazeera gets a bad press in the US, but it is one of the few news casters in the region that isn't run by government orders, and isn't required to give coverage (propaganda) to support the government.

Is Qatar following orders from Obama/his WH staff?


In a statement issued Thursday, White House officials say calls have been made to officials in Egypt and elsewhere to convey the importance of a quick and responsible return of full authority to a democratically elected civilian government...Calls were made to officials in Egypt, Israel, Qatar, Turkey and Norway. Obama was briefed in the White House Situation Room.

and no, I don't know enough about it to comment, except to note that the reason that the US is a republic is that pure democracy results in demagogues inflaming the mob (see the death of Socrates).

And then there is the problem of competence. Often reformers/revolutionaries don't know how to run the place, and if you get rid of all the competent but corrupt folks who used to run the government, you end up with something worse...

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