[Media-watch] Irate military, hackers let loose on al-Jazeera

[david Miller]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/114710_jazeera28.shtml 
Friday, March 28, 2003

Irate military, hackers let loose on al-Jazeera
By NORA ACHRATI
COX NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON -- The Arabic news network al-Jazeera is being battered by a storm of angry reaction after airing footage of U.S. and British war dead and prisoners.

"The decision by al-Jazeera to broadcast such material is deplorable," Air Marshal Brian Burridge said yesterday at a briefing at the coalition's military headquarters in Qatar after the network showed pictures of two dead British servicemen who have been listed as missing since Sunday.

"All media outlets must be aware of the limits of taste and decency and be wary that they do not unwittingly become the tools of the Iraqi regime," Burridge said.

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials lashed out at al-Jazeera for showing footage of American POWs and soldiers who had been killed in action.

The reaction has gone beyond words. On Tuesday, the New York Stock Exchange snatched away the credentials of two al-Jazeera reporters. The Nasdaq exchange refused the network's request for credentials the same day.

NYSE spokesman Ray Pellecchia said the decision was based on space limitations and on what al-Jazeera had broadcast.

"We have a finite number of broadcast slots available," Pellecchia said. "Then came (al-Jazeera's) weekend coverage, and management here felt, well, here's a way to prioritize, because obviously this isn't responsible."

Al-Jazeera had been broadcasting from the exchange for about four years. It is the only one of 25 media outlets broadcasting from the floor whose credentials have been revoked.

Nasdaq media representatives say they issue credentials on a case-by-case basis.

The network also has been attacked through cyberspace. Al-Jazeera unveiled an English-language Web site Monday, only to have it rendered inaccessible Tuesday by a "denial of service" program unleashed by hackers. Yesterday the site was hacked in a different way. According to wire reports, visitors were redirected to a site on which a U.S. flag was displayed, along with the words "Let Freedom Ring."

>From al-Jazeera's Washington bureau, network officials released a statement saying they were cooperating with the Pentagon's request to stop broadcasting identifiable images of Western casualties before families had been notified.

"We urge the NYSE to reconsider its decision in the interest of upholding the values of the United States of America," the release said. "We also sympathize deeply with the families of all victims of war."

Media watchdogs condemned Wall Street's decision to bar al-Jazeera's reporters.

"I don't think anybody at NYSE is in a position to decide what quality journalism is," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Virginia-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "It's very short-sighted," she said.

Bob Steele, director of the ethics program at the Poynter Institute, a journalism foundation in St. Petersburg, Fla., wrote in his Wednesday column that the sanctions against al-Jazeera "bode badly for freedom of the press in this country, and potentially around the world."

Pellecchia of NYSE said the exchange is now talking to al-Jazeera about reclaiming a spot on the trading floor. He said the exchange had received a number of calls from the public for and against the decision to boot the reporters from the floor.

Al-Jazeera has been praised and condemned for its flashy, no-holds-barred style. Funded in part by the Qatari state, it was launched in 1996 as the first independent television news network in the Arab world. Its style and largely censorship-free coverage has made it the most popular Arabic-language news channel in the Middle East, with about 35 million viewers.

Cox Newspapers correspondent Don Melvin contributed to this story from Doha, Qatar.