The Free Press of Namibia has a column Friday that points out a difference between the American media’s coverage of the latest audiotape believed to be from Osama bin Laden and the differing focus by the Arab media. While it is not surprising that there would be a variance in view in general between these two regions, it seems to be very specific in this case. The editorial states that Arab media is sticking to the oil-related points that bin Laden makes, while American outlets are making the Iraqi elections the ‘highlight’ of the tapes.
Some examples pulled from Google News:
CNN, “Bush: ‘Stakes are clear’ in Iraqi elections”, December 29, 2004
CNN, “Purported bin Laden tape calls for Iraqi election boycott”, December 27, 2004.
MSNBC, “Voice on tape is bin Laden, say U.S. investigators”, December 28, 2004
NYPost, “Osama Tape Urges Iraqi Election Boycott”, December 28, 2004
While this is in no way conclusive, it does appear that this particular batch of coverage does seem to focus on the elections - which are apparently the bulk of the content of the tape. It should be pointed out that a tape found on December 16 contained more of a push to harm the exports of oil to the U.S., and this tape merely “reiterated” the directive.
Sure, Al Jazeera leaves a lot to be desired, but if the Arab media is looking at one particular angle of a story, is it not worthy of coverage by American media? At the very least, it could offer some direction to our government as to the possibility of serious oil problems.
