If you have not seen or heard of this documentary,,,

It's quite facinating and informative. With a Middle Eastern twist.

Jehane Noujaim, a reporter with Al Jazeera, follows the war Iraq and offers some amazing footage and commentary.

It is not entirely unbiased of course, just as the North American news has been biased. Propaganda is used as a tool and the media is it's transport.

A stark reminder that the news we see is NOT the entire story.

The video is graphic at points. If you are squeemish be warned as they DO show the bloodshed.

This documentary offers an extra glimpse into the mass media we are so inundated with. The control of this media in the First world countries is shamefully apparent.

It is an amazing offset to what we are allowed to see. They don't show you this stuff...why? Propaganda.

The link to the video is here: Control Room

EDITED to add: oops. As I said above the video is not an unbiased presentation. It does offer a glimpse into the "other" side of the media bandwagon. nationalism is rampant with both media engines!

[edit on 5/23/2006 by justgeneric]

[edit on 5/23/2006 by justgeneric]

I'll give it a look see, will get back to you on this. Al Jaz eer aye, you don't say.
Propaganda, yes, this much is known before even seeing it. Ok, brb.

Opinions or reflections from people regarding the media's coverage of the initial stages of the war and how it was broadcast/handled. Not that Al Jazeera is the definitive source of media coverage in that region, but as far as being the number one news portal for the arab world; the comparisons between the first world reporting aggencies like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC etc...

It's a nice little flip side with some real honesty in much of it.

Of course to rally and bolster American sympathies the media must stick to the agenda. To show death and destruction as a real fact of war is NOT what the first world countries want to see. So it is largely omitted from nearly every broadcast.

I found the documentary to be quite honest. Showing both sides in a "behind the scenes" view point without all the sarcasm of say...a Michael Moore production (who I am a fan of BTW).

It was very interesting to see the US representatives at Command Central talking rather candidly. It was also quite refreshing to see a sort of common ground being enjoyed by the reporters and journalists in general. All working for the same thing, but keeping their own Nationalism in priority.

Al Jazeer has come under fire from numerous sources...from the US, Britain, Australia, Canada and from parts of the Arab World itself. Why?

Is what they do so radical? Is it so far from truth? Is it part of our First World media conditioning that dictates what is "viable news" and what is not?

The graphic images are painful to see...so was 9/11...so will be the impending war in Iran...will we be open to the images and accounts of only one source? Or will we as intelligent and curious beings search out information from as many sources as possible in our attempts to learn, educate and teach about the world we live in?

I read Al Jazeera with the same "grain of salt" I read MSNBC, or my local paper the Vancouver Sun and the Province. I read a number of Korean news papers online, BBC news, Russian news, Japanese news...

I compare information. Nothing is to be 100% believed simply because it is broadcast or printed.

I hope many view the documentary with an open mind, you will be pleasantly surprised as I was.

The war on terror, to clarify why I placed this here, uses the media as a transport vehicle for it's propaganda. The people owe it to themselves to investigate! Be diligent in referencing sources and comparing information...there is so much available how can you not?

Cheers and happy viewing.

I watched the beginning of the video, for some reason I keep getting an error part way into it and it messes up. From what I saw though, it wasn't as I thought it would be. They did seem to be doing what any other media group does, and far better than Fox at that.

Going to get an update for the media player, will post more later.

I'll try to download it and encode it for either QT or WMP...I can also stuff it into flash if I can find the audio file somewhere. Geeks and their toys

I watched the video. I think it was very informative.

Now how insulting to the Iraqi people must it be during their 2 hours of electricity if they elect to watch the American news, to see our main concerns immigration, the da vinci code,american idol, britney spears......?

I think the Jewish controlled media wants it that way. From a Jewish standpoint, I think they want Americans to dislike the Arabs. It benefits their stance and their situation. I believe that is why the obvious 9/11 cover-up gets no airtime. The Iraq war gets less and less coverage everyday because Americans are generally not happy. The Jewish leaders dont like us having sympathy for the Arabs. Its seems the worse the situation gets in Iraq, the more coverage on the "off" topics we get. The only coverage we get on Iraq is roadside bombs killing soldiers, so we continue to think "those damn arab killers." Then were all off to latest scandal in Washington.