Thursday, May 13, 2004
Arab Media Play Down or Ignore Beheading
NewsMax: Arab media reacted cautiously Wednesday to the videotaped beheading of an American civilian by Islamic militants in Iraq, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.
The biggest pan-Arab satellite television channels broadcast an edited version of the gruesome video, not showing the killing of Nick Berg.
In one of the most explicit displays, Kuwait's Al-Siyassah daily ran a photo of a masked militant holding up Berg's severed head.
"We were winning international sympathy because of what happened at Abu Ghraib, but they come and waste it all," said Abdullah Sahar, a Kuwait University political scientist.
Mustafa Bakri, editor of Al-Osboa weekly newspaper in Egypt, said Berg's death would only hurt efforts to expose American offenses against Iraqis."Such revenge is rejected,"
Bakri said of the execution. "The American administration will make use of such crimes just to cover their real crimes against Iraqis."
Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report it at all.
In many Arab newspapers, the beheading received less display than the news of America's imposing sanctions on Syria and the killing of six Israeli soldiers in Gaza City
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Arabs Divided Over Beheading of American in Iraq
Hamas Displays Israeli Soldiers' Remains
American Beheading in Iraq Stirs Deep Reactions
U.S.: We'll Get His Murderers
CBlountBlogs
We are so outraged, it is hard for us to cover this story. We will let others do it for us.
NewsMax: Arab media reacted cautiously Wednesday to the videotaped beheading of an American civilian by Islamic militants in Iraq, with some newspapers conspicuously playing it down or even ignoring it.
The biggest pan-Arab satellite television channels broadcast an edited version of the gruesome video, not showing the killing of Nick Berg.
In one of the most explicit displays, Kuwait's Al-Siyassah daily ran a photo of a masked militant holding up Berg's severed head.
"We were winning international sympathy because of what happened at Abu Ghraib, but they come and waste it all," said Abdullah Sahar, a Kuwait University political scientist.
Mustafa Bakri, editor of Al-Osboa weekly newspaper in Egypt, said Berg's death would only hurt efforts to expose American offenses against Iraqis."Such revenge is rejected,"
Bakri said of the execution. "The American administration will make use of such crimes just to cover their real crimes against Iraqis."
Newspapers in Syria, where the government controls the press tightly, did not report it at all.
In many Arab newspapers, the beheading received less display than the news of America's imposing sanctions on Syria and the killing of six Israeli soldiers in Gaza City
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Arabs Divided Over Beheading of American in Iraq
Hamas Displays Israeli Soldiers' Remains
American Beheading in Iraq Stirs Deep Reactions
U.S.: We'll Get His Murderers
CBlountBlogs
We are so outraged, it is hard for us to cover this story. We will let others do it for us.
