Media Bias: Our Saudi Arabian Friends

Today on its "Dateline" news show, NBC presented a story exploring why most of the terrorists who attacked America on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. They observed that some of the terrorists were well educated and from wealthy families. They interviewed one man who had two brothers who were hijackers on one of the planes that targeted the WTC. He said his brothers were not very religious, they did not hate America, and they were not angry about the Palestinian issue. All blame was placed on Bin Laden, who must have brainwashed his "immature" brothers. A Saudi government official was also interviewed; he stressed the friendship between his country and America.


What Arab officials say to the American press is often quite different from what they say to their own people in their own language, however. NBC did not explore what role the Arab media may have played in shaping the beliefs and attitudes of these ordinary citizens turned terrorists. Here's an example from an Al-Jazeera talk show which aired last month. Abdullah Bin Matruk Al-Haddal, a Saudi government official from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, made the following comments about bin Laden:


"...I did not come [here] to defend bin Laden personally. Bin Laden waged an Islamic Jihad; he defended the oppressed people in Afghanistan. He expelled the Soviet Union [from Afghanistan]. The Western world focuses on Osama bin Laden and the Jihad, and ignores the Muslims' faith, their principles, and their values. Men like bin Laden will not allow the Islamic world to bow down under the infidel enemies' tyranny, under the tyranny of the U.S...."


"...There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden waged Jihad against the infidels, against the aggressor and the oppressor. America does not want Islamic principles [to exist] on the face of this planet. It does not want the full implementation of Islam's values and principles... It does not want there to be a free Islamic economy."


"...America doesn't want to have any competitors. She wants to be all alone in this world. Osama bin Laden's demands are the demands of his nation. The nation who gave rise to Osama bin Laden is a strong and great nation. It is the nation of the future."


"...Osama bin Laden [caused] the West to think and read a lot about Islam. Books on Islam disappeared from the market; everybody wants to read about the kind of Islam that does not accept oppression..."


"...Osama bin Laden is a Jihad warrior who implemented the principles of Islam and of faith, and then reached the pinnacle by going to fight the Jihad in Afghanistan. This is a man who gave his soul for Allah, and Allah guarded his soul until he reached a point where he became a hero like Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi [Salladin]."


"Like all other Muslims, bin Laden wanted to apply the Shari'a fully with its values, principles, economics, media, and education. Even in sports there should be Shar'i sport."


Mr. Al-Haddal also made the following comments about Jews:


"I don't believe that the attack on America [on September 11th] was perpetrated by bin Laden or the Muslims. I think differently. I believe it was a scheme. What is happening now is a continuation of an ancient attack. It is a continuation of the Jewish deception and the Jewish-Zionist wickedness which infiltrates the U.S.... I am surprised that the Christian U.S. allows the 'brothers of apes and pigs' [meaning the Jews] to corrupt it. [The Jews] have murdered the prophets and the messengers. [The Jews] are the most despicable people who walked the land and are the worms of the entire world. They are all evil. And why? Because they are deceiving and plotting aggressors..."


"...The Jews do not respect Jesus, the son of Mary. America should know who the Jews truly are. The Jews see Jesus as someone born from prostitution, while he is the noble prophet of Allah, and his mother, peace be upon her, is pure..."


"...Jewish fingerprints have infiltrated the U.S. Jewish evil and deception are those who attacked the U.S. [on September 11th]. Osama bin Laden fought against the opposing falsehood and oppression that is generated by the evil and deceptive Jewish-Zionism..."


"...They want to rid the world of Islam. They don't want Islam to ever have a revival. Osama bin Laden removed oppression; even Muslims came back to their belief and their religion. He did not present a distorted picture of Islam to the West. Quite the contrary; reading about Islam became more popular in the West. Westerners read on the morality of the Prophet Mohammed, his beliefs and his values. They read about Islam, not about terrorism..."


"...The American people is a people that is being led by the media and TV culture. If a wicked Jewish crook begins saying that the Muslims are oppressors, it has an influence on the Americans. The media in America is in the hands of the Jews and behind it there are the Jewish Zionists' despicable fingerprints that change reality. They have even deceived the Christians about their own religion. Did you know that the person who forged the Christian religion is a Jew?"


"The Muslims have mercy on the Christians more than they have on the Jews. Bin Laden defended the oppressed. We warn the U.S. and advise her to get rid of the Jews."


Why do you suppose NBC did not regard the anti-American and antisemetic rhetoric of Saudi Arabian government officials to be relevant to a story about why so many of the 9-11 terrorists were from that country?

"Why do you suppose NBC did not regard the anti-American and antisemetic rhetoric of Saudi Arabian government officials to be relevant to a story about why so many of the 9-11 terrorists were from that country?"


Because NBC reflects the views of the government. Our government considers Saudi Arabia an ally, for obvious reasons.


Just read a short book called "Debating War and Peace" by Jonathan Mermin. His conclusion: "In their news coverage of U.S. intervention in the pos-Vietnam era, the New York Times, World News Tonight, and the Macneil/Lehrer Newshour have made no independent contribution (except at the margins) to foreign-policy debate in the the United States. The spectrum of debate in Washington, instead, has determined the spectrum of debate in the news."


Washington says Saudi Arabia is good, NBC says it's good.

There may be more to this bias than the simple fact that Saudi Arabia is our official ally.


I agree that the major media outlets tailor their news coverage to support official government policies. To what extent to you believe this is attributable to direct government control or infiltration of the media as opposed to the personal bias of news reporters and directors? What would happen if Dateline were allowed to make the anti-semetic and anti-American content of Arab media the focus of its exploration about why ordinary Saudi Arabian citizens become terrorists?

read that 7 of the people they thought were on the planes are still alive (which means that someone took their identities), and so we dont really know who the terrorists were.


brad

There were some articles closer to 9/11 that had some good sources indicating one of the hijackers was an Iraqui intelligence officer with an assumed identity. Coincidence with our latest pronouncements on Iraq?

Well, it's certainly not direct governmental control. It's the easiest thing to do, to take what the government says as "the news." And it's a lot easier to stay near the center of the political spectrum than to venture too far out into left or right field.

theres so much stuff theres no telling how evil this thing really is. i dont even want to get into it because i dont think i can convey the information well enough.


brad

I do not believe this bias of the news media can be attributed only to laziness; that level of consistent incompetence could only exist in a government agency.


Some news bias is driven by ratings concerns. I do not think this particular bias promotes ratings, however.

I think Andy is right on the money. A mainstream news outlet can't afford to be too critical of US policies or allies because they might be perceived to be "anti-American". That's why I say the "liberal media bias" of the US media, if it exists at all, is limited only to domestic issues.

Other than an occasional Op-Ed piece in the NY Times, I have yet to see any sort of meaningful criticism of US foreign policy by the mainstream media.