LONDON, 28 March 2003 — Banned on Wall Street and wiped off the Internet, Arab news channel Al-Jazeera defended its coverage of the Iraq war on Wednesday and demanded the United States come to its aid in the name of a free press. Al-Jazeera, which angered Washington by showing footage of dead and captured American soldiers, voiced concern after two of its reporters were banned from the New York Stock Exchange and its websites were hacked.
The stock exchange stopped Al-Jazeera broadcasts, saying credentials were only for networks that provided “responsible” coverage. Al-Jazeera was also denied a request to broadcast live from New York’s NASDAQ exchange. “There has to be a national effort to protect the freedom of the press even more,” Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said. “We appeal to authorities to pay attention to this.”
But in Washington, US Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized Al-Jazeera’s coverage of the US invasion of Iraq. “Al-Jazeera has an editorial line and a way of presenting news that appeals to the Arab public. They watch it and they magnify the minor successes of the (Iraqi) regime. They tend to portray our efforts in a negative light,” Powell said in an interview with National Public Radio, broadcast on Wednesday.
Powell did not comment on Al-Jazeera’s complaints, but said he would wait to see what the channel reports “after we have defeated this (Iraqi) regime.”
Al-Jazeera has taken the Arab world by storm since its launch in 1996, with its reporting and brash, Western style drawing an audience of more than 35 million. After making its name in the Afghan war with exclusive footage of Osama Bin laden, the Qatar-based satellite channel has also had success in Europe, with viewers doubling since the start of the Iraq war.
But the CNN of the Arab world raised US ire when on Sunday it aired shaken US prisoners of war and dead US soldiers with gaping bullet wounds, prompting the Pentagon to issue an appeal to US networks not to use the footage.
