Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
Quote:
Russia bars U.S. ABC News over Basayev interview
By Oliver Bullough
MOSCOW, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Moscow said on Tuesday it would bar journalists from U.S. television ABC News from working in Russia after the network aired an interview with Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev.
The U.S. State Department reacted with caution because it was still seeking to confirm the decision but said banning ABC journalists sent the wrong signal about media freedoms.
"I don't think -- if, in fact, ABC is to somehow be banned from reporting in Russia -- that that would be a positive statement about freedom of expression," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said accreditations for ABC reporters would not be renewed and, in the meantime, they would be banned from talking to officials.
Free speech advocates have repeatedly criticised President Vladimir Putin's government for restricting the Russian media, but the move against a major Western media organisation seemed unprecedented.
The Foreign Ministry statement said ABC was "now unwelcome to contact any Russian state organisations or bodies". It said broadcasting the Basayev interview "was a clear case of helping to propagandise terrorism" and accreditations for ABC workers would "not be renewed".
ABC News President David Westin said he regretted the action but "we cannot allow any government to deter us from reporting the news fully and accurately". He hoped "the Russian government will reconsider its decision."
"The mission of a free press is to cover news events -- even those involving illegal acts -- to help our audience better understand the important issues that confront us all," he said.
RUSSIA'S MOST WANTED
Basayev has a $10 million price on his head and is considered Russia's most wanted man after organising attacks on civilian targets such as the raid in Beslan last year when 330 people -- more than half of them children -- died.
In the interview, he admitted being "a bad guy, a bandit, a terrorist" but said Russia was worse. He promised more attacks as long as the Chechen war continued.
The Foreign Ministry said it would also look into the legal status of journalist Andrei Babitsky, who conducted the interview, and would ask his employer Radio Liberty to explain why he was in Chechnya without accreditation.
Babitsky, whose reporting has been a thorn in the side of the Russian army in Chechnya throughout the 10-year war, said the fierce reaction to the interview was prompted by shame over the authorities not being able to find Basayev themselves.
"The security services are embarrassed because they have spent vast sums over six years but they still can't catch Basayev, and here he is talking to a journalist," said Babitsky.
He told Reuters: "This ... just shows the state of free speech in Russia today."
Journalists need special accreditation to visit Chechnya, and foreign news organisations must travel with armed guards. Activists said the decision to bar ABC showed a new resolve to crack down on independent reporting from the region.
"This action reflects the Kremlin's growing intolerance of any kind of criticism, especially in regard to its actions in Chechnya," said the U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper's statement said Russia was "clearly trying to intimidate foreign journalists into censoring their news reporting on the war in Chechnya. We call on the (foreign) ministry to reverse its decision immediately."
source: Reuters
Some of this is hardly surprising but what about the point that
"broadcasting interviews with terrorists" is propaganda for their cause?
Do you agree?
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
Well I'm sure many people would object to a Russian news agency interviewing Osama Bin Laden...
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
doesn´t the us government acuse al-jaseera(spelling??) of the same thing from time to time?
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
Yeah. Apparently Al Jazeera is run by the spawn of Satan.
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
“The success of a terrorist operation depends almost entirely on the amount of publicity it receives.” — Walter Laqueur, Terrorism (1977)
Well this is exactly what terrorists want from media.
These guys set off bombs and kill people to garner publicity for their cause.
Terrorists thrive on publicity and are willing to use any any means to get it.
Thats why killing hundreds of children in a school is in their eyes a victory.
Yes, media publicity empowers terrorists and terrorists empower the media giving them a juicy story that sells airtime in return.
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
No need to ask who actually killed the people in that school, of course. The heroic Russian Anti-Chechen forces couldn't kill civilians, could they? Just as the Russians never did anything wrong in attacking the place not once or twice but regularly since the 19th century. :dizzy2:
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spetulhu
No need to ask who actually killed the people in that school, of course. The heroic Russian Anti-Chechen forces couldn't kill civilians, could they? Just as the Russians never did anything wrong in attacking the place not once or twice but regularly since the 19th century. :dizzy2:
Are you saying it was the Russians who went in and massacred those children and then dragged the bodies of some poor innocent Chechens in to cover up their crime? :mad:
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
Do you remember the theater hijacking? The anti-terrorist unit managed to kill a good deal of the hostages by using too powerful knock-out gas. They're just not interested in saving civilians as much as killing the opposition.
The school operation went off half-cocked too.
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spetulhu
Do you remember the theater hijacking? The anti-terrorist unit managed to kill a good deal of the hostages by using too powerful knock-out gas. They're just not interested in saving civilians as much as killing the opposition.
The school operation went off half-cocked too.
You seem to think that the guy who plants the bomb is blameless, and the guy who screws up while trying to defuse it, is responsible for the resulting deaths.
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
I think some are so obsessed with killing every last terrorist that they don't even try to save the hostages. Making a show of brutal force is more important than a few pesky civilians. Not much different than the people planting bombs there.
Re: Broadcasted Interview Propaganda for Terrorism?
What I find strange about this is that ABC is getting banned , all the did was broadcast an interview taken from another media agency , why is the other media agency not getting banned ?
Is it because the news agency that compiled the material is a US government funded radio station(originally set up by the CIA) ?
Also curious is the fact that that they had to release the Russian journalist who conducted the interview , only to rearrest him on trumped up charges , then a judge convicted him but gave him amnesty straight away .
Since this journalist has repeatedly reported on Russian government complicity in terrorism against itself and Russian atrocities in its own "war on terror" , I do wonder why they havn't silenced him permanantly already ?
Maybe he or his bosses have even more information on the activities of the FSB that they havn't yet publicised , so are untouchable for the moment .
Whatever the merits of broadcasting the interview or not , why close the secondary source and not close the primary one ?
