open letter to NPR - Warped Coverage of the Middle East by Felice Pace

An Open Letter to NPR
Warped Coverage of the Middle East
By FELICE PACE

Dear Scott Simon and all Weekend Edition Sat folks:

Weekend Edition Saturday in general and Scott Simons hosting and essays in particular have been among my favorite news experiences for many, many years. But in recent years, and as I have learned more from non-US sources about events in the Middle East and elsewhere, my enthusiasm has come to be tempered with frustration and deep concern.

Saturday's show was a case in point. Scotts interview with Beirut editor Rami Khouri was supposed to be focused on reactions across the Middle East to Zarqawis death. Mr. Simon began asking Mr. Khouri to gauge the effect (of the killing) elsewhere in the region.Mr. Khouri responded that Zarqawis death is seen as changing little because he was only a symptom and symbolof the dissatisfaction with US policy in the Middle East. He then went on to cite Jordanian Security officials to the effect that Israeli policies and actions toward the Palestinians and US support for those policies and actions, as well as the invasion and destabilization of Iraq, are the underlying realitieswhich are the basis of anti-American feelings. Because these realities had not changed, Mr. Khouri suggested, Zarqawis death would change little. Mr. Simon said Hmm- then quickly changed the subject to recent Iraqi cabinet appointments.

I have come to expect reactions like Mr. Simon's whenever an interviewee suggests to a US reporter that the terrible situation in the Middle East and the hatred of the US by Muslim's generally is directly related to US policy and actions toward Israel and Palestine. Such suggestions are almost universally treated by American reporters as hot potatoes; there is the moment of silence, then they are hurried into obscurity as quickly as possible.

A seasoned reported would have been expected to seize on Mr. Khouri's tantalizing suggestion and dig deeper in order to decipher and report just what specific policies and actions Mr. Khouri and the Jordanian security officialsbelieve are the bedrock cause of the symptom and symbolphenomenon like Zarqawi. But not on THIS issue.


http://www.counterpunch.org/pace06122006.html

I stopped giving him any credence back in 1999 during the WTO protests in Seattle. There was a reporter on the scene talking about the peaceful nature of the protests, the union members and Greens linking arms, etc., etc. All Scott wanted to talk about was the trashing of the Starbucks. The reporter on the scene would keep stressing that this was only a small handful and that 99.9% of the protesters were peaceful and orderly. Scott would have none of it. Scott would not let her finish a sentence -"Yes, but what about the violence, throwing a brick through the Starbucks window, setting fires, etc." The reporter finally gave up and let Scott have his rant.