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CNN RELIABLE SOURCES

Special Edition: Coverage of Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Scandal

Aired May 16, 2004 - 11:00   ET

KURTZ: Welcome to RELIABLE SOURCES. I'm Howard Kurtz. Today, we turn our critical lens on the power of images and the responsibility of journalists in putting out those images in a time of terror.

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KURTZ: Welcome back to RELIABLE SOURCES.

The prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq and the grisly execution of Nick Berg are dominating the news here in the United States. But much of the Arab media are taking a different approach.

Joining us now from Toronto is Irshad Manji. She's the host of TV Ontario's "Big Ideas" and author of the big, "The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith."

Thank you for joining us.

IRSHAD MANJI, AUTHOR, "THE TROUBLE WITH ISLAM: Thanks for having me, Howard.

KURTZ: Is much of the Arab media enjoying or even relishing playing up these pictures of American soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners?

MANJI: Actually, no. My survey of the Arab press, both English language and Arabic language, shows that they're not capitalizing on these images at all. Mostly, by the way, for tactical reasons. The assertion being that if we allow these images to be played up as gruesome and as grisly as they are, then what that will only do is detract and deflect attention away from the so-called real crimes that the Bush administration is inflicting on Arabs.

KURTZ: Those real crimes being?

MANJI: Well, obviously the -- you know, photos of the prisoner abuses in Abu Ghraib, among the other photos that are going to be making their way to the Arab press very shortly.

It is interesting, however, Howard, to point out that in the English language Arab press there have been strong condemnations and denunciations of the Berg beheading. You know, in The Arab News, which is a Saudi daily, The Jordan Times, The Lebanon Daily Star, whose editor in chief is a highly westernized Palestinian, there have been very strong, you know, words used, "barbarism," for example. But in the Arabic language press, very tepid, very cautious.

KURTZ: And at the same time, Egypt's leading newspaper ignored the execution. The Syrian press had nothing.

MANJI: That's right.

KURTZ: How can it be that it is not news when an innocent American is murdered for at least some elements of the Arab press? How can that be? MANJI: I think, Howard, there is a culture of victimhood going on here, whereby, you know, for example, if there's a story that waxes about Arab oppression at the hands of Israel, then that story will immediately and always trump any story about, you know, criminal activity that Arabs conduct in their own backyard. And I've got examples to show that.

This is not a recent one, but it did happen, you know, in the lead-up to the Iraqi invasion. I think you can see, this is the Pakistani Daily Dawn. And it shows Arab women being trained to defend Iraq and defend Palestine. OK? The two are inherently linked in December of 2002.

And what this photo shows, as grisly as it is, is women being trained to tear a white live rabbit apart. Blood literally on their hands. So it is interesting to note some images are considered too disgusting but other images are not.

KURTZ: That's quite a front page picture.

MANJI: Exactly.

KURTZ: Let's take a listen to something that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld recently had to say about the Arab media.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD RUMSFELD, DEFENSE SECRETARY: We have been lied about, however, day after day, week after week, month after month, for the last 12 months in the Arab press, in Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. So there's an awful lot of people that already have a rather unfavorable impression of what the United States is doing in Iraq.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: Your reaction?

MANJI: I couldn't disagree with him entirely. We know that the Arab press, at least large elements of it, are controlled by governments, autocratic dictatorial governments. And I think many Muslims are right to point out that these dictatorial governments are propped up by American interests.

But that in and of itself does not explain a lot of what's going on. Al Jazeera, for example, trumpets itself as a free, independent form of media.

KURTZ: Yes.

MANJI: Well, you know, cast your mind back, Howard, to about three weeks ago, when car bombings happened in Saudi Arabia and in Iraq. And, you know, that was the main story in most of the world's media. But not on Al Jazeera, where they focused instead on eight Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip, even though the body count there was infinitely less than it was in these other cases.

KURTZ: Right. But what you're saying is basically that a lot of these media organizations engage in old-fashioned news management, and they play up something that they think will help their agenda and they play down things that will not be helpful. Now, our time is short...

MANJI: It's called propaganda.

KURTZ: OK. I guess that word had escaped me. I just want to touch on President Bush's recent interview with the Arab television network, Al Arabiya. He went on, he apologized to the Muslim world. Did that sort of thing gain him any points at all, at least in the eyes of Arab journalists?

MANJI: Not a lot for one very clear reason, and that is, you know, he appeared, for example, on Al Hurra, which is a new Arab broadcaster, but it is based in Richmond, Virginia, and therefore, doesn't have a whole lot of credibility because it's seen as an arm of American propaganda. He did also, of course, go on to Al Arabiya, but what he refused to was go on Al Jazeera.

KURTZ: Right.

MANJI: And, again, I think that spoke volumes to a lot of Arab viewers.

KURTZ: We're going to have to leave it there. Irshad Manji, thanks very much for joining us. We hope you'll come back.

MANJI: Appreciate it.