BARVENNON.COM
AUSTRALIAN
DIARY
ARCHIVES 1997-2007 --- ARCHIVES 2007 +
DECEMBER
2014
ABC and Al Jazeera.
If
you check the Al Jazeera website you will find that Al Jazeera is
owned by the ruling family of the emirate of Qatar. If
you check the World
Factbook, you will discover that the
Emir rules by decree with the (non-binding) advice of a council of
45, 15 of whom are appointed by
the Emir and the
remaining 30 were to be elected in 2013. Regrettably that intent was
cancelled, and the emir rules by decree with the advice of the
15 councillors whom the
emir appointed.
The same source states that Egypt has a republican form of government and universal suffrage for citizens over 18 years of age. A referendum was held in early 2014, and the current constitution was ratified and the President was appointed for a four year term.
Given those FACTS, that Egypt is a Democratic republic whilst Qatar is ruled by a dictatorial despot, I confess to bemusement that our ABC supports the Al Jazeera version of the Peter Grieste affair.
After some thought I am now unsurprised that the ABC runs Al Jazeera news so frequently (twice a day, seven days a week).
Personally, I believe that people who misrepresent news FACTS or promiscuously disseminate misrepresented news facts should be fined or jailed for a time commensurate with the damage they have done. And if the Egyptian government, having internal troubles with the minority Muslim Brotherhood, decides that Peter Grieste is the only reachable representative of AlJazeera who could be communicating false news back to Doha, then I am prepared to accept their judgement. Of course Peter is a stand in for the person who actually decided editorial policy back in Doha. Now that Peter's original conviction has been quashed, he might well be allowed to apply for deportation, but only (I suspect) if he signs a confession that could be used if he starts to proclaim lies about his innocence. A bit like that twit who got out of Gautanamo.
The mindset of the ABC management and staff is more sympathetic to a dictatorial approach. But then, we all knew that, didn't we.