Al-Jazeeras Control Room - Essay Example

?Al-Jazeera’s Control Room Control Room is a film about media coverage of the 2003 US-led war in Iraq. It was released in 2004 for the Sundance Film Festival. The 84 minutes film directed by Jehane Noujaim, an Egyptian-American filmmaker and distributed by Magnolia Pictures, focused on the role of Al Jazeera, a Qatar television news network. The film was produced by Hani Salama and Rosadel Varela both in Arabic and English language (Bacha and Noujaims, film). The war is a documentary by Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel, an Arab news station with headquarters at Doha, Qatar which is ten miles away from the US Military Central Command Office. It showed scenarios about how the television network gathered information and broadcasted the war, which serves its main purpose - to provide a balance and fair view to their 40 million Arab worldwide audiences (Bacha and Noujaims, film). The film casted Hassan Ibrahim, the Sudanese Al-Jazeera journalist, Samir Khader, Al- Jazeera senior producer, Deema Khatib, Al- Jazeera producer, Tom Mintier, CNN Correspondents, Lieutenant Josh Rushing, US Central Command Press Officer, and David Shuster, NBC Correspondents. The film showed the events that transpired during the Iraq war of which media centers and their journalists or camera men were killed, wounded, or became casualties of war despite providing the Pentagon their GPRS locations prior to encounters (Bacha and Noujaims, film). Al-Jazeera became one of the most controversial news channels in the Arab world after documenting the Iraq war. It has been criticized both by the Arab Government and US President George Bush’s administration. The former accused that the network was the promoter of “American propaganda” while the latter accused the network as pro-Iraqi. The perceived bias even had them branded as “the mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden,” due to their fearless broadcasting of images of American tanks, bombing scenes, and the bloodied, wounded Iraqi casualties. The film also showed American soldiers shouting at Iraqi prisoners and harassing Iraqis, and interviews of Iraqis who have lost homes and family members during the war. The US government pointed out that the Arab media is exaggerated for reporting those war events. However, the network has defended their stand that the film only showed the real cost of war and counteracted that the US government were criticizing the film because they do not want the world to see their harshness and faults to Iraqi people and even to the members of the media in invading the country (Bacha and Noujaims, film). The movie’s real theme was about the war between the US and the Iraq. However, the scenes were mostly focused on the differences between Al-Jazeera network and the American news networks’ process of reporting the war. The network, though received tremendous attacks because of showing the facts of war still continued to provide fair and balanced information report because they believed that people deserve to know the truth. As Deema Khatib, the Al-Jazeera producer of the film said their main purpose of filming the war is to show all sides of the war claiming that the US networks camouflage the real cost of war (BBC News, P 3-11). 1. Do you think that the documentary has delivered the message of its theme? I believe that the film was able to deliver the message of its theme: the Iraq war as mindless. In fact, it was very obvious since even during the reign of Saddam Hussein, it was already found that the United States supplied many weapon materials to Saddam’s administration, and this has not been sanctioned. In addition, all the US soldiers’ prowling of Iraq never yielded any form of weapon of mass destruction or WMD, which the Bush administration has declared and made the US citizens believe (Fisk, P 4). It is therefore true that many atrocities committed by the US are for reasons other than what it claimed. The US government claimed that the invasion of Iraq to defeat Saddam Hussein was aimed at freeing the Iraq people from a brutal dictator leader. This, however, has become questionable for many reasons. Although their fundamental goal is to help, the US troop lacked war planning because as shown in the film. Many innocent Iraqi people were helpless victims of the war. One interview of a woman showed their destroyed homes, the wounded Iraqi people, a child shouting for justice, and the wife of the journalist Tarek Ayyoub, who is shouting for justice for her husband’s death due to US missile bombing. Many citizens were suspected as terrorist and experienced beatings from the US Military. 2. To what extent the documentary might change your perception on the war in Iraq? The documentary has provided another side of the war that has been largely overlooked in many western news reports. Focus of western media is on the western forces such as the US and the British. However, upon viewing, t has become obvious that the war was perpetuated and that the Iraqis or any members of the media did not deserved such atrocity done to them. Saddam’s faults were overblown and magnified a million times in order to justify the invasion of Iraq, and in the end, there was only Iraqis as casualties. 3. Critically identify the strengths and weaknesses of the video. The strengths of the video are its actual footages and images of the casualties on both sides. The lack of Iraqi coverage by the western media made it stand out like a sore finger because Al Jazeera provided the other side of the story which is the Iraqis’ side. Iraq was made synonymous to Saddam Hussein by the US and its allies which was largely distorted. Saddam Hussein and the Iraqis are not one and the same. If the US had been after Saddam Hussein, a well-executed mercenary mission could have easily achieved US goals. But this is far from truth. The film showed the mindlessness of the occupation where there is only a one-sided war which was committed by the US. As many evidences would later show, the “Iraq invasion was a war for oil,” (Stevens, P 1) and thelo film provided many parts of the missing puzzle. It would soon be found that prior to the invasion, the UK’s BP and Shell (giant oil corporations) lobbyist no other than trade minister Baroness Symons talked to Bush for the “economic” plans to make oil available to the oil giants who felt threatened on US oil companies’ exploits (Stevens, P 5). In addition, Edward Chaplin, the Foreign Office’s Middle East director at the time, said “Iraq is the big oil prospect. BP is desperate to get in there and anxious that political deals should not deny them the opportunity,” (quoted by Stevens, P 8). 4. Briefly, do you recommend this video to other viewers? If yes why? If not why? The film is highly recommended because it is an objective documentary on Iraq war. Al-Jazeera has succeeded their purpose- to provide fair and balanced journalism which does not sided any of the two conflicting countries. The movie also showed that the role of the media is to provide objective reports and let the people decide after watching it. The film also highlighted the experiences of war correspondents that leads many of them to their own demise. However, it was most important to note that the war on Iraq has been one-sided and economic in nature. Mainly, for western economic purposes, or should I say, oil giants and their political protectors. Reference: BBC News. Media incensed at journalist killings. BBC, April 9, 2003. Accessed from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2931571.stm , web Byrne, Clar . "Iraq - the most dangerous war for journalists". The Guardian. Document available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,932497,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-07. Bacha, Julia and Jehane Noujaim. “Control Room” Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgGUG3hzV6g&playnext=1&list=PL77F082A35276442B. [Accessed February 29, 2008] web. Stevens, Robert. Documents confirm Iraq invasion was a war for oil. World Socialist Website. April 21, 2011. Accessed from http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/apr2011/iraq-a21.shtml web. Read More