U.K. media says no to call for self-censorship

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, OCT. 14. Blinking first in any confrontation is bad tactic, and the British media believes that the Government is doing precisely that by attempting to sanitise the coverage of the war in Afghanistan.

Taking a leaf from White House, Downing Street is pressing British broadcasters to be more restrained in showing video tapes of Osama bin Laden, or putting out what might sound like Taliban propaganda. Apparently, the Prime Minister, Mr. Tony Blair's director of communications, Mr. Alastair Campbell, himself a master of spin par excellence, is upset that Bin Laden is being given an ``easy ride'' by TV channels which have been routinely showing the video-taped messages of Bin Laden and his lieutenants, borrowed from the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV station.

In the U.S., TV networks have already agreed to voluntary censorship after the Bush administration said the tape could be carrying coded messages for Bin Laden's supporters but in Britain there is resistance with the BBC indicating that it is opposed to any form of censorship. Other TV networks have also attacked the move, which is seen as a move to curb their freedom. A senior BBC executive has been quoted as saying that its experience with a similar ban on the IRA in the past shows that censorship does not work. ``There is an argument that Bin Laden shouldn't have the oxygen of publicity. I disagree. It is better for us all to know what they are thinking,'' Mr. Richard Sambrook, head of BBC news, told a newspaper.

The move comes amid a growing view, and an indirect admission by Mr. Blair, that in the battle for the ``hearts and minds'' of the Muslim world the West is losing the propaganda war. The first videotaped message of Bin Laden, calling for a ``jehad'' against the West, is believed to have made a huge impact on the conservative Muslim opinion, and a rattled Mr. Blair insisted that he too should be given time on Al-Jazeera to rebut him. ``The West has been caught flat-footed by Bin Laden's use of video-taped interviews to get the message out that this is a war not against him but against Islam,'' said a seasoned political commentator who interview Mr. Blair for The Observer today.

Mr. Blair cautioned against giving Bin Laden a ``sort of elevated sense of his cleverness'' and insisted that ``we will win (the propaganda war) because what we're saying is true and right.'' Others, however, have a different perception. A senior British defence journalist, Mr. Robert Fox, interviewed on Sky TV, said Bin Laden had proved to be a better manipulator. He had made an impact because he was ``talking directly to the people''. ``He is giving the modern version of the sermon,'' he said, adding that while Bin Laden was ``terribly focussed, we are terribly unfocussed.''

Another journalist, Mr. Ziauddin Sardar of the New Statesman said Bin Laden's tactic had been ``very clever'' in addressing his audience directly. The move towards self-censorship has been widely criticised on the plea that it would undermine the credibility of the Western media, already seen in many parts of the world as biased.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : International
Previous : U.S. forces cautioned about anthrax
Next     : U.S. keen to wipe out foreign terrorists in
           Afghanistan