While the United States government says Osama bin Laden shouldn’t be allowed time on the airwaves, media executives around the world say he’s a newsmaker.
The BBC, Sky News and CNN were among television stations quick to pick up the latest video from the September 11 mastermind after it was aired last month on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.
In an unusual admission, the US said it had seen the video before Al-Jazeera aired it and tried, through the Qatari government, to keep it from being shown.
A US State Department official argued that Al-Jazeera should not have given a platform to someone who runs terrorist operations and promotes terrorist activities.
Al-Jazeera spokesperson Jihad Ali Ballout countered in a statement that his station bases decisions on what to air on newsworthiness, and “I don’t think anybody would disagree as to the high news value of the Bin Laden tape”.
In the tape delivered to Al-Jazeera’s bureau in Pakistan days before the US presidential elections, Bin Laden addressed American voters, criticising US President George Bush and saying Americans could avoid another September 11 if their leaders stop threatening Muslims. Bin Laden also admitted for the first time that he ordered the September 11 attacks.
Among the many networks who agreed the Bin Laden tape was news was Britain’s Sky, which aired a few minutes of the 18-minute video.
“The content of the tape and the timing of its release were obviously of editorial interest,” Sky News said in a statement. “There is a delicate line to be trod between censorship — preventing viewers knowing what is going on — and giving air time to terrorist propaganda.”
The BBC, which also showed small parts of the tape, said it followed its policy of reviewing the contents to determine its news value.
“Our judgement is largely determined by what we deem to be in the public interest and the nature of content,” a BBC spokesperson said.
Reporters sans Frontières, an independent media watchdog, criticised the US for trying to squash the Bin Laden tape.
Washington is “going far beyond its prerogative”, said Severine Cazes, head of the Middle East desk for Reporters sans Frontières.
“It should not be the Qatari government telling Al-Jazeera how to show the news, and of course it should also not be the American government pressuring in a very strong way not only Al-Jazeera but other media.”
Al-Jazeera’s Ballout would not say if the Qatari government had passed on the US objections, and Qatari government officials would not comment.
Al-Jazeera aired most of the Bin Laden tape, and later posted a full transcript on its website.
Al-Jazeera has tense relations with the US. The station has been repeatedly accused by Washington of being biased and bent on inciting its Arab viewers, specifically in its coverage of the US occupation of Iraq and of Bin Laden.
Bin Laden and other figures in his al-Qaeda terror network usually make their videos and other statements available to Al-Jazeera exclusively.
Top-ranking US officials nonetheless grant Al-Jazeera interviews, recognising its reach and influence in the Arab world.
In a curious side note, it remains unclear how the US received a copy of the latest Bin Laden tape before Al-Jazeera aired it. Speculation ranges from US spies intercepting the satellite feed from Al-Jazeera’s Islamabad bureau to being handed a copy from their own sources, the Qatari government or from within Al-Jazeera. — Sapa-AP
Associated Press reporter Sue Leeman in London contributed to this report