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Arab Networks Racing to Show Latest News from Iraq
Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, very much, Judy. As the war in Iraq unfolds, Arab media are, of course, rushing to cover developments as quickly as their western media counterparts. For a sampling of those Arab voices, let's join CNN's Octavia Nasr at the CNN newsroom -- Octavia.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Wolf. And in this installment of "Arab Voices," we are going to look at how Arab networks, like you said, focus on the civilian losses from Tuesday morning's raid on Baghdad.
There was a race going on among major Arab networks. You can see here pictures from all the various networks. Here, we're looking at Al Arabiyah. And of course we have Abu Dhabi TV, Al-Jazeera, and Lebanese Broadcasting. And all of them race to show, of course, the latest news and the first pictures of the raids.
We're going to wait to see those latest pictures of the raids, including, also, the latest developments and the latest demonstrations from all over the world. Demonstrations, anti-war demonstrations, and in a little bit, we're going to see only one pro-war demonstration that was staged in Kuwait. We will get to that a little bit later on.
But also, it is very important to say that, as we were seeing these pictures, these Arab networks were racing for the first images on all levels. The first raids, the first pictures of the raids, the first images of casualties, as we're seeing here in these pictures, which also we've obtained for our affiliates. In this case, it is Al- Jazeera.
You're looking at the casualties from Basra. And you can see the exclusive Al-Jazeera on top. This was the same scene. Every five minutes we had exclusive pictures. Al-Jazeera exclusive pictures, Abu Dhabi TV exclusive pictures, Lebanese Broadcasting, Al Arabiyah and so forth.
All of them are in a race for the best pictures, the first pictures, and a lot of breaking news. They're definitely keeping us busy watching them, and also contacting the newsrooms to find out more about certain news, to confirm news that they're reporting, and also to see images out of Baghdad.
It is very important to say that all these Arab networks have access. And I think this is where they shine. Access to Iraq, Iraqi officials, Iraqi citizens. Take a look at this video here from Al Arabiyah. This is the market scene that was bombed early on Tuesday. People screaming, people shouting, saying this is not fair. All of these pictures were seen on all the different channels.
Again, the same story. The logo changes, the camera changes, but basically same pictures all over the Arab world -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Octavia, I'm curious about Al-Jazeera, which a lot of our viewers now are very familiar with. It's widely seen throughout the Arab world.
It's based in Qatar. The emir of Qatar, very supportive of the United States, he funds Al-Jazeera. How is Al-Jazeera basically reporting this war, given the fact that its headquarters is in an Arab country that's aligned effectively with the U.S., a country that hosts the Central Command temporary headquarters just outside Doha?
NASR: That's a very interesting question, Wolf. When you're watching Al-Jazeera, you're really not seeing this. You're not seeing the line of the government or any other line. You're really seeing a race, today, in the Arab world. A very serious race for the best pictures and the first pictures.
Sometimes people get it wrong and then they go back and correct it. Or they report something and they go back and say, these were just rumors. But at this point, you're not seeing affiliations, political affiliations. You're just seeing a very interesting race for the best there is and the breaking news out there -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Good competition, at least among these Arabic-language stations. Octavia, we're going to be checking in with you periodically. Octavia Nasr. She's going to be monitoring all these Arab television stations and getting a sense to our viewers what precisely is being told to the Arab world. Thank you very much, Octavia.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 26, 2003 - 15:55 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, very much, Judy. As the war in Iraq unfolds, Arab media are, of course, rushing to cover developments as quickly as their western media counterparts. For a sampling of those Arab voices, let's join CNN's Octavia Nasr at the CNN newsroom -- Octavia.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Wolf. And in this installment of "Arab Voices," we are going to look at how Arab networks, like you said, focus on the civilian losses from Tuesday morning's raid on Baghdad.
There was a race going on among major Arab networks. You can see here pictures from all the various networks. Here, we're looking at Al Arabiyah. And of course we have Abu Dhabi TV, Al-Jazeera, and Lebanese Broadcasting. And all of them race to show, of course, the latest news and the first pictures of the raids.
We're going to wait to see those latest pictures of the raids, including, also, the latest developments and the latest demonstrations from all over the world. Demonstrations, anti-war demonstrations, and in a little bit, we're going to see only one pro-war demonstration that was staged in Kuwait. We will get to that a little bit later on.
But also, it is very important to say that, as we were seeing these pictures, these Arab networks were racing for the first images on all levels. The first raids, the first pictures of the raids, the first images of casualties, as we're seeing here in these pictures, which also we've obtained for our affiliates. In this case, it is Al- Jazeera.
You're looking at the casualties from Basra. And you can see the exclusive Al-Jazeera on top. This was the same scene. Every five minutes we had exclusive pictures. Al-Jazeera exclusive pictures, Abu Dhabi TV exclusive pictures, Lebanese Broadcasting, Al Arabiyah and so forth.
All of them are in a race for the best pictures, the first pictures, and a lot of breaking news. They're definitely keeping us busy watching them, and also contacting the newsrooms to find out more about certain news, to confirm news that they're reporting, and also to see images out of Baghdad.
It is very important to say that all these Arab networks have access. And I think this is where they shine. Access to Iraq, Iraqi officials, Iraqi citizens. Take a look at this video here from Al Arabiyah. This is the market scene that was bombed early on Tuesday. People screaming, people shouting, saying this is not fair. All of these pictures were seen on all the different channels.
Again, the same story. The logo changes, the camera changes, but basically same pictures all over the Arab world -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Octavia, I'm curious about Al-Jazeera, which a lot of our viewers now are very familiar with. It's widely seen throughout the Arab world.
It's based in Qatar. The emir of Qatar, very supportive of the United States, he funds Al-Jazeera. How is Al-Jazeera basically reporting this war, given the fact that its headquarters is in an Arab country that's aligned effectively with the U.S., a country that hosts the Central Command temporary headquarters just outside Doha?
NASR: That's a very interesting question, Wolf. When you're watching Al-Jazeera, you're really not seeing this. You're not seeing the line of the government or any other line. You're really seeing a race, today, in the Arab world. A very serious race for the best pictures and the first pictures.
Sometimes people get it wrong and then they go back and correct it. Or they report something and they go back and say, these were just rumors. But at this point, you're not seeing affiliations, political affiliations. You're just seeing a very interesting race for the best there is and the breaking news out there -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Good competition, at least among these Arabic-language stations. Octavia, we're going to be checking in with you periodically. Octavia Nasr. She's going to be monitoring all these Arab television stations and getting a sense to our viewers what precisely is being told to the Arab world. Thank you very much, Octavia.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
