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Arab View of September 11
Aired September 11, 2003 - 14:43 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.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And what about the Mideast?
CNN International's Octavia Nasr has been monitoring Arab television for 9/11 coverage.
Octavia, good to have you with us.
Just tell us what interesting things you've seen from the Arab world today on their coverage of this anniversary.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the most interesting thing that I've seen is this poll that one of the Al-Jazeera controversial shows called "The Opposite Direction" displayed.
They had people call in and voice their opinion. The question was, who do you think is responsible for 9/11? First answer is Osama bin Laden, and second answer is Americans themselves; 80 percent of the people who answered this poll said the Americans themselves, while only 17 percent said Osama bin Laden. So that was a bit shocking to see.
This is by no means a scientific poll. It's just people just calling in and venting or calling in and voting. But, basically, it shows you how dissatisfied people are in the Middle East with this U.S. policy on the Middle East.
O'BRIEN: Well, Octavia, when they blame U.S., are they suggesting some sort of diabolical plot? Are they saying that U.S. actions or inactions in the Middle East might have brought this on?
NASR: It's definitely the latter. Miles, it's really discontent with U.S. policies in the Middle East and any issues to do with Arabs and Muslims at this point.
You know, 9/11/2001, people just stood and paused and wept and cried with the United States. And the Middle East was included, only to find out, not long after 9/11 happened, that they started fingerprinting people of Middle Eastern descent, of Islamic background. And Muslims around the world, and Arabs in particular, felt a bit cheated by this reaction that they got.
And following that, you had two wars. You had Afghanistan and Iraq. And there is big a dissatisfaction right now in the Arab street vis-a-vis the U.S. policies in that region.
O'BRIEN: And how were they covering the memorials this morning in the U.S.? NASR: They're covering everything 9/11-related as a big news story.
I spoke with one executive at one of the Arab networks that said: Look, you have to understand, we cannot do what U.S. networks are doing, wall to wall coverage of 9/11. He said: just take a look at what's going on. The Israeli-Palestinian situation is in flames. Iraq is in chaos. And 9/11 remembrance is a big story. We're covering it as such.
That's what the executive said. And when you look at the different Arab networks, you see that this is how they're covering it, as a big news event, but definitely not wall-to-wall coverage and definitely not the top item on their newscasts.
O'BRIEN: The image, of course, most searing, the one we choose not to air here at CNN, the airplanes flying into the towers, are they airing those?
NASR: Didn't see any of those. Did see the towers in flames on just a couple of the networks. Al-Jazeera, for example, chose not to air those images. LBC chose not to air them. But we seen them on Abu Dhabi TV and Al Arabiya.
It's obviously an editorial call. And some stations decided to show the towers in flames. And some decided not to, but definitely, no pictures of the actual planes hitting the towers.
O'BRIEN: All right, very interesting. CNN's Octavia Nasr, thanks for watching that for us. And we'll check in with you a little later. I'm sure you'll keep monitoring that for us.
NASR: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome.
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 September 11, 2003 - 14:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: And what about the Mideast?
CNN International's Octavia Nasr has been monitoring Arab television for 9/11 coverage.
Octavia, good to have you with us.
Just tell us what interesting things you've seen from the Arab world today on their coverage of this anniversary.
OCTAVIA NASR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think the most interesting thing that I've seen is this poll that one of the Al-Jazeera controversial shows called "The Opposite Direction" displayed.
They had people call in and voice their opinion. The question was, who do you think is responsible for 9/11? First answer is Osama bin Laden, and second answer is Americans themselves; 80 percent of the people who answered this poll said the Americans themselves, while only 17 percent said Osama bin Laden. So that was a bit shocking to see.
This is by no means a scientific poll. It's just people just calling in and venting or calling in and voting. But, basically, it shows you how dissatisfied people are in the Middle East with this U.S. policy on the Middle East.
O'BRIEN: Well, Octavia, when they blame U.S., are they suggesting some sort of diabolical plot? Are they saying that U.S. actions or inactions in the Middle East might have brought this on?
NASR: It's definitely the latter. Miles, it's really discontent with U.S. policies in the Middle East and any issues to do with Arabs and Muslims at this point.
You know, 9/11/2001, people just stood and paused and wept and cried with the United States. And the Middle East was included, only to find out, not long after 9/11 happened, that they started fingerprinting people of Middle Eastern descent, of Islamic background. And Muslims around the world, and Arabs in particular, felt a bit cheated by this reaction that they got.
And following that, you had two wars. You had Afghanistan and Iraq. And there is big a dissatisfaction right now in the Arab street vis-a-vis the U.S. policies in that region.
O'BRIEN: And how were they covering the memorials this morning in the U.S.? NASR: They're covering everything 9/11-related as a big news story.
I spoke with one executive at one of the Arab networks that said: Look, you have to understand, we cannot do what U.S. networks are doing, wall to wall coverage of 9/11. He said: just take a look at what's going on. The Israeli-Palestinian situation is in flames. Iraq is in chaos. And 9/11 remembrance is a big story. We're covering it as such.
That's what the executive said. And when you look at the different Arab networks, you see that this is how they're covering it, as a big news event, but definitely not wall-to-wall coverage and definitely not the top item on their newscasts.
O'BRIEN: The image, of course, most searing, the one we choose not to air here at CNN, the airplanes flying into the towers, are they airing those?
NASR: Didn't see any of those. Did see the towers in flames on just a couple of the networks. Al-Jazeera, for example, chose not to air those images. LBC chose not to air them. But we seen them on Abu Dhabi TV and Al Arabiya.
It's obviously an editorial call. And some stations decided to show the towers in flames. And some decided not to, but definitely, no pictures of the actual planes hitting the towers.
O'BRIEN: All right, very interesting. CNN's Octavia Nasr, thanks for watching that for us. And we'll check in with you a little later. I'm sure you'll keep monitoring that for us.
NASR: Thank you, Miles.
O'BRIEN: You're welcome.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
