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Interview with Spokesperson for Al Jazeera Television

Aired September 23, 2003 - 14:08   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.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Arab news networks Al-Jazeera and Al Arabiya have been blackballed in Baghdad. Iraq's governing council is exploring ways to shutdown the offices there. The council claims the network's promote political violence, and seem to know where and when American troops will come under attack before it happens.
On the phone with us from Doha, Qatar is Jihad Ballout, a spokesperson for Al Jazeera Television.

We appreciate your time, sir. I guess I want to know right off the bat, what you have been told with regard to access in Iraq?

JIHAD BALLOUT, AL-JAZEERA SPOKESMAN: Well, I mean, as simple as you've heard and everybody else has heard. There has been a decision by the governing council that Al-Jazeera should refrain from covering -- quote -- "official activities" -- unquote -- of the Governing Council for the duration of two weeks.

PHILLIPS: And the reason being here, according to the reading I've been doing, Iraq's governing council saying that the network, Al- Jazeera, has promoted political violence, the killing of members of the governing council and the coalition, and has aired video of, quote, "terrorists terrorizing Iraqis." How do you respond to that, sir?

BALLOUT: Well, I mean, basically Al-Jazeera is a news organization. We don't deal in politics. We try to be as balanced as possible. There's a situation, and a serious situation in Iraq as well, that seems to bring about various points of views, and we are doing our duty as journalists and trying to tell our viewers out there exactly what's happening.

I mean, if I was to count the number of representatives and officials of the council, and the American forces, who appear on our screen to explain and portray their messages, I think we want to have enough time during for that during this discussion now.

Again, I mean, all we are doing is our job, and as professionally as possible.

PHILLIPS: Does Al-Jazeera have a code of ethics, or a set of rules when it comes to standards and practices, and choosing what stories you will and will not cover?

BALLOUT: It certainly does, and I think it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's a core value that almost every single news organization in the world have, and basically, we look for the newsworthiness and the news value of whatever we have, the relevance of it, and the reliability of the source.

At the end of the day, we are not in the business of censoring news and information, especially from our viewers. I think it's incumbent on us to give our viewers out there as full a picture as possible, and as balanced picture as possible and as comprehensive as possible.

PHILLIPS: What is your policy with regard to showing video of dead Americans, specifically dead soldiers?

BALLOUT: Again, I think that's diverting from the issue that's at hand at the moment. I think we've explained ourselves quite clearly in the past during the war in Iraq. I don't think it is a matter of dead soldiers. Again, we have to look at it from the perspective of relevance, and I think if you're referring to the time back during the war, I think it was quite relevant then. It was newsworthy, certainly. I think a lot of American and British organizations chose to show it ultimately, and certainly it was relevant, because there was a war going on, and it wasn't staged.

PHILLIPS: My final question, obviously a great deal of suspicion coming forward. You have the arrest of one of your journalists, Tazir Aluni (ph), and these alleged ties to al Qaeda. Have you lots of talk about how you handle coalition operations and anti-coalition operations in Iraq. Your final stance how you find balance here and how you defend your network?

BALLOUT: Well, I mean, I'm not in the business of defending our network, I'm in the business of explaining certain aspects that perhaps our -- the Western audience is not aware of.

What I would like to talk about is actually the last decision that was issued by the council, and all I can say is that my organization is dismayed at this decision, and we certainly believe that there are several victims to the decision, firstly the truth, because it will be missing, quite an element (ph), and the second one is the freedom of the press. And Al-Jazeera has been under pressure ever since day one of its existence, although it really adopts and practices the same principles of freedom of the press, and democracy and multiplicity of views as always advocated and asked people to do.

PHILLIPS: Jihad Ballout, spokesperson for Al-Jazeera Television, we appreciate your time.

BALLOUT: Thank you very much.

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 23, 2003 - 14:08   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: The Arab news networks Al-Jazeera and Al Arabiya have been blackballed in Baghdad. Iraq's governing council is exploring ways to shutdown the offices there. The council claims the network's promote political violence, and seem to know where and when American troops will come under attack before it happens.
On the phone with us from Doha, Qatar is Jihad Ballout, a spokesperson for Al Jazeera Television.

We appreciate your time, sir. I guess I want to know right off the bat, what you have been told with regard to access in Iraq?

JIHAD BALLOUT, AL-JAZEERA SPOKESMAN: Well, I mean, as simple as you've heard and everybody else has heard. There has been a decision by the governing council that Al-Jazeera should refrain from covering -- quote -- "official activities" -- unquote -- of the Governing Council for the duration of two weeks.

PHILLIPS: And the reason being here, according to the reading I've been doing, Iraq's governing council saying that the network, Al- Jazeera, has promoted political violence, the killing of members of the governing council and the coalition, and has aired video of, quote, "terrorists terrorizing Iraqis." How do you respond to that, sir?

BALLOUT: Well, I mean, basically Al-Jazeera is a news organization. We don't deal in politics. We try to be as balanced as possible. There's a situation, and a serious situation in Iraq as well, that seems to bring about various points of views, and we are doing our duty as journalists and trying to tell our viewers out there exactly what's happening.

I mean, if I was to count the number of representatives and officials of the council, and the American forces, who appear on our screen to explain and portray their messages, I think we want to have enough time during for that during this discussion now.

Again, I mean, all we are doing is our job, and as professionally as possible.

PHILLIPS: Does Al-Jazeera have a code of ethics, or a set of rules when it comes to standards and practices, and choosing what stories you will and will not cover?

BALLOUT: It certainly does, and I think it's (UNINTELLIGIBLE), it's a core value that almost every single news organization in the world have, and basically, we look for the newsworthiness and the news value of whatever we have, the relevance of it, and the reliability of the source.

At the end of the day, we are not in the business of censoring news and information, especially from our viewers. I think it's incumbent on us to give our viewers out there as full a picture as possible, and as balanced picture as possible and as comprehensive as possible.

PHILLIPS: What is your policy with regard to showing video of dead Americans, specifically dead soldiers?

BALLOUT: Again, I think that's diverting from the issue that's at hand at the moment. I think we've explained ourselves quite clearly in the past during the war in Iraq. I don't think it is a matter of dead soldiers. Again, we have to look at it from the perspective of relevance, and I think if you're referring to the time back during the war, I think it was quite relevant then. It was newsworthy, certainly. I think a lot of American and British organizations chose to show it ultimately, and certainly it was relevant, because there was a war going on, and it wasn't staged.

PHILLIPS: My final question, obviously a great deal of suspicion coming forward. You have the arrest of one of your journalists, Tazir Aluni (ph), and these alleged ties to al Qaeda. Have you lots of talk about how you handle coalition operations and anti-coalition operations in Iraq. Your final stance how you find balance here and how you defend your network?

BALLOUT: Well, I mean, I'm not in the business of defending our network, I'm in the business of explaining certain aspects that perhaps our -- the Western audience is not aware of.

What I would like to talk about is actually the last decision that was issued by the council, and all I can say is that my organization is dismayed at this decision, and we certainly believe that there are several victims to the decision, firstly the truth, because it will be missing, quite an element (ph), and the second one is the freedom of the press. And Al-Jazeera has been under pressure ever since day one of its existence, although it really adopts and practices the same principles of freedom of the press, and democracy and multiplicity of views as always advocated and asked people to do.

PHILLIPS: Jihad Ballout, spokesperson for Al-Jazeera Television, we appreciate your time.

BALLOUT: Thank you very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com