Last updated on May 5th, 2012 at 12:42 am
In a letter found among Osama Bin Laden’s correspondence, al-Qaida American spokesman Adam Gadahn demonstrated that even terrorists know Fox News isn’t really news.
Adam Gadahn was trying figure out which media network would be neutral to the terrorist organization’s message on the tenth anniversary of 9/11 when he critiqued the US media,
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The channels from the standpoint of professionalism and neutrality. It is all as the Shaykh has stated (close to professionalism and neutrality) it has not and will not reach the perfect professionalism and neutrality, only if God wants that.
From the professional point of view, they are all on one levelexcept (Fox News) channel which falls into the abyss as you know, and lacks neutrality too.
As for the neutrality of CNN in English, it seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others (except Fox News of course). Its Arabic version brings good and detailed reports about al-Sahab releases, with a lot of quotations from the original text. That means they copy directly from the releases or its gist. It is not like what other channels and sites do, copying from news agencies like Reuters, AP and others.
I used to think that MSNBC channel may be good and neutral a bit, but is has lately fired two of the most famous journalists –Keith Olberman and Octavia Nasser the Lebanese – because they released some statements that were open for argument (The Lebanese had praised a Shia Imam Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah after his death and called him “One of the marvels of Hizballah” it seems she is a Shia.)
CBS channel was mentioned by the Shaykh, I see that it is like the other channels, but it has a famous program (60 Minutes) that has some popularity and a good reputation for its long broadcasting time. Only God knows the reality, as I am not really in a position to do so.
ABC channel is all right; actually it could be one of the best channels, as far as we are concerned. It is interested in al-Qa’ida issues, particularly the journalist Brian Ross, who is specialized in terrorism. The channel is still proud for its interview with the Shaykh. It also broadcasted excerpts from a speech of mine on the fourth anniversary, it also published most of that text on its site on the internet.
In conclusion, we can say that there is no single channel that we could rely on for our messages. I may ignore them, and even the channel that broadcast them, probably it would distort them somehow. This is accomplished by bringing analysts and experts that would interpret its meaning in the way they want it to be. Or they may ignore the message and conduct a smearing of the individuals, to the end of the list of what you know about their cunning methods.
….
In general, and no matter what material we send, I suggest that we should distribute it to more than one channel, so that there will be healthy competition between the channels in broadcasting the material, so that no other channel takes the lead. It should be sent for example to ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN and maybe PBS and VOA. As for Fox News, let her die in her anger.
There are some really mind blowing parts to this letter. The idea that al-Qaida was a looking for a neutral American news outlet to use to spread their propaganda on the tenth anniversary of an attack that they carried out that killed 3,497 people is jaw dropping. Second, the notion that MSNBC lost their neutrality when they fired Keith Olbermann is hysterical. Many of Olbermann’s biggest supporters and fans love him because he isn’t neutral. The Olbermann firing hurt MSNBC in a lot of ways, but not in the objectivity department.
When one of the biggest terrorist organization’s in the world looks at Fox News and thinks, “Wow, those guys are really biased,” that speaks volumes about how they run their business over at FNC. Of course, Fox News will take this as a badge of honor. There will be several al-Qaida hates us high fives dished out over the airwaves, and of course they will leave out the part about Fox News being an abyss that lacks neutrality.
Al-Qaida was really trying to find a way to use the US media to get their propaganda out, but they couldn’t because all the media is the same, except for Fox News, which is much, much worse. The terrorists placed their blame for the media’s behavior in the wrong place. The government isn’t controlling the media, but the corporations are.
If even al-Qaida understands that Fox News isn’t really news, then it is time to drop the act. When terrorists think your bias is out of control, it is time for Fox to come clean and admit that they are a 24/7/365 propaganda informerical for the right and the Republican Party.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
