Control Room

This is a documentary on the Arab news channel, Al-Jazeera. It covers the time between the buildup to the war in Iraq and ends on the day when pictures of folks toppling Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad were splashed across TV screens.

It is clear from the documentary that the journalists working for Al-Jazeera betray a heavy bias in favour of their fellow Arabs; they are all opposed to the war; they are distrustful of the information that the U.S. Army dispenses in press conferences; they all desperately want Saddam to stand up to the America and fight and win; when Baghdad falls, they are amazed when not a single Iraqi army officer is visible. I am not sure if that is the ideal environment under which one can operate a truly fair journalistic enterprise.

But it is also clear that in covering the story, they raise some troubling questions that more often than not irk and incense their American interlocutors, who are used to spinning their story in the American media, relatively unquestioned. One such instance is when their correspondent in Baghdad is killed by a U.S. military strike. It is clearly seen as a sign by the U.S. to intimidate the news channel and another instance of American double-standards, where its practise is far different from what it preaches.

There is also a dichotomy that is best explained when one of the Al-Jazeera producers says that if he were to be offered a job by Fox News, he would take it. He explains that he has dreams and aspirations for his kids and once they grow up, he will send them to America for further study and adds: "Then they will stay there!" In his mind, the American bully epitomized by its foreign policy is now transformed into the American Dream, where an Arab can flourish and live in peace. I found that a startling contradiction on so many levels.

This documentary, regardless of your views of the war, is a good watch.