Another Arab state suppresses the media, and the world yawns:
SAN’A, Yemen (AP) – The masked attackers pushed reporter Nabil Sabaie to the ground on a main thoroughfare, stabbing him in both arms and firing warning shots to keep onlookers away.
Yemeni journalists once were some of the Arab world’s freest. But recently they have faced a rash of mysterious beatings, arrests and other forms of intimidation as the government cracks down on the media ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
The campaign includes plans to introduce tougher press laws that leave the door open for reporters to be sentenced to death.
Yes, the Arab nations regularly brutalize their people, but since it doesn’t fall within the paradigm of “occupiers” and “indigenous people,” it falls on deaf ears.
Imagine the outcry if these reporters had been beaten in Israel, or America–no matter who had done it.
Funny how the media are mostly silent on things like this, but they pass along lies like the U.S. military deliberately targeting reporters.
J’accuse, media.
There is a practical rleason why the Western media tends to pass this stuff by, although it’s more apropos in places like the disputed territories where the media has ongoing interest.
It seems to be forgotten, but the reason that the media stopped showing pictures of Palestinians celebrating the 9/11 attacks was that as soon as the Palestinians realized how damaging this was they told the media that their safety “could not be guaranteed” if they continued to show the scenes.
The Palestinians make sure that Western media covering them are managed and escorted and reminded that closing off access–at best–is the price of showing what displeases them. The Israelis, meanwhile, are a raucous and open society and finding someone to be critical is never a problem.
This goes on in other Arab countries and is one of the reasons why the Israelis have such lousy public relations.