episode 15, 22 May 2006
Video and propaganda
FRONT PAGE - VIDEO AND PROPAGANDA
Of course there's more to this propaganda war than simply the Islamists versus the rest.
And nowhere is the struggle to interpret events more critical than in Iraq.
And nowhere is the struggle to interpret events more critical than in Iraq.
Because it's too dangerous for journalists to get out and check the facts for themselves, the media is forced to rely on interpreting third hand accounts, internet announcements, videos and propaganda.
Untangling the motivations of those who provide this information is difficult.
Many readers were absolutely horrified and repulsed by this story on the front page of The Australian.
Untangling the motivations of those who provide this information is difficult.
Many readers were absolutely horrified and repulsed by this story on the front page of The Australian.
Cruel even for Iraq
EVEN by the stupefying standards of Iraq’s violence, the murder of Atwar Bahjat, one of the country’s top television journalists, was an act of extraordinary cruelty.
— The Australian, Cruel even for Iraq, 8th May, 2006
The full story, published by The Australian on the front of their world news section had first appeared in Britain's Sunday Times the day before.
It was written by an award winning journalist Hala Jaber.
Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing
Hala Jaber
— The Sunday Times, Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing, 7th May, 2006
Jaber based her account of the murder of Iraq's top TV journalist on a video, recorded on a mobile phone, which was apparently found of the body of a dead militia.
Jaber describes the recording in detail.
By the time filming begins, the condemned woman has been blindfolded with a white bandage.
It is stained with blood that trickles from a wound on the left side of her head. She is moaning, although whether from the pain of what has already been done to her or from the fear of what is about to be inflicted is unclear.
— The Sunday Times, Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing, 7th May, 2006
We don't need to recount all the gruesome details here.
Suffice to say, Atwar Bahjat was said to have been stripped of her clothing, tortured and brutally beheaded.
The next day, Al Arabiya - the Dubai based satellite television network for which the slain reporter worked - rejected The Sunday Times story.
Reporter Deya al Naseri told viewers that the victim in the video didn't even resemble his murdered colleague.
I confirm that the broadcast images are not hers and don’t even resemble her. The Sunday Times newspaper said the video showed our colleague Atwar. And other newspapers copied the news. But the woman who prepared Atwar's body for burial contradicts these claims.
(edit) The truth is that Atwar’s body was complete. Nothing was cut off her body. Neither her hand, leg or head was severed.
But there were marks of torture on her body.
When we received Atwar from Forensic Medicine she was wearing all her clothes which were soaked with blood.
Marks of torture appeared on her body but no part of her body was cut off.
— Al Arabiya
There was lots of internet chatter too, about whether Atwar Bahjat had been beheaded.
One blog site - The Jawa Report - said The Sunday Times had been duped.
Atwar Bahjat Beheading Video a Hoax
A gruesome beheading video delivered to The Sunday Times purporting to be of slain journalist Atwar Bahjat is a hoax. …The Jawa Report can reveal that …The video actually shows the gruesome murder of a Nepalese man by the Army of Ansar al-Sunna in Iraq from August of 2004.
— The Jawa Report
This is the video The Jawa Report identifies.
Once again it's too gruesome to play any further.
But we've watched the video closely and it correlates exactly with the details of the murder described by The Sunday Times.
The paper won't confirm that this is the video they saw, but they stand by their story.
It would be quite wrong to suggest that [Hala Jaber] watched a video of a Nepalese man being beheaded and imagined that he was her friend, Atwar Bahjat… This unfortunate woman was identified as Atwar Bahjat by a member of her family and a close friend who watched the video before publication of Hala Jaber's article. We stand by our story.
— Email from The Sunday Times to Media Watch
But at Al Arabiya, Deya al Naseri, who was a close colleague of the slain journalist, is sure that The Sunday Times is wrong.
I knew Atwar very well. We have been working with each other a long time… She is not the person in the video…the woman...in my report is one of her family and she … did all the funeral things and [she] confirmed… that [Atwar] had not been beheaded…
— Deya al Naseri
But The Australian, which accepted and published Hala Jaber's report, found support for its own opinions in the story.
EVIL IN SHARP FOCUS
… Bahjat’s murder puts all sides in the Iraq debate on notice. For those who supported the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, it shows just how much work remains to be done towards the necessary and worthwhile goal of building Iraq’s democracy. But for those on the anti-war Left, it suggests some far more uncomfortable truths. The video of the murder reveals the Islamist enemy in Iraq for what it is: namely, truly evil, without quotation marks.
— The Australian, Evil in Sharp Focus, 9th May, 2006
Let's make no mistake - Atwar Bahjat's murder was brutal and speaks volumes about the appalling situation in Iraq.
But the claims made by The Sunday Times haven't clarified who's to blame.
Its video came from -
A source linked to the Sunni insurgency who… claimed it had come from a mobile phone found on the body of a Shi’ite Badr Brigade member killed during fighting in Baghdad.
— The Sunday Times, Part of me died when I saw this cruel killing, 7th May, 2006
Someone was murdered in the brutal way described in the story - but was it a Nepalese worker in 2004, or an Iraqi journalist in 2006?
And who were the brutal beheaders - Shi'ite militia, or their opponents in the Sunni insurgency?
The differences are important.
Earlier this year two other video tapes came out of Iraq: one boasted of the success of anti-American snipers; the other showed British forces apparently beating a young Iraqis in Basra.
The Australian offered this warning...
The media must not become the tool of propagandists
…both videos have been unsceptically presented as confirmation of the prevailing attitude of those reporting their existence. And in both scenarios, a piece of information -- or in this case, video -- is used as a springboard for an agenda, rather than as something to be analysed.
— The Australian, Editorial: Tale of Two Tapes, 16th February, 2006
Well now that was good advice.
The Australian says it's now checking on the story - we'll look for more scepticism in the future.
Until next week - good night.
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