Intervention, Warmongering and The Media

Listening Post Examines The Latest Chapter In The Libya Story.

Last Modified: 26 Mar 2011 12:02
Courtesy Of "Al-Jazeera"

On the show this week: Military intervention, warmongering and the media - the latest chapter in the Libya story. Then, we look at the challenges female journalists face in the field.

As the situation in North Africa grows increasingly volatile, the media's ability to cover it has become both increasingly difficult and dangerous. As we have seen in Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, the authorities in Libya, Yemen and Bahrain are now desperately trying to shut the media out. In Libya, journalists are being violently attacked if not by Gaddafi's regime, then by supporters of it.

Outside of the country that bellicosity has almost been reversed. The dominant narrative in the international media is now a call to arms. Headlines and bulletins endorse the forceful removal of Gaddafi if that is what it takes. Our News Divide this week is the latest chapter of the news media's struggles to get the real story of what is happening in Libya, and why.

Quick hits from the media world: A leading German newspaper, Der Spiegel, publishes banned photos of US troops posing with dead Afghans; the Pentagon is developing new software that will allow it to control multiple fake online personas across the globe; two Iranian TV channels claim their signal is being blocked in the Middle East and North Africa after their reporting of the unrest in Tunisia; a leading Zimbabwean daily is back on the newsstands after being banned for eight yeas; and Britain finally approves an overhaul of its punitive libel laws.

As the reported attacks on journalists in North Africa mount up, one in particular grabbed a great deal of international attention. When CBS's war correspondent, Lara Logan, suffered what her network described as a "brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating" in Cairo's Tahrir Square, it was big news. The attack led to a debate within media circles that female journalists are all too aware of, but few are willing to speak about: The dangers female journalists face in the field. Listening Post's Meenakshi Ravi reports on the dark, under-reported woes of women in the media.

There are few websites we often go to for a quick laugh. One of them is theonion.com. They have got a knack for satirically pointing out the obvious. Take Facebook for example. How much personal information have you willingly uploaded about yourself? How often do you post photographs, link with family, friends or work associates? How often do you update your day-to-day activities? Now imagine the CIA was the mastermind behind the site and was using it to stockpile data on you. Quite a sobering thought so it had to be an Internet Video of the Week. We hope you enjoy the show!