UN Chief Asks Media to Shun "Terrorists"

[ECH1969]

The United Nations is willing to convene an international conference to formulate ethical guidelines for journalists covering one of the most politically sensitive issues in the world body: terrorism.

Implicitly calling for a virtual ban on interviewing terrorists, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says that both civil society and mass media should play a prominent role in countering "hyper-nationalistic and xenophobic messages that glorify mass murder and martyrdom".

Last month, news media the world over ran statements and videos by Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, each with a price on their heads.

The United States has offered over 50 million dollars for the capture of the three -- dead or alive. But all have received considerable play both in the print and electronic media -- particularly in the Middle East.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=33106

[truthisfreedom]

1. and while you're at it, media, shun everyone who speaks out against bush,

too. or anyone else who's rethuglican.

[Rose Siding]

3. Once again, the US press leads the way

http://www.vermontguardian.com/local/052006/GraffLetter.shtml

MONTPELIER — In a rare move, the Associated Press agreed today to release the termination letter it handed to Vermont bureau chief Chris Graff in late March.
...
In the letter, AP’s’ regional bureau chief, Larry Laughlin, who works from the Concord, NH bureau, said Graff was fired for running an op-ed column by U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy on March 8, and for allowing reporter Dave Gram to write a chapter in a book about Howard Dean. The book was released in late 2003, just as Dean was becoming the insurgent-turned-frontrunner candidate for president.

The Leahy column, which focused on secrecy in government, was pulled within hours of being sent to newspaper editors. The editorial ran in a package of material for Sunshine Week.
...
Gram wasn’t the only active reporter in Vermont who contributed to the book. Also listed as co-authors are Darren Allen, the bureau chief of the statehouse bureau for the Rutland Herald and Times Argus, John Dillon, a reporter for Vermont Public Radio, and David Moats, the editorial page editor of the Rutland Herald.

David Gergen, a well-known presidential confidante and political commentator, said in a review of the Dean book, “The authors, respected journalists, have written exactly the book the country needs before votes are cast in 2004: an authoritative, up-close portrait of Howard Dean and his improbable rise to stardom.”

[dusmcj]

2. irrelevance beckons.

another failed institution of government.

[Rex]

4. So does that make ABC/NBC/CBS guilty, because they couldn't

wait to show Benny on the TV right before the 2004 elections. Did the UN define just WHO is a terrorist? Maybe they should crawl before they walk. :eyes:

[Trillo]

5. Serious question:

Would "hyper-nationalistic and xenophobic messages that glorify mass murder and martyrdom" include war coverage?

[donsu]

6. what a stupid thing to say - Annan has lost it.

and how did the media react to Annan?