POW Pictures/Images in Al-Jazeera TV: Propaganda or Journalism'
On March 21, 2003, the United States administration led by George W.
Bush declared war against Iraq's leader Saddam Hussein, an event that was
termed "Gulf War II." After disregarding the UN decision and public
opinion not to go forward an offensive attack against Iraq, US proceeded to
declare war and attack on Iraq, resulting to massive bombings of important
establishments and infrastructure in Iraq, wounding numerous innocent
civilians. The "shock and awe" offensive attack plan of the US did not
only produce casualties among Iraqis, but also caused the deaths of US and
British soldiers in the Middle Eastern nation.
Despite these facts, little is known about the real situation of the
war in Iraq. In fact, what is predominantly shown on TV are images of
establishments and houses being bombed in Iraq, and wounded or dead Iraqi
soldiers of Saddam Hussein's. Images of the casualties of war on US's side
is shown sparingly, if shown at all, to the American people in the US.
Three days after the shock and awe attack of the US, images of American and
British soldiers held as prisoners-of-war (POWs) by Iraq were shown on Al-
Jazeera TV, one of the biggest broadcast nations in Iraq. The pictures
include images of five American soldiers, number of capture British
soldiers unknown, and images of dead US and British soldiers. These
pictures were not shown in broadcast stations in the US, and print media
has shown one to two pictures of the POWs, but never the whole pictures
featured in Al-Jazeera TV. Online publications, however, published these
images from Al-Jazeera, and posted commentary about the prevalent
censorship of the US administration on its media institutions not to
publish any material that is considered "unpatriotic," or whose content
convey negative impressions about the war, particularly that...