U.S. News Organizations Tell Employees to Leave Baghdad
Date: 19 March 2003
By Jim Rutenberg
Jim Rutenberg
ABC, NBC, Newsweek, The New York Times and other US news organizations tell employees to leave Baghdad as war nears; Time and Fox reverse plans to send in reporters while CNN and CBS are allowing non-American correspondents to stay; BBC, Reuters and other European-based services promise to remain; Peter Arnett, who covered Persian Gulf War for CNN, is now reporting from Baghdad for National Geographic/MSNBC (M)
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News Corp. to Raise Up to $1.5 Billion With Bond Issue
Date: 19 March 2003
By Suzanne Kapner
Suzanne Kapner
News Corp says subsidiary British Sky Broadcasting will raise as much as $1.5 billion in capital by issuing bonds that are convertible shares of BSkyB, pay television company in which News Corp has stake; proceeds are meant to help News Corp finance its widely expected bid to acquire DirecTV (M)
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Left and Right Look for Signs of Bias in Reporting
Date: 19 March 2003
By Jim Rutenberg
Jim Rutenberg
Media watchdogs and politicians on right and left scrutinize major television networks for any signs of journalistic bias in covering Iraq story; conservative Media Research Center charges ABC News and anchor Peter Jennings with liberal bias, while liberal group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting says networks pay too little attention to potential civilian casualties in Iraq (M)
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Sending 'Liberal Media' Truism to the Fact-Checker
Date: 20 March 2003
By Orville Schell
Orville Schell
Orville Schell reviews book What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias and the News by Eric Alterman; photo (M)
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After a Lengthy Buildup, An Anticlimactic Strike
Date: 20 March 2003
By Alessandra Stanley
Alessandra Stanley
In some ways, war in Iraq began on American television before it began in Baghdad; on all networks, images of rolling tanks, marching troops and empty streets in Baghdad suggested that combat had begun, hours before it did; article compares and contrasts coverage on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox (M)
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73 Million Watched Bush
Date: 19 March 2003
By Bill Carter
Bill Carter
More than 73 million viewers tuned in to see Pres Bush's speech explaining his reasons for going to war in Iraq (S)
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U.S. Courts Network It Once Described as 'All Osama'
Date: 20 March 2003
By Jane Perlez With Jim Rutenberg
Jane With
Bush administration is courting Al Jazeera, Arab satellite network it once derided for broadcasting Al Qaeda tapes and anti-American commentators, as it fights propaganda war of Iraqi conflict; Al Jazeera is likely to become major source for Baghdad coverage now that most American television networks have left city; its real importance stems from its Arab audience, where pictures of heavy casualties caused by American bombing could arouse anti-American feelings; US hopes pictures of cheering Iraqi crowds will prevail; Al Jazeera reporters are getting choice spots with American military units and access to top administration officials; photo (M)
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World Briefing | Middle East: Iran: Journalist's Sentence Upheld
Date: 20 March 2003
By Nazila Fathi (NYT)
Nazila NYT
Iranian court upholds 13-month sentence of reform journalist Ahmad Zeidabadi for spreading lies; court also sentences Nargess Mohammadi, wife of reformist Taqi Rahmani, to 12 months in prison; she is found guilty of jeopardizing national security during interviews she gave while her husband was in jail (S)
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Cuba Arrests a Score of Dissidents Linked to a U.S. Diplomat
Date: 20 March 2003
By David Gonzalez
David Gonzalez
Cuban authorities arrest more than two dozen dissidents they accuse of subversion and conspiracy with American diplomats; roundup singles out independent journalists whose reports on politics and daily life have earned them ire of Fidel Castro's government; group of them recently attended journalism workshop at home of James Cason, chief American diplomat in Havana; human rights advocates say authorities searched journalists' homes and confiscated fax machines, typewriters and even medicines; Cason has met often with Cuban dissidents since arriving last summer; Cuban authorities have denounced contacts as 'provocations' and threatened to close American Interests Section in Havana; similar warning was issued last year when Cason's predecessor distributed shortwave radios to government opponents (M)
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Some Rates In the Gulf Have Doubled Overnight
Date: 20 March 2003
By Joseph B. Treaster
Joseph
Prices for insurance for ships, businesses, oil workers and journalists skyrocket as Persian Gulf region prepares for war; prices to cover ships and personnel rise to twice what they have been day before; coverage for tankers and cargo ships in gulf is being sold for seven-day voyages so that rates can be modified as conditions change (M)
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