Press Freedom During Honduran Crisis
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Al Jazeera’s Nicholas Muirhead emailed me Monday, to my great surprise. In the last few years, they have sought to establish themselves as a serious alternative news source, and clean up their image after being associated unfavorably with Al Qaeda.
Al Jazeera has a section on its website called The Listening Post in which they publish reports that are created from videos sent by users. Mr. Muirhead told me they are preparing a report on the overthrow of Manuel Zelaya’s government, and that someone recommended me to comment on it, because I had recently been to Honduras.
The questions he asked me to answer are below. Watch out for subtle red-flag words such as “kidnap”, and “coup” that could skew users’ answers.
- Following Zelaya’s kidnap, what steps did the opposition take to control the media?
- What has Zelaya’s relationship been with Honduran media? How much influence does he wield over the media?
- How fair/accurate has international media coverage of the Honduras coup been?
Mr. Muirhead asked me to explain my point of view thoroughly, but apologized that my answers will probably be edited down to 30 seconds in order to fit the program’s format. Answering each question with two or three sentences took twenty seconds each!
To do myself justice, I uploaded the above four-minute video to YouTube. The topic is not the Honduran crisis as a whole, but only the media’s role in it.
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You look adorable!
And smart, too.
I'm not sure how long the TV stations were unable to broadcast, but I was watching CNN (Esp) at 7:30 am and they were reporting it. Additionally, we were able to watch the senate meeting starting at about 11 or 12, I can't remember the exact time. Several stations and the on-line newspapers were reporting by noon on Sunday, June 28.
CNN (Esp) was still reporting on the following week that they were blocked in Honduras. That was absolutely false information. I was watching them practically 24 hours per day.
I understand that the outages or some of them anyway, were longer in Tegucigalpa, but I really don't know how many stations were involved or exactly how long the outages were.
Hi Gringa,
I do remember reading el Heraldo articles on the 28th, after a few hours during which their website was down. But, did the local news function?
I was told by several friends who were there that the TV stations stayed far away from the news of the crisis, and that's what I reported on the video. Was I wrong? (I mean local news, not CNN, Telesur, Univision, etc…)
Hi Aaron and LG,
I was also watching CNN (Esp) until 8.30am when the power went off in Saba.
Power came back at 11.55am.
CNN has been on 24 hours a day since then – we get all TV from the local cable company who have their own ground satellite dish – so it is impossible for anyone to block it. If CNN are transmitting, we get it!
Sorry, yes, your answer was not 100% correct. Channel 10 was reporting from the congress at least by noon on June 28. I wish I could remember more details about the other channels. I don't even have all the numbers memorized.
The newspaper sites were overloaded. I think because Proceso Digital is less well known, it was available (to me) sooner than the big newspapers.
This article and the two before it give some more details of the media coverage available to us in La Ceiba.
From what Pete says, it sounds like we had rolling power outages that day because in Ceiba, the power went off about 2pm for about 3 hours.
I wish I could be more specific, but I've watched about a zillion hours of TV since then. Probably more than I've watched in the prior year!
Ouch, at least I wasn't 100% inaccurate on that question.
I agree with La Gringa that you are a very bright young man and seem to be very balanced and professional in your reporting. However, most mass media outlets are not so professional or biased.
Especially Aljazeera.
I was glued to the TV at no time was CNN or ALJAZEERA down. Both those mass media outlets are heavily biased. Aljazeera is supported and backed by Arabs with sole purpose of bringing down the American empire. CNN is supported and heavily controlled by Hugo Chavez and that is why ALBA pro Zelaya has gotten so much time. They pay for it. Cnn is a little better, eventually they will leak some stuff from the other side.
A little boy was shot at the airport incident. The media only reports the 19 year boy from Olancho. I was suspect about the little boy the moment I saw it. It was shown live on Aljazeera before he even died. I was suspect. It just happened to be right behind the Aljazeera camerman. The mother and a crowd of people looked staged. She was yelling in anger at the cameras. Her kid ws dying on the floor dripping blood out of his head. Wouldnt a normal mother be hugging her child? What mother would take her child there. The reporter got all excited and stated " the little boy was shot dead by the Honduran military with American guns!" Then there was never any follow up. Well we learned that he was Nicaraguan and was shot in the back of the head by small arms fire. He was shot after a signal aired fron Hugo Chavez on the Telesur feed they were using. There was a handritten sign written in military code tht gave the signal. It was used to start an action they were hoping would incite a massive riot. Fortunately, when the Hondurans opened fire they used plastic bullets and successfully dispersed the crowd. Aljazeera is going to use you. It is clear what the story is going to be about. The same Listening post already reported a false report that CNN was off the air in Honduras. We have been glued to CNN since before Zelaya was even flown over my house. We live by the base in Comayagua. It is clear what there story is. You being a professional will report a very accurate biased assesment. They will edit it and take what they eed to tell there story not yours. They will leave out a key sentence before and after the sentence of yours that they use. Be carefull they are trained experts and very evil!
I can discuss any of these issues or others and provide other information. Simply e mail HONDURAS94@aol.com
Below I have posted an explanation detailing Chavez military code as aired on TV from his Telesur feed during the airport incident. Sponsored by none other than the corrupt Secretary of the OAS.
Chavez planned a slaughter in Honduras
The goal, on Sunday July 5, was to cause a massacre and create martyrs.
(News agency) AFP captured the moment when Hugo Chávez, from his office, coordinated the military operation that took Manuel Zelaya Rosales to Honduras, in a flagrant violation of Honduran airspace.
However, rather than seeing a former military coup leader pointing to his Panasonic TV and applauding the "feat" Zelaya Rosales, which was transmitted live by the Telesur network, to the experts in political and security issues what caught their attention was the message written on the whiteboard that could be a clear demonstration that the goal was to cause a slaughter in the event.
Almost in line with the intentions revealed in the writing on the whiteboard, Zelaya Rosales requested through satellite communication from the aircraft that people invade the landing strip and remove the obstacles that the military had placed.
The people attempted to break through; however, the action was suppressed by military and police forces that, according to the commissioner of Human Rights, used a volley of rubber bullets.
The text message on the whiteboard of Chavez says: 051345JUL09 A swarm of African bees, Presidential Podium, wounded by bites and desperation of the people.
Mario Berrios, a lawyer and analyst on political and security issues, says that this is a message written in military language.
The writing 051345JUL09 according to Berríos is what in military doctrine is called group-date-time.
This message reveals the day (05), month (July), year (2009) and time (1:45 in the afternoon), which was precisely the time that the demonstration was pushing into the policemen in the vicinity Camosa, feeling that the security rings were inadequate to retain them and prevent their approach into the airport Toncontín.
Thanks Anonymous, I agree that Al Jazeera is biased, but that is precisely why I accepted to answer their questions: they'll probably hate my answers and won't publish them.
But with Youtube, the message can get out anyway. The media aren't gatekeepers anymore.
Al Capone once said: "You can go a long way with a smile. You can go a lot farther with a smile and a gun." In this case the gun is a camera. But the smile is essential.
I think I could have been clearer in what I said. CNN, Telesur and other international news media aren't available to most Honduran homes, only those with cable TV. Cable TV wasn't down on the 28th except when the power was down.
When I said "media" I should have said "local TV channels" for clarity. The newspapers did report on the crisis, and their websites, although overwhelmed, were back up a few hours after Zelaya was removed.
I probably should do the video over again, I made it in an awful hurry, since I needed to get to work that day.
Aaron I am the anonymous that warned you about Aljazeera. Perhaps we can work together. Maybe we can be creative enough to carfully select words and make it ahr for them. However, they probably just use someone else words. I think Riz Khan is better and David Frost, I think they use them for shows of select content to legitimize there meia outlet. The snake who covered the Aljazeera incident at the airport has also been seen on Chavez New Network(Telesur feed to CNN). I think he was gone from the scene, but then he surfaced when Zelaya came to the border last weekend. And once again it was on a Chavez feed. If they get an incident they have him trained to report on it for maximum effect.
Aaron my e mail is honduras94aol.com
Thanks Honduras!
I doubt I'll be reporting for Al Jazeera again, their report was very different from the reality of what was happening in the streets of Honduras.
I hardly expected any better from them, but now I feel ashamed that my name and my face appear in their broadcast, even when it is clear I don't agree with their ideas.
Aaron I am thankfull for the 1 point you made which was contrary to there story. I watch Aljazeera frequently as it is the only English speaking news channel on my cable. After the Honduras crisis and there reporting I have concluded that the truth in there stories is that 1 little point that goes against the view they are trying to portray.
Actually the only word that reveals my opinion in the slip they aired of me, is "unfortunately". All the other words could be misconstrued, although perhaps not by an objective listener.