Hersh: US imposes collective censorship on world

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist addresses Third Al Jazeera media forum

[via The Peninsula]
Did the psychological effects of 9/11, re-prioritise substantive nature of the Press? Has journalism lost touch with its capacity to stand up to the authority and keep the public informed? Is it true that the Western media is waging a cultural war on Arab-IslamicEast?" These were some of crucial questions debated by veteran journalists and media analysts on the floor of the third annual Aljazeera Forum, opened here yesterday.
Renowned investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh said the ongoing media war between the West and the Arab region would continue for long.
Describing himself as an anti-government journalist, he said the US was squeezing Iran through sanctions and putting the supreme leaders of the world under frequent pressures. The US government has imposed a collective censorship on the world. It is glad to note that Al Jazeera is breaking this censorship on and off, he said.
"Holding our leaders to account is one of the fundamental roles of journalism. We all do this because we believe we can make a difference. We are in a struggle….waging a war between truth and propaganda. This is the noble cause that we journalists are all motivated to", Hersh said.
The session on "Parachute Journalism and Journalism of Depth" juxtaposed discrepancy and disagreements on the perspectives of the West and Arab journalists, while covering socio-political issues.
BBC-fame Martin Bell wanted journalists to get down to ground level, instead of standing on the roof-top. "If you are a journalist who have never been arrested or punished, you should think that you are doing something else and not journalism", he said.
Is it possible for a journalist to remain himself as an in-depth journalist and at the same time be part of mainstream journalism? How deeply reporting is possible from a war-front area? In the emerging market-driven economy, to what extend print and visual media can face the challenges of ‘time and space'?", were among other focal points of the day one debate at the annual Forum.
Dahr Jamail, Samir Aita Abdelh Wahab Basdrakhan were among other eminent journalist who joined the discussion. Titled as "Media and Middle East: Beyond the Headlines", the third Al Jazeera Annual forum was formally opened by Sheikh Hamad bin Thamir Al Thani, Chairman of Al Jazeera. Wadah Kanfar, Director General of the Network delivered the opening speech.
The opening day also witnessed panel discussions on "Politics, media and Misinformation" and "Regional News Channels in the Middle East". Presenters included Mhmed Krichen of Al Jazeera, Fiasal Al Kasim, host of Al Jazeera's Opposite Direction, Michael Oreskes, executive editor, International Herald Tribune, Haroon Sidhiqui, Editor emeritus of the Toronto Star, Allistar Sparks, the famed South African journalist, Steve Clark, Director, News and Programmes, Al Jazeera English, Muhammad Musfir, Lecturer, Political Science, Qatar University and Herni Pigeat, president, centre for the Formation of Journalists and Daniel Dodd, head of strategy for Journalism at the BBC.