Say Anything Blog

Arabic news network Aljazeera has responded to Rumsfeld's comments from a few days ago.

Aljazeera - Aljazeera has categorically rejected US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's charge that journalists receive tip-offs from "terrorists" of impending attacks on Iraq, singling out the channel.


Rumsfeld was quoted on Wednesday as calling Aljazeera a "Johnny-on-the-spot" and saying: "It is striking that from time to time at least there is a journalist - quote unquote - standing around taking pictures of [attacks]."

Aljazeera's media spokesman Jihad Ballout dismissed Rumsfeld's remarks as "innuendo", saying the channel considered such statements "to be potential safety risks to all journalists who put their lives on the line in pursuit of the truth".

Rumsfeld had said: "Sometimes journalists just happen to be there [at the scene]. But we know for a fact that other times the terrorists have told journalists - and I use the word inadvisedly, quote unquote journalists - they've told journalists where they are going to be and what they're going to do. And the journalists have been there."

Ballout said such statements "unduly obstructs freedom of the press".

Freedom of the press is one thing. Knowing about terror attacks and not notifying the proper authorities so you can get exclusive coverage of said attack is quite another.