Middle East’s Western Media - Hypocrisy, Double Standards Out of Control
by Khaled Abu Toameh
Western correspondents and newspapers continue to apply double standards when it comes to covering the Israeli-Arab conflict.
It is much easier for a Western journalist to sit in Israel and write about Israel without having to worry about his or her safety. Why bother travel to an Arab country and risk being arrested or deported for writing a story that reflects negatively on the dictatorship there?
Besides, who said it’s that easy to enter an Arab or Islamic country? The foreign reporters need an entry visa to most of these countries - a process that could last for weeks, months and years.
And when the foreign reporters arrives in an Arab capital, he or she are often escorted by “minders” of the Ministry of Information of that country. Then there are the mukhabarat [intelligence] agents who start following the reporters from the minute they arrive and until they leave.
Those who are found “guilty” of writing a story that angers the Arab dictator or any of his confidants should forget about applying for another visa.
Otherwise, how does one explain the fact that the mainstream media in the US, Canada and Europe are turning a blind eye to recent developments in Jordan, where the government has introduced a law that restricts media freedom?