Cablegate: Media Reaction War with Iraq; Harare

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 000638

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPAP FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS
IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD
NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER
LONDON FOR GURNEY
PARIS FOR NEARY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IZ PREL KPAO KMDR ZI
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE

1. Under headline "Al Jazeera and the war in Iraq"
the pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror"
dedicated its March 30 editorial to hailing the
Arabic language television network Al Jazeera's
coverage of the United States-led war against Iraq.
"While the U.S. and its allies were absolutely
unchallenged on the propaganda battlefront in the
1991 Gulf War, this time round the world can be
assured of an alternative view on the ongoing war,"
the paper stated. Excerpts:

2. ". . .The UK/U.S. propaganda war strategy has
suffered a major setback with Al Jazeera's prominent
and competing coverage of the war in Iraq. While the
U.S. has bludgeoned virtually everyone with high-
sounding claims of its avowed support for media
freedom, events currently unfolding do not exactly
manifest Uncle Sam's love for press freedom. On
March 24, Al Jazeera launched an English-language Web
site that almost immediately fell victim to hackers.
. . All this because Al Jazeera has broken the
U.S./UK propaganda monopoly. . . While the U.S. and
its allies were absolutely unchallenged on the
propaganda battlefront in the 1991 Gulf War, this
time round the world can be assured of an alternative
view on the ongoing war."

SULLIVAN

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