Todays Martial Media Madness™:

  • The Guardian reports that al-Jazeera has doubled its viewership in Europe since Wednesday, having signed up 4 million new subscribers on the continent. The story mentions that “an English-language version of al-Jazeera is planned and could launch by the end of this year.” In the meantime, you’ll have to make do with its new English-language web site.
  • The debate rages about the rights and wrongs of broadcasters showing the faces of POWs. The hypocracy of the western media has been impressive: CNN lambasted al-Jazeera for screening the Iraqi propaganda of American dead and POWs, but seems to have no qualms about showing images of Iraqi POWs. Both sides have hurled Article 13 of the third convention at one antother:

    Prisoners of war must at all times be protected … public curiosity.</p> The whole issue is a red herring. As Marcel Berlins points out, the convention is binding only on the belligerant states, not the independent media. It’s the warring parties that are violating the convention by allowing the journalists to film prisoner they have taken.</li>

    • Atrios points out a story from USA Today that includes news of some remarkable foresight at NBC.</ul>