Frustrated with biased Western media, Arabs turn to satellite

Frustrated with biased Western media, Arabs turn to satellite

channels
Brussels, March 30, IRNA -- It is Sunday but the market in the famous
Rue de Brabant, just behind the North Station of Brussels, is full of
people.
Most businesses and shops here are owned by Moroccan immigrants
and the Brabant market is open on Sundays but closed on Mondays.
Shops selling electronic goods are doing brisk business these
days.
"Our sale of satellite receivers that receive most Arab channels
has risen three-fold since the outbreak of the war," Faisal, a young
Moroccan working as a salesman in one of the many electronic shops in
the area, tells IRNA.
As the salesman and customers haggle over prices of the rceivers,
their eyes are on the TV set which is beaming the famous Arab channel
al-Jazeera's reports on the latest developments in the warfront.
The receiver with the dish and installation charges amount to
around 300 euros, a price that can be afforded by many Arab
immigrants, mainly from North African countries, living in Belgium.
In the Arab cafes around the area of the Midi railway station
people are sipping tea or coffee, but their eyes are glued on the TV
set watching Al-Jazeera or the Lebanese-based Hizbollah-run al-Manar
satellite channels.
In Brussels' Anderlecht district, home to a large immigrant
community from North Africa, Al-Minar is said to be the most popular
TV channel.
Parvez, a businessman, is an Indian Muslim living in the Ixelles
district of Brussels. He understands and speaks English but not
Arabic.
Sitting around the dinner table, Parvez and his family are
surprisingly not watching BBC or CNN, but Al-Jazeera.
Why?
"The Western media are biased and unreliable, while Al-jazeera
gives correct news," 50-year old Parvez tells IRNA.
"Instead of listening to their lies, we can get a better
understanding of the situation by seeing the pictures on
Al-Jazeera," he explains.
"The Western media in the early days of the war reported that
Saddam Hussein, Tariq Aziz, Yassin Ramadan were all killed in the
bombings. Now, we are seeing them giving live press conferences from
Baghdad. Who would believe them any more?" he asks.
A most surprising development is being observed about the media
attitudes in the Arab-Muslim world.
Whereas previously many viewers would turn automatically to
the BBC or CNN to get what they assumed were unbiased news, today
most of them switch to Arab satellite channels like Al-jazeera,
Al-Minar, Abu Dhabi or the Arabic service of Iran's Sahar.
Some Arab viewers are also tuning in to Iran's new Arab satellite
channel Al-Alam.
Most are astonished that the Western media parrot statements and
comments made by American and British political and military leaders
without questioning their authencity.
"I am really fed up with all the lies and propaganda of the CNN,
BBC and the Western news agencies. They relay dispatches by their
reporters embedded with US and British troops. So how can they claim
to be balanced in their reporting when they send reports given by one
side only," says Yousuf, a student in Brussels from Egypt.
"You hear a lot about the sufferings of US and British POWs at the
hands of Iraqis, but do you hear anything about the suffering of Iraqi
prisoners?" he asks.
"One cannot expect us to believe that a country which treats the
prisoners at Guantamo Bay like animals is distributing cakes and
sweets to the Iraqi prisoners," added Yousuf.
NK/LS

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