12 January, 2009

In Praise of Ayman Mohyeldin

Gideon Levy comes out as a fan of Al-Jazeera International's Gaza correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin in Haaretz today:

"Whoever recoils from our heroic tales, bias, whitewashed words, Rorschach images of bombing, IDF Spokesman-distributed photographs, propagandists' excuses, self-satisfied generals and half-truths is invited to tune in. Whoever wants to know what is really happening, not only of a postponed wedding in Sderot and a cat forgotten in Ashkelon. Watching is sometimes hard, bloodcurdlingly hard, but reality is no less hard right now."

Well said. Let's just hope this recognition from an Israeli journalist will help convince US cable operators, who so far mostly have refused to carry Al Jazeera International.

5 comments:

  1. I'm a huge fan of Ayman, too, but I don't know why everyone forgets about Sherine Tadros who is doing exactly what Ayman is doing.

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  2. Because she doesn't fit in the male war correspondent hero role? But also, Al Jazeera is not giving her as much space as Ayman, at least on the English channel. He's the one doing all the standing-on-the-roof-with-bombs-falling-in the-background...

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  3. Yeah she's not as glamorous as Ayman (and unfortunately that counts for something) but she also stands on roofs in a helmet and does good reports. I don't understand why they sideline her for the live dispatches from that roof during the news (which Ayman almost always does), it's crap. They're both equally brave, talented reporters.

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  4. Ayman is also more appealing. Sherine is great, but you have to admit that Ayman delivers stories better than she does. He is so calm and composed even when he ducks as missiles fly over head he just gets back up and continues talking. So brave! I am a huge fan.

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  5. Karishma,

    They are both great and inspirational reporters.One thing should be clear, Ayman does the live reporting but remember the person who goes out and gathers the items you watch on TV is Sherine.Kudos to this brave girl and she is beautiful than Ayman.She deserves a nobel prize for reporting from this danger zone where even the men have taken a back seat.

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