Blogcritics Comments on Review: Control Room

Comment by Scott Butki

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 09:41:19 EST

No answers?

Comment by Scott Butki

Sat, 4 Feb 2006 23:18:51 EST

Poll question If you were stuck on an island and could only have one television network what would you rather have - Fox News or Al Jazeera.

Comment by Scott Butki

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 18:49:30 EDT

You're welcome, Brian. Yes the movie rightly makes you question why the American media is purported to be better than, say, Al Jazeera. The screening led to a good discussion of just who CAN you trust and we were short on answers. Between the channel hiring David Frost AND Josh Rushing - the press office who was thoughtful, engaging and - well - got in trouble for some of the things he said... I've approached Al Jazeera to see if I can interview one or both of them. Here's some background on the hiring of Rushing and a more in-depth piece here

Comment by Brian Sorrell

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:48:26 EDT

Scott, Thank you for posting this review! I actually saw this documentary over the weekend and it was, as you point out, a deeply thought-provoking knockout. My feeling is that the controllers of Al Jazeera, particularly Samir Khader, are probably the best, bravest and most radical journalists on the planet. No to be glib about it, but if they're hated by governments on every side, they're probably doing something right. On the less glib side: there are moments in the film that are so gripping and so revealing that you can't help but question the motivations and effects of American MSM. Definitely check this one out! Brian.

Comment by Scott Butki

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 17:00:10 EDT

I encourage lots of people to show it. I showed it on 9-11 at my church for a movie discussion. That went over MUCH better than showing them Monty Python's Life of Brian on Sunday. "What did they say?" "I can't understand their accent?"etc. My bad.

Comment by Scott

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:49:17 EDT

I enjoyed this documentary. Definitely a different look at what Al-Jazeera actually is than what I believed it was listening to Bush administration officials and U.S. media outlets. Some very poignant moments (the rain at the end, the death of the Al-Jazeera reporter). I'd recommend it.

Comment by Scott Butki

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 16:32:16 EDT

David Frost has joined the network. Should be interesting to see how THAT plays out.

Comment by Scott Butki

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 11:17:23 EDT

But it's not just good for the Arab world. If you believe the movie they do a pretty good job of covering other perspectives too.

Comment by Victor Lana

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:56:32 EDT

I am going to amaze even myself (as someone who lost people on 9/11) to say that if we can have something like Fox (think TRIUMPH OF THE WILL back in the 1940s) there doesn't seem to be any reason why the Arab world can't have Al-Jazeera in 2005.

Comment by Scott Butki

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:25:59 EDT

I'd encourage everyone to check the movie out because it really makes you think about bias, bodies and war coverage.

Comment by ss

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 15:23:28 EDT

I haven't seen Al-Jazeera, so I can't really say what it's content is like. My bet is it has plenty of it's own bias. I did see a clip of an executive at Al-Jazeera saying when the network first began, it would interview Isreali and American politicians, to show all sides of a story, so the nationally owned Arab media outlets accused them of being a mouthpiece for the 'state terrorists', and tried (often successfuly)to have them banned, or lobbied their patron to have the offensive content removed. He said they weren't to suprised though, they expected knee jerk reactions and attempts to censor from the existing Arab media and governments. He went on to say it was very discouraging, then, when they attempted to show all sides of the Iraq war and let al-Queda play it's video tapes, that the American media and government, the model they thought they were basing their conception of freedom and a free press on, react in exactly the same way as Arab media and Arab governments.