Control Room reviewed, in 10 words or less

(well, 10 substantive words. Unfortunately for you, they are scattered in the following text:)

Nov. 1: At Crooked Timber, notes on (and link to) Josh Rushing's Oct. 30 NPR interview. He's as good second-hand as he is on film.

The visuals were interesting, but there wasn't any real new information for the blog-literati. And the propensity of certain audience members to treat the event as an anti-Bush pep rally was unfortunate and distracting. OneTwo of the nice things about blogs is that yes, there is typically a comments section, but the audience is not forcibly exposed to it.

Your correspondent's sclerotic heart throbbed for [U.S.] CentCom spokesman Josh Rushing, a patriotic and thoughtful man with an open mind. Not that it served his career well - from Ebert's review:

Salon.com reported June 6 that Lt. Josh Rushing was ordered by the Pentagon not to comment on this film, "and as a result, the 14-year career military man, recently promoted to captain, plans to leave the Marines."

To me the most ironic part was a clip of President Bush The First saying "They're telling lies, but the truth will come out, it always does" or words to that effect. Would that he was right.


A-J links -

The [English language] Al-Jazeera website.

Al-Jazeera aims for "contextual objectivity" (link recycled from March 2003) - which does not mean neutrality, and does mean that the content/tone/slant is influenced by their audience's pre-existing perceptions.

added:
"I was wrong about al-Jazeera" - Downing Street's communications chief, Alastair Campbell reports on Al-Jazeera's Control Room at present: (via)

I thought they would be cocky and brash because they had made themselves into the media story of the last decade. In fact, I found them worried about the way they were perceived, and genuinely perplexed by what they saw as a one-dimensional American view of their output....
Americans fail to see the wider significance of al-Jazeera. "The Americans call for reform. They call for freedom of expression. For democratisation, liberalisation. We have been part of that process, helping create real and lasting change in society, give people a voice. We are part of the march towards reform in the Middle East. They cannot see it," [managing director Wadah Khanfar] says.

Added Oct 18:
Oct. 15 Washington Post article on U.S.-financed Alhurra TV