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Ear to the Ground

Media Outlets Censor Tape of Kidnapped Reporter

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Posted on Jan 31, 2006
From Al Jazeera via MSNBC

Christian Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll, 28, pleads for the freeing of U.S.-held female prisoners in a tape released Jan. 30 by her captors in Iraq.

By Blair Golson

MSNBC: CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Jazeera aired a new videotape Monday of kidnapped U.S. journalist Jill Carroll, showing her wearing a headscarf and weeping as she purportedly appealed for the release of female Iraqi prisoners.

The video is dated Saturday, two days after the U.S. military released five Iraqi women detainees. U.S. officials said the release had nothing to do with the kidnappers’ demands. | story

Truthdig says: Al Jazeera won’t let us hear Carroll’s voice because it would be too “upsetting” to viewers. CNN won’t even show a clip. What exactly is going on here? Why not let us, the viewers, decide what’s too “upsetting”? How is this any different from Bush’s censorship of coffins returning home from Iraq? We’ve watched jetliners packed with innocents crash into our Twin Towers. We’ve watched Iraqi civilians slaughtered in real time by our own forces. Since when did we become unable to judge for ourselves what we need to see to make sense of the world around us?

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By Kate, February 1, 2006 at 8:54 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

I’m a news producer and ran this footage in one of my shows this week… with sound… and we’re a CNN affiliate. They had it, with sound. What gives? I’m all for the principles on this site… but I don’t buy into everything I read, like the severity of media control in this situation, when I know for a fact it’s just not true.

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By Randy Nesbitt, February 1, 2006 at 7:58 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The gov’t does not want us to see this because it only reveals the fact they weren’t going to do anything to begin with to save her. She was doomed from the gitgo - 1) she’s female, 2) the more despicable acts “they” do, the more Bush can justify his illegal war and his own acts or terrorism
Get used to it folks. These people (I use this term loosely) have no compassion and no god but greed. They have proved this time and time again in every scenario that has confronted them. There is no reason to change as they hold all the strings.
My prayers are with Jill Carroll’s family. I am crying because it is such a waste. The emptiness and blackness and abandonment she must feel is visible in her eyes. To hear her voice would be heartbreaking.

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By Russ Draper, January 31, 2006 at 4:12 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

It is upsetting:  I’ll bet she has been suffering horrific acts…da boyz don’t like da ho’s anyway!  Barbarity is rampant everywhere!

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By Ricardo Palacio, January 31, 2006 at 11:47 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Another example of another freedom going down the tubes. Our news is becoming more and more controlled. It is time to do something about this administration!

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By TomChicago, January 31, 2006 at 9:33 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

It is shame, not pain, that editors are concerned with.  The United States is humiliated by the kidnappings and their claims of success are undermined.

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By jilliann, January 31, 2006 at 8:09 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

The video seems very drastic.  Perhaps someone with lip reading abilities could clue us in?

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