Control Room
by Jehane Noujaim
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Actor: Deema Khatib, George W. Bush, Hassan Ibrahim, Josh Rushing, Samir KhaderDirector: Jehane Noujaim
Brand: LION'S GATE ENTERTAINMENT
Producer: Jehane Noujaim
Writer: Jehane Noujaim
Producer: Abdallah Schleifer
Producer: Alan Oxman
Producer: Andrew P. Hurwitz
Producer: Andrew Rossi
Producer: Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt
Producer: Emily Gardiner
Producer: Hani Salama
Producer: Mette Hoffman Meyer
Writer: Julia Bacha
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Arabic (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); Arabic (Original Language); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 84 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-26
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Control Room
DVD Review: Complete Control Room
Summary: 4 Stars
The Control Room is a documentary filmed in the CENTCOM media center in Qatar on the eve of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The film attempts to study how the Arab network Aljazeera covers the impending invasion and how the network interacts with the US military media advisors. The filmmakers appear to be very unobtrusive, and allow the images and commentators to speak for themselves without the use of manipulative music or narration.
As the title suggests, most of the action takes place in the Aljazeera control room where producers and anchors conduct what is broadcast across the largest Arab network in the world. Senior producers conduct the screens like a chaotic orchestra that somehow ends up perfectly constructed to their liking: essentially, a very one-sided, anti-Invasion propaganda machine.
However, one is hesitant to simply label Aljazeera as a biased, anti-American, propaganda media outlet. For one, they are not propagating for any single government or religious ideology. In fact, the documentary points out that since its inception in 1996, Aljazeera has been banned in several Arab states because of their critical allegations against certain Arab regimes. Also, the core of their staff appears to be made up of a multinational Arab force: some seemingly very traditional in their manner and appearance, and others very Western and liberal. None of the woman on TV or behind the scenes were garbed in a burqa or hijabof any kind. On the contrary, the women were dressed very fashionably and could have been comfortable in any western society. Almost everyone spoke English, and were obviously well educated and intelligent. So, if Aljazeera is known to be openly critical of many Arab dictatorships, and if judging by their women's roles as producers and anchors (and not dressed in typical Muslim garb), we cannot say that they are propagating for any particular type of government, nor any particular religious faith. What the film shows, and what the Aljazeera staff say themselves, is that they are firmly on the side of the Arab people as a whole. Being from many different backgrounds and levels of faith, they all have one thing in common: protecting and standing up for their own people. The problem arises when pro-Arabism transforms into anti-Westernism...in the case of the impending war on Iraq, anti-Americanism.
The one major failing of the Aljazeera network is that it does not conform to what we in the West would consider "journalistic integrity." Whether Western news is biased one way or the other, the journalists at least attempt to perform the basic journalistic tasks: gathering information from all sides, then reporting it as factually as possible without attempting to be overly manipulative or biased. Aljazeera, on the other hand, feels that their job is not to simply promote the news, but to serve their core audience; the Arab peoples. This means ignoring anything that could be seen as pro-Western or pro-American. The network staff insists that they are not trying to be anti-American out of stubbornness, or some preconceived bias against America, but that they are simply doing their duty by reporting the war from the Arab perspective; a perspective that views all American intervention in Iraq as having negative consequences. Aljazeera regularly depicts images of women and children who have been mutilated by American forces in the course of battle. They showed American POW's being interrogated by their captors (the documentary points out how this is against the Geneva convention. An Aljazeera reporter retaliates by pointing out that holding the prisoners in Guantanamo and the Iraqi war itself are violations of the Geneva convention). They play dark music as American tanks roll through the city. Not once (at least not in the film) did they attempt to portray Saddam's villainy, only the US villainy.
The Aljazeera reporters, while unabashedly biased against the invasion, make it a point that they are not simply trying to be anti-American, but are standing up for the Arab perspective of the war. While they never seemed to tell a lie, or bend the truth (on the film at least), Aljazeera never attempted to justify the war in Iraq. But why should they? Or why should the US expect them to? They are providing an alternate perspective to the war; a perspective that is definitely one-sided, but one that is not necessarily told by dominant Western media. So does this justify Aljazeera's lack of journalistic integrity? As one Aljazeera reporter puts it, "is any media unbiased?" While barely owning up to their own lack of journalistic bias, they do point out a few flaws in the US military's propaganda: one concerning the US military positions during the initial invasion. The US announced they were in Baghdad when the Aljazeera network proved they had not yet reached or taken the city (the US, it seems, was trying to frighten the Republican Guard into believing they had already taken the city, thus putting them off guard when the tanks actually rolled in). This is not so much propaganda, I suppose, as it is legitimate disinformation to throw off the enemy. The other incident was more obvious: as the tanks finally rolled into Baghdad, the streets were clear of Iraqi citizens, all except for a strange group of young men waving an Iraqi flag and wholly supporting the US invaders. According to Aljazeera, this particular group of 20 or more young men (all around the same age) were brought in by the US as a media propaganda tool. Aljazeera reporters claimed that these young men were not Iraqi citizens because their accents were not Iraqi, and neither was their demeanor or attire. Aljazeera also claimed that the men were waving a pre-1991 Iraqi flag (why not a current flag? Because Iraqi outsiders could only get their hands on a pre-1991 flag). And when the US media cut to the so-called citizen's as they approached and tore down the infamous statue of Saddam, Aljazeera points out that it was not throngs of Iraqi citizens, but this same 20 or so young men. Where were all of the other citizens, asked Aljazeera? Where were the women and children, or at least men of varying ages? As the camera pulls back, it is plain to see that the streets that were supposed to be full of swarming Iraqi citizens was only occupied by a few tanks and this small group of men. Again, a small propaganda tool used by the US forces, but to an Arab audience, US deception.
The other major event depicted in the film was the so-called targeting and killing of a few Arab news reporters. At the beginning of the film (and prior to the US invasion), the Aljazeera producers made it clear that they had notified the US military as to where exactly they would be located (where their news building was, where their satellite facilities are, etc), as not to be accidentally targeted by the US military. Later in the film, and thus after Baghdad had been taken, a US military aircraft missile hits and kills an Aljazeera reporter right on the roof of their own building. Apparently a precision hit. Simultaneously, 2 other Arab television targets were "accidentally" hit with aircraft weapons. Since previously the US military had been growing tiresome with Aljazeera's biased (and what the US military considered enemy propaganda) reporting, and since the Aljazeera building was well known by the military, Aljazeera felt without a doubt that they had been sent a "warning" from the military to ease up. The military later stated that it was an accident and that Aljazeera was warned that " Baghdad is a dangerous place." Whether or not this kind of targeting is a legitimate tool is left to the viewer (or reader). Regardless, Aljazeera was obviously in a class unto its own in the world of broadcast news.
Overall, I believe this documentary achieved what it set out to accomplish: to show the true colors of Aljazeera, but to also show that depending on one's perspective, there is a fine line between propaganda and news. There is a fine line between pro-Arabism and anti-Americanism. Who is right and who is wrong? I suppose that depends on what side of world you are on. Regardless, according to this documentary, Aljazeera is far from an objective news organization. While I believe that what they broadcast is true only in the sense that it is not a lie, their material is highly selective and guided in a highly activist manner. But the question remains, is any broadcast news entirely objective? And as the film also showed, that some of the military media-manipulating techniques (more than I've outlined here) were just as guilty as Aljazeera. However, if one is to judge the US disinformation as a legitimate tool during war, then I would suspect Aljazeera might view their tactics as a legitimate tool in their fight to protect Arab interests. Due to the very balanced nature of this documentary, it is left up to the viewer to decide.
Description of Control Room
Control room is a rate film that is both timely and timeless: timeless because it ecplores the ancient and complex relationship between the western and Arab worlds timely because it reveals how satellite television has changed the way wars are reported- from news providers driven by the patriotism of their audiences to army information officers driven by military objectives. Control room is a seminal documentary that explores how truth is gathered presented and ultimately created by those who deliver it.System Requirements: Running Time 86 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 031398169321 Manufacturer No: 16932Startling and powerful, Control Room is a documentary about the Arab television network Al-Jazeera's coverage of the U.S.-led Iraqi war, and conflicts that arose in managed perceptions of truth between that news media outlet and the American military. Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim (Startup.com) catches the frantic action at Al-Jazeera headquarters as President Bush stipulates his 48-hour, get-out-of-town warning to Saddam Hussein and sons, soon followed by the network's shocking footage of Iraqi civilians terrorized and killed by invading U.S. troops. Al-Jazeera's determination to show images and report details outside the Pentagon's carefully controlled information flow draws the wrath of American officials, who accuse it of being an al-Qaida propagandist. (The killing of an Al-Jazeera reporter in what appears to be a deliberately targeted air strike is horrifying.) Most fascinating is the way Control Room allows well-meaning, Western-educated, pro-democratic Arabs an opportunity to express views on Iraq as they see it--in an international context, and in a way most Americans never hear about. --Tom Keogh
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