At surreal press conferences in Tripoli reporters hear scripted praise for Muammar Gaddafi while being told black is white, attack is retreat and 'the colonial English' are fomenting conspiracy
Peter Beaumont in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011
"....For the journalists in Tripoli, it was the sixth paragraph that stood out.
"No restrictions are imposed on the foreign media," it said. "Media correspondents work freely in Libya, and all necessary facilities are provided for them. They have freedom of movement, except in areas controlled by al-Qaida terrorists."
Which would suggest, on recent experience including that of the Guardian, that most of the country is controlled by al-Qaida – including areas controlled by the government.
The reality is that journalists cannot operate freely in Tripoli at all, despite repeated promises from individuals including Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, and the deputy foreign minister, Khalid Khayem.
In recent days the Guardian has been held twice for testing this promise.....
Each day journalists gather at the Rixos to see if there will be a bus trip to a location where – inevitably – they will be met by a staged demonstration of regime loyalists who have often been paid to attend or given a holiday from work to attend.
Journalism then is a question of enduring the shouted pro-forma praise for the regime and waiting for an encounter with those who oppose Gaddafi, even in these circumstances, when people will come and speak quietly amid the clamour.
As the country becomes ever more difficult to report from, what is happening to ordinary Libyan civilians is ever more effectively being censored.
And at some point, by our very presence, in being ineffective we will become accomplices in that censorship."
Peter Beaumont in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 March 2011
"....For the journalists in Tripoli, it was the sixth paragraph that stood out.
"No restrictions are imposed on the foreign media," it said. "Media correspondents work freely in Libya, and all necessary facilities are provided for them. They have freedom of movement, except in areas controlled by al-Qaida terrorists."
Which would suggest, on recent experience including that of the Guardian, that most of the country is controlled by al-Qaida – including areas controlled by the government.
The reality is that journalists cannot operate freely in Tripoli at all, despite repeated promises from individuals including Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, and the deputy foreign minister, Khalid Khayem.
In recent days the Guardian has been held twice for testing this promise.....
Each day journalists gather at the Rixos to see if there will be a bus trip to a location where – inevitably – they will be met by a staged demonstration of regime loyalists who have often been paid to attend or given a holiday from work to attend.
Journalism then is a question of enduring the shouted pro-forma praise for the regime and waiting for an encounter with those who oppose Gaddafi, even in these circumstances, when people will come and speak quietly amid the clamour.
As the country becomes ever more difficult to report from, what is happening to ordinary Libyan civilians is ever more effectively being censored.
And at some point, by our very presence, in being ineffective we will become accomplices in that censorship."
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