Wednesday, June 15, 2011

The deceit of ageing Arab regimes won't stop al-Jazeera

Arab regimes' attempts to discredit al-Jazeera only highlight the honesty of the new people's media

Wadah Khanfar
(Director general of the al-Jazeera network)
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 15 June 2011

"When al-Jazeera and other Arab satellite TV services were launched in 1996, the intelligence agencies of Arab regimes began a campaign to create an atmosphere of doubt around us, including the rumour that al-Jazeera was established by a Mossad officer living in the Doha Sheraton. When you deal with this level of distortion, you know you are facing regimes that are too scared to confront you with facts....

And so in today's revolutionary atmosphere, with so much to play for, the people are our most valuable assets. We have our Twitter and Facebook followers, and we have the people on our side – people who marched in the liberation squares, people who risked their lives to send us pictures and videos – and we cannot let them down. We must stay close to the people and never let these glorious revolutions turn into a tool of dictators and murderers."

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