The Control Room is a really irresistible documentary of interest that features a very exceptional as well as rare view into the manner in which the international communities perceive the war at Iraq. The documentary was produced in the year 2004 to covers Al Jazeera and its associations with the United States Central Command. It also covers other news groups that also covered the war at Iraq. The documentary film was the work of an Egyptian-American filmmaker known as Jehane Noujaim. Among those in the video are; Lieutenant Josh Rushing, the officer in charge of the media dealings at the US central command, David Shuster, a reporter with NBC as well as Tom Mintier, a journalist with CNN. Al Jazeera was epitomized by Samir Khader and Hassan Ibrahim. The documentary has l been victimized for the cabinet affiliates and pentagon members who are accused of a pro-Iraqi bias news. They have also been criticized for the reporting news displaying civilian casualties and American POWS footage. The Control Room is a film that brings to public news about the war at Iraq that the Bush administration, the administration that started the war, would have wished to remain a secret.
The documentary film highlights the Al Jazeera’s role in the Arab society, the Bias in the media as well as the freedom of the media. From the beginning of the film till the end, the documentary shows the US secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld at media conferences pointing a finger at the controversial nature of the Al Jazeera news station. On the contradictory, another clip on the film reveals the Iraq information minister complaining of al Jazeera airing the American propaganda. The US Lieutenant in charge of the media release accuses the Al Jazeera of its bias in news reporting. To defend the station, Samir Khader, a senior officer at Al Jazeera, states that the station’s intention and purpose is to protest the inflexible infrastructure of the Arab Society. Khader explains that the Arab infrastructure has ragged behind, technologically and culturally due to the inability to put up with the rest of the cultures and perspectives. Al Jazeera has a very great influence and support of the Arab society which is the reason why its news coverage tend to mean a lot.
Bias in the media is a major focus in this documentary. Rushing constantly complains about Al Jazeeera’s bias citing that the station does not air the Iraq military atrocities, that is, the soldiers having families hostage. An American Journalist, Abdallah Schleifer, attacks that such pictures do not exist. Most importantly, Rushing discovers that even Fox news air the same news that the Al Jazeera air hence the conclusion that the media bias has been displayed by both sides as concerning the Iraq war. Considering the importance of pictures, on subjectivity reasoning, they are very crucial. On the other hand, on objectivity a ground, the producer Jehane Noujaim disregards this saying it is a mirage. She therefore comes to a conclusion that war is a thing that involves emotionless which not a single party. The film also highlights media freedom focusing on the Control Room attacked on the Al Jazeera headquarters in Iraq. The film features the footage of the attack on the media and the documentary justifies the attack as the target group being a group of insurgents who attacked the coalition forces.
The producer of the video would have considered those who cannot understand as well as speak Arabic by translating the Arabic parts. This documentary was aimed at an international perspective and hence its translation would have been considered. Viewing the video was a good experience allowing for reinforcement of the perspectives of the media freedom ad role. Regarding the photos of civilian casualties and American POWS footage, as Jehane puts it on subjectivity reasoning, they are very crucial. On the other hand, on objectivity a ground, the producer Jehane Noujaim disregards this saying it is a mirage. She therefore comes to a conclusion that war is a thing that involves emotionless coverage that neither of the two sides was part of.
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Works Cited
Adams, Simon. The Iraq War. Mankato, Minn: Arcturus Pub, 2010. Print.
Noujaime, Jehane. "'Control Room' - (Documentary 2004)." YouTube. N.p., 9 May 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2013.
