MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 000638 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPAP FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IZ PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION WAR WITH IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Al Jazeera and the war in Iraq" the pro-government weekly "The Sunday Mirror" dedicated its March 30 editorial to hailing the Arabic language television network Al Jazeera's coverage of the United States-led war against Iraq. "While the U.S. and its allies were absolutely unchallenged on the propaganda battlefront in the 1991 Gulf War, this time round the world can be assured of an alternative view on the ongoing war," the paper stated. Excerpts: ¶2. ". . .The UK/U.S. propaganda war strategy has suffered a major setback with Al Jazeera's prominent and competing coverage of the war in Iraq. While the U.S. has bludgeoned virtually everyone with high- sounding claims of its avowed support for media freedom, events currently unfolding do not exactly manifest Uncle Sam's love for press freedom. On March 24, Al Jazeera launched an English-language Web site that almost immediately fell victim to hackers. . . All this because Al Jazeera has broken the U.S./UK propaganda monopoly. . . While the U.S. and its allies were absolutely unchallenged on the propaganda battlefront in the 1991 Gulf War, this time round the world can be assured of an alternative view on the ongoing war." SULLIVAN