From: peewee@infoserv.com (Philip Stromer)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast
Subject: Re: Phil's racist remarks (was Re: ACTION ALERT!! An Arab village is
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 19:11:20 PST
Distribution: world

        >According to the Wall Street Journal, UPI was purchased by the 
        >Middle East Broadcasting Centre Ltd. 
        
Financed by the Saudi government.  If you think the UPI is a free press,        
free to write whatever the editors choose, fine.  I'll be convinced when
they write just ONE article critical of Saudia or praising Israel, for
ANYTHING.

        >The MBC is a UK based (not Saudi based) media company. 
        
UK based, but financed by the Saudi government.  If the US government
were caught secretly funding the NY Times, there would be a major
flap over conflict of interest and undue influence peddling, and
rightly so.

        >The MBC has bureaus throughout the world including one in
        >Jerusalem, of all places. According to WSJ, the MBC's primary 
        investor is Walid al-Ibrahim, who is a brother-in-law of King Fahd. 
        
Yup.  He gets his money from King Fahd, too.  The conflict of interest is        
readily apparent to most.  That's why only 100 newspapers even carry the
UPI anymore.

        >The UPI serves some 100 newspapers around the world (compare to 
        >1500 for the Associated Press).

Their numbers would jump way up if they proved their neutrality.

        >Again, where does the control by the Saudi government come in 
        >here?

Where do you think Walid al-Ibrahim gets all his money from?  Are you
just pretending to be naive, or do you really think that the Saudi
government has absolutely no involvement with the UPI purchase.

        >Would you consider Mr. Bush's investments or his sons' investments 
        >to be controlled by the U.S. government even when they are located 
        >in the U.S.? 
        
You seem to be saying that Neil Bush became a major power in a corporation        
based on his merits, when we all know that he got his job for being the
son of the President.

Mr. Bush's investments are public record.  If he were to pass some form
of legislation where he had a financial interest, he'd be in trouble
with the law.
        
        >If not, why do you claim that UPI, based outside of Saudi Arabia,
        >is corrupted unless you believe Arabs to be different than other 
        >people?

I didn't say the UPI was corrupted.  I said that I'm 100% skeptical of
them until they prove their objectivity.  In lieu of the fact that there  
is no free press in any Arab country, it's very transparent that the
Saudi government bought the UPI to try to sway world opinions on issues
of concern to the Saudis.

The story you posted was not an objective story.  It did not quote
anyone from the Israeli government.  To be objective, they should
have attempted to get a response from the Israeli government, and
if the Israeli government refused to comment, they could have told
us that.  That's how to be objective.  You give both sides in any
conflict the chance to present their side.

        >About your request that UPI get into the business of political
        >commentary and editorializing, personally, I wouldn't trust a 
        >news source which thought it was in the business of reporting 
        >their own opinion rather than the news. :-)

Every newspaper has an OPINION page.  As long as they're labeled as such,
most of us can differentiate between an Op-Ed story and a hard news story.

        >And you say you are a journalism major?  Shame on your professors.

Shame on them for what?  I know the importance of presenting a BALANCED
story, and keeping commentary to the Op-Ed page.

--Philip Stromer
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast