Control Room
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Control_Room_movie.jpg
Control Room is a 2004 documentary film about Al Jazeera and its relations with the US Central Command, as well as the other news organizations that covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Made by Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, the film was distributed by Magnolia Pictures (owned by 2929 Entertainment).
People featured in the film include Lieutenant Joshua Rushing, a press officer from US Central Command, David Shuster, an NBC correspondent, and Tom Mintier, a CNN correspondent. Al Jazeera was represented by Samir Khader, a senior producer, Hassan Ibrahim, a Sudanese journalist who attended American universities and headed the BBC Arab News Service before joining Al Jazeera, and Deema Khatib, a Syrian journalist and a producer at Al Jazeera. Samir Khader later became the editor of al-Jazeera [1] (http://news.independent.co.uk/media/story.jsp?story=603895).
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Al Jazeera's role in Arab society
The film documents the spectrum of opinion that surrounds the Qatar television news network Al Jazeera. Throughout the film Donald Rumsfeld appears at press conferences, complaining about the propagandist nature of Al Jazeera. Paradoxically, a clip of Baghdad Bob shows him challenging the organization to "stop (its) propaganda!" The contrasting views between the documentary’s central figures are not so clear cut. Early in the movie, press officer Lt. Rushing remarks that Al Jazeera bias leads it to focus exclusively on American tanks and Iraqi casualties, yet he later confides that agencies such as Fox News also appear to hand-pick their material, and he sees what both sides leave out. Samir Khader, a senior producer of Al Jazeera, claims the network's purpose is to shake up the rigid infrastructure of Arab society, which he believes has fallen behind culturally and technologically because of its social intolerance to other cultures and perspectives.
Objectivism vs. perspectivism
Several times, the Jazeera journalists and CENTCOM press officer Lt. Rushing collide in debate which often stems from the different ways these parties view the problem of war coverage. The journalists often display a perspectivist viewpoint, focusing on the perception of arguments from various audiences, while the press officer, being objectivist, focuses on facts which justify his viewpoint during this war. Rushing states, "I am not stepping down from my conviction," in defense of the U.S.'s liberating purpose in Iraq. However, when asked how this purpose might appear to the average Iraqi viewer, he softens: "I can see how it can be perceived as that." While his conviction may be well justified given many facts, Hassan Ibrahim, a Jazeera journalist, illustrates the counterpoint: regardless of the truth, George Bush's presentation — an ominous, 48-hour ultimatum — has managed to "galvanize the Iraqi people to Saddam," as were the Iraqi men shown in the beginning of the film in the coffeeshop.
Bias in the media
Rushing laments about Al Jazeera's bias, and speculates why Jazeera shows no photos of alleged Iraqi military atrocities, such as soldiers holding families hostage. Ahmahhed Schleifer, an American reporter, counters that no such pictures exist. He has no doubt these atrocities occur. However, he explains that hearsay filtering down through CentCom is not convincing to skeptical Arab viewers; "that's why pictures of these things are so vital."
Given the subject of this film, pictures are so important because they transcend language. Unless there is concern that they have been contrived, they give useful information to all perspectives. This is what a producer for Al Jazeera claims was the motivation for showing dead American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. As for objectivity, she discards it as “a mirage.” As this film documents, war is something that makes nonsense of emotionless involvement, for any side and in any profession.
External links
- Control Room official website (http://www.controlroommovie.com)
- Noujaim Films (http://www.noujaimfilms.com/)
- Magnolia Pictures (http://www.magpictures.com/)
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- Metacritic - Control Room (http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/controlroom/) review collection
- Rotten Tomatoes - Control Room (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/control_room/) review collection
- LookSmart - Control Room (http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317828/us317854/us156580/us219755/us575124/us10223718/) directory category
- Open Directory Project - Control Room (http://dmoz.org/Arts/Movies/Titles/C/Control_Room/) directory category