Religion

Saudi Editor Admits that Jews Aren't "Vampires"

by Sheldon Rampton — March 28, 2002 - 12:00am

Thanks to Saudi Arabia's generous willingness to sell oil to the United States, politicians generally turn a blind eye to its repressive government and frequent anti-Semitism, which surfaced again recently when Al-Riyadh, the Saudi government's daily newspaper, published an article claiming that Jews celebrate the holiday of Purim by eating special pastries filled with "the blood of Christian and Muslim children under the age of 10" extracted using slow torture with sharp needles -- "torment th

Main Source: 
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/03/20/News/News.45527.html

PBS Looks at US Propaganda Aimed at Muslim World

by John Stauber — February 18, 2002 - 7:08pm

The PBS NewsHour aired a report tonight titled "Public Diplomacy: U.S. Outreach to the Muslim World." 'Public diplomacy' is a euphemism for government propaganda, and this report is an overview of US efforts already reported elsewhere, with no new insights or perspectives.

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PBS NewsHour

Ralph Reed - Doing God's Work for Enron and Bush

by John Stauber — January 25, 2002 - 9:06am

Ralph Reed, the hard-ball political organizer and brilliant PR strategist behind the rise of the powerful Christian Coalition, went to work for Enron just as George Bush began his drive for the presidency.

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New York Times

Prime-Time Smear Campaign

by Sheldon Rampton — January 19, 2002 - 12:00am

"By pandering to anti-Arab hysteria," writes Eric Boehlert, "NBC, Fox News, Media General and Clear Channel radio disgraced themselves -- and ruined an innocent professor's life." University of South Florida computer science professor Sami Al-Arian received death threats and lost his job after conservative Fox commentator Bill O'Reilly revived discredited, years-old allegations from self-styled terrorism expert Steve Emerson that

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Salon.com, January 19, 2002

Arab Businessmen Launch Their Own PR Campaign

by Laura Miller — January 3, 2002 - 12:00am

PR trade publication O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports: "The Arab Intellectual Foundation plans a $2 million media drive to counter what it feels are the 'negative images' of Arabs and Islam that are presented in the Western press in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks." Saudi Prince Khalid Al-Faisal is the president of AIF. Arab businessmen have been asked to contribute money to the campaign which will "promote the Arab perspective on the war on terror."

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O'Dwyer's PR Daily, January 3, 2002

Saudis Lash Out at "Zionists" in the Media

by Sheldon Rampton — December 28, 2001 - 12:00am

A roiling debate over the United States' ties with Saudi Arabia took an ugly turn when the Saudi defense minister, Prince Sultan ibn Abdul Aziz, publicly accused the "Zionist and Jewish lobby" of orchestrating a "media blitz" against the desert kingdom.

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Forward, December 28, 2001

"American Advertising Goes to War"

by Laura Miller — December 17, 2001 - 12:00am

Advertising Age asked a top Middle East ad man about the difficulties of selling the US to the Arabic and Muslim world. Roy Haddad, the Beirut-based CEO of WPP Group's J. Walter Thompson, warns that the current political situation makes the US a hard sell. "The long-standing Israel issue is the biggest hindering factor. ... There's been a lot of reaction in the US, feeling that Arabs were pro-bin Laden. It's not so much a pro-bin Laden as an anti-American attitude, anti-Western.

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Advertising Age, December 17, 2001

Muslims and the West

by Sheldon Rampton — December 11, 2001 - 12:00am

As the endgame approaches in the war against Osama bin Laden, Pakistani professor Pervez Hoodbhoy has written a thoughtful essay, published in two installments, which ponders the next steps that must be taken. "If the world is to be spared what future historians may call the 'Century of Terror,' we will have to chart the perilous course between the Scylla of American imperial arrogance and the Charybdis of Islamic religious fanaticism," he writes.

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The Dawn (Pakistan), December 10 & 11, 2001

Selling the USA

by Sheldon Rampton — November 26, 2001 - 12:00am

Most of the new PR plan was ready to go. As the new moon ushered in the month of Ramadan last week, U.S. officials prepared "Mosques of America" posters, showing glossy images of domes and minarets, for distribution across the Arab world. President Bush and ambassadors in the Middle East and Asia would welcome Muslims into their homes to mark iftar, or the breaking of the fast. Muslim Americans were set to mingle with foreign Islamic journalists from the Washington area, no doubt to extol the virtues of the Bill of Rights.

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Newsweek, November 26, 2001

Appeal from Afghan Women

by Sheldon Rampton — November 19, 2001 - 10:13pm

The Revolutionary Association of Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), which has fought against both the Soviet occupation and Islamic fundamentalists, has issued an appeal to the world community. "The people of Afghanistan do not accept domination of the Northern Alliance," it states. "The retreat of the terrorist Taliban from Kabul is a positive development, but entering of the rapist and looter NA in the city is nothing but a dreadful and shocking news for about 2 million residents of Kabul whose wounds of the years 1992-96 have not healed yet. ...

Main Source: 
http://rawasongs.fancymarketing.net/na-appeal.htm
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