Here’s a contrarian Arab view of President Obama’s first formal interview since taking office, which he decided to give to Al-Arabiya, an Arabic news broadcaster based in the United Arab Emirates.
In stark contrast to the nearly across-the-board praise the president has received for the gesture, Mohammad Al-Khalif of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh newspaper says that it’s not only an embarrassment for Arabs to have needed such ‘special attention’ from Obama, but he suggests that the interview seems to have created some hard feelings at a jealous Al-Jazeera, who can’t figure out why Obama went with Al-Arabiya.
“We Arabs in the eyes of the world are the delinquent students who draw the attention of the school principal, and we’re just experiencing the euphoria that troublemakers get when they attract the principal’s attention – as though we were actual people of consequence in the world, whereas the truth is that we’re a people who cannot control our emotions and who need to be quieted with media bribes, such as during the interview, putting a vase with yellow flowers behind President Obama instead of the American flag. … the real feeling we should have is regret and remorse for being in such a pitiful situation … Obama didn’t choose an Arabic news channel because it was superior. Of all the world’s news channels, he chose Al-Arabiya for no other reason than that it’s ‘Arab!'”
By Mohammad Al-Khalif
Translated By James Jacobson
February 1, 2009
Saudi Arabia – Al-Riyadh – Original Article (Arabic)
Should we, the Arabs, feel happy and proud that America’s new president Barack Obama selected Al-Arabiya to give his first formal interview since entering the White House?! It’s a question that I felt I needed to answer, after news of the interview took over most of the world’s newspapers sites, including those dedicated to cinema such Variety in the United States. Reports on the interview describe in a variety of ways, from those who say Obama behaved like a supplicant toward the Arab world to others who write that Obama won the enmity of Al-Jazeera by making Al-Arabiya his choice for the interview!
The answer to the question, in my view, is that people working in the Arab media should be proud of the achievement by Hisham Melhem, who is a complete professional who represented the Arab press with distinction – and that no one can deny.
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