Across the pond

On Sunday a young Iraqui, Muntadhar al-Zaidi, misbehaved at a press conference given by US President, George W Bush. He punctuated his question by throwing a shoe at George W., which is an insult in the Arab world. Muntadhar is clearly a callow youth, who has not learnt the first lesson of journalism.

Which is that the journalist’s job is to report events, as he, or she, sees them. Not peddling their own opinions. But telling the readers of newspapers, how it is in the country they are reporting from.

Callow youths, like Muntadhar, should above all things avoid becoming the story themselves. They should suppress any questions they have about whether Iraq has been liberated from the tyranny of Sadam Hussein’s regime, or subjected to American imperialism, at a huge cost in terms of Iraqui lives.

So Muntadhar betrayed the journalistic verities. Maybe he would not have done so, if he had been on my course, but he was born in 1979, which is, as it happens, the year I started to teach journalism at City University, London.

Our ex-students include the present editor of The Times, James Harding, and the present editor of The Daily Telegraph, Will Lewis. But their newspapers did not give me any help when I was searching for info on Muntadhar.

The only British newspaper that gave any prominent space today to Muntahar was The Guardian, which made it its second lead. Revealing, that after the press conference he had been seriously beaten up. Broken arm, ribs, damanged eye. So much so that the Iraquis did not want to produce him in court.

Even in The Guardian web page it was only the second lead.

Their lead story was about the news that Woolworths was bust and that all its stores were to close or 5 January. Tragedy. Unless, you know, as I do, that the American founder of Woolworth, was a disciple of Napoleon. And that the Woolworth of my youth, peddled shoddy goods, at less than sixpence, to the gullible working classes. They have gone on doing that, and they have gone bust because the working classes no longer buy their junk. They can do better at Ikea, etc., etc.

That, from what is Britain’s only left wing newspaper.

If you want to find out what drove Muntadhar to do what he did, you have to go to an encyclopedia, Wikepedia. There you will find that he was arrested twice by the Bush Iraq regime. Imprisioned and tortured.

He is still in jail. Seperated from his family. Even George W Bush does not approve of such tactics. But it is happening. And it is happening to someone who was trying to do what journalists are supposed to do.

Tell the world what is happening on their patch.