Barnes & Noble

A documentary that will no doubt enter the curriculum for future students of the U.S.-led Operation Iraqi Freedom, Control Room invites viewers to reevaluate the standards by which we gauge fairness and accuracy in news coverage of controversial events. Many of the film’s scenes unfold in and around CentCom, the temporary information bureau set up in Qatar for use by international journalists. Prominent in the proceedings are representatives of Al-Jazeera, the privately owned Arab news network whose coverage of the war differed substantially from that of Western media outlets. There are several fascinating exchanges between a U.S. Marine Corps press spokesman, Lt. Josh Rushing, and Al-Jazeera producer Hassan Ibrahim. Another of the network’s producers, Samir Khader, is dismissive of an American antiwar activist interviewed on Al-Jazeera -- a curious stance for someone who supposedly covered the war with an overt anti-American bias. Here in the States, we have been told that the Arab network was little more than a propaganda arm of Islamic terrorists. But is that true? And are our own news organizations any less guilty of spreading propaganda? These are questions asked by this provocative documentary -- but, it should be said, not answered definitively. Arab-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim (Startup.com) doesn’t take sides here but points out that both have something valuable to say. The extent to which a viewer believes that to be true is the extent to which he or she will appreciate this undeniably engrossing film. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehane Noujaim (Startup.com) directs Control Room, a documentary investigating the ethics of media-managed wars. This film particularly focuses on the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Noujaim and her film crew travel to the headquarters of Al-Jazeera, the media leader in the Arab world, to find out what the news looks like in Iraq. She interviews several journalists and producers involved in war reporting for Al-Jazeera, including senior producer Sameer Khader, journalist Hassan Ibrahim, and producer Deema Khatib. Noujaim also interviews American correspondents David Shuster from NBC and Tom Mintier from CNN. Control Room premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the American Spectrum program. Andrea LeVasseur

Product Details

• UPC: 031398169321
• Source: LIONS GATE
• Region Code: 1
• Time: 1:26:00
• Sales Rank: 13,280

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