The Control Room
Documentary, 2004
Rating: 1.5 Coffee Cups

"I'd gladly trade my Arab nightmare for the American dream."

These are the words of Samir Khader, senior producer of Al-Jazeera. He is commenting about his tribulations in covering the 2003 Iraq War from the Arab media frontlines. If given the chance, Khader would happily jump ship at Al-Jazeera for the big money at Fox News, and says as much. Not surprisingly, director Jehane Noujaim again and again points out that Al-Jazeera is the pan-Arab equivalent of Fox News.

In the first 30 seconds, Control Room observes that in modern-day war, control of the media is every bit as important as control of the battlefield. The leaders of every nation have to sell their wars to the folks back home, according to local aesthetics, values, and beliefs. Especially since Vietnam, the media of each country has been given the job of selecting and presenting the images that their common people are allowed to see. In the case of the Middle East, particularly the 2003 invasion of Iraq, what is presented to Americans vs. what is shown in the Arab world can be quite different. While checking out information from any news source, we must always ask what kind of audience the medium is addressing.

The film studies the differences in treatment of the same war between US media and Al-Jazeera, as well as the responses from the Americans at home, vs. the Arab man in his coffee shop. In one scene, the Al-Jazeera team in its control room sits shocked and annoyed by the corny, heavy-handed speeches the Americans make as their forces enter Baghdad. The Americans in turn are enraged by Al-Jazeera's broadcasting graphic pictures of civilian and US casualties, as well as interviews with frightened American POW's. The film-maker also peppers the film with interludes where a young US lieutenant tries to present his take on the war to the international media, yet comes out looking naïve about U.S.-Iraqi relations, Arab feelings, and the agenda of the U.S. in the Middle East, all at once.

The most disturbing part of the film covers US air strikes against Al-Jazeera's facilities in Iraq. This sortie kills a beloved journalist, Tariq Ayub, and outrages the Arab world-which promptly pronounces Ayub a shahid.

There is one thing lacking in Control Room. It is pretty easy to know whom Fox News talks for, but there is little to tell whom Al-Jazeera News Network represents. There is nothing new about the network's origin, besides its creation in 1996 and its rise to prominence against the United States propaganda machine in its coverage of the 2003 Iraq War. The documentary portrays Al-Jazeera as a sexy, roguish, free-agent freedom fighter seemingly free of special interests and hidden agendas. Viewers will notice that the network does cater to the forces of Arab nationalism. One also knows that at its headquarters in Doha, Qatar the network enjoys a loose leash, so long as it never attacks the Qatari government.

To sum up, The Control Room is good to view if you want to relive the news coverage of the 2003 war, but not if you need to know who is actually buying the ads and paying the bills for one of the most influential tools of Arab nationalism in the last few years.

-Abu Mu'mil