|
CounterPunch
January
15, 2003
A Note on MEMRI & Translations
by LEAH HARRIS
I received many responses to my article
"It's
the Occupation, Stupid: Why the Pro-Occupation Right is Running
Scared" (December 28, 2002), and wish to thank Counterpunch
readers for their engagement. It has come to my attention that
I unintentionally misrepresented one aspect of MEMRI's work by
asserting that the organization "undertakes the disingenuous
practice of mistranslating excerpts of anti-occupation articles
published in the Arabic press." After further investigation
of this issue, I have discovered that the technical accuracy
of MEMRI's translations has not been disputed. Thus I specifically
retract my allegation that the organization's translations
are questionable, and I apologize for my error.
However, I do stand by my assertion that
MEMRI engages in the practice of publishing selective and decontextualized
excerpts of the Arabic press in ways that can present opponents
of occupation as religious extremists or anti-Semites. I believe
that this is a misleading practice and can serve to misrepresent
individual journalists and the character of the Arabic press
as a whole. For further information, I would refer CounterPunch
readers to Brian Whitaker's article "Selective Memri,"
published in the Guardian (Monday, August 12, 2002) in which
he elaborates in detail on the distortions in MEMRI's work; and
a debate on "Democracy Now" between MEMRI's founder
Col. Yigal Carmon and Ali Abunimah, Vice-President of the Arab-American
Action Network, and founder of electronicintifada.net, which
can be found at
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20020815.html
Yesterday's
Features
Jason Leopold
The
Return of Voo-Doo Economics
Elaine Cassel
Once
a Con, Always a Con:
When Doing Time Isn't Enough
Rich Procter
Economic
Chickenhawks
Ron Jacobs
A Blast from the Past:
Where the Home in the Valley Met the Damp Dirty Prison
Maria Tomchick
North Korea's Warlike Noises (And What They Mean)
Chris Floyd
Monsters
Inc.: the Pentagon's Plan to Creat Mutant "Super-warriors"
Russell Mokhiber and
Robert Weissman
Corporate Black Caucus?
Keep CounterPunch Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|
January
4, 2003
Jeffrey St.
Clair
Something
About Butte
Saul Landau
The Bush Vision and the Culture of Power
Annie Higgins
Six Soldiers
Michael Ortiz
Hill
Bush's Armageddon Obsession
Francisco Armada and Carlos
Mutaner
Venezuela: Chomsky's Tropical Nightmare
James T. Phillips
Targeting Americans
Jack Bice
A Fresh World Vision
Robert Fisk
Double Standards in the War on Terror
Chris Clarke
Is a Blue Rose a Rose?
Frank Fugate
How the West (Bank) Was Won
Anis Shivani
Bleak Prospects for Dems
Ben Tripp
Does Bush Know Korean?
Adam Engel
Les Miserable and the Hackers from Hell
Read
Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
|