Control Room

I just finished watching Control Room. In this year of many must-see documentaries, I can recommend this one heartily. Control Room is a behind-the-scenes look at the lead-up to and the fighting of the war in Iraq from the perspective of the Al Jazeera network.

If you've only heard Rumsfeld and others complain bitterly about Al Jazeera, you might be surprised to know that Al Jazeera is hated by many of the rulers in the middle east because of what the network dares to say about them. There's an old axiom about journalism that if you're doing your job well, most everyone is gonna hate you. I think this might apply to Al Jazeera.

Another saying: Journalists should comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Yes, that borderlines on advocacy journalism, but I think the comfortable are entirely capable of shoring up their comfort against whatever onslaught the truth will out.

But back to Control Room: Particularly interesting was the clip of "Bagdad Bob"--Saddam's unintentionally comic spokesperson who denied, even with the sounds of bombs going off in the near distance, that American troops were anywhere near Bagdad. Ol' Bagdad Bob is shown in the movie saying harsh words against Al Jazeera for giving the American perspective on the war.

Working in the TV bidness, whether or not there's a writing or reporting spin--in either direction--isn't just something I can just postulate on. With 20 years in television, I have a perspective that a lot of viewers can't have. I've seen the planning for the story, the assignment of a reporter to it, rough drafts on the script, been involved in the promotion of it, then see the final product on air and online.

The movie is a pretty unflinching look at the process and the perspective of Jazeera journalists, revealing the journalists' opinions as well. Particularly interesting though, was an American Army spokesman named Lieutenant Josh Rushing. He seemed distinctly honest, and also seemed to have some personal revelations about the distance between what we think we're there for, and what those in the middle east think we're there for. He was a many-textured character, as were many in this film.

Anyway, you can find Control Room even at places like Blockbuster.