The Journal News
Section=News; Page=5A
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WAR
COVERAGE
Foreign-language
and ethnic press provide different perspectives
Elizabeth
Ganga and Khurram Saeed
The
Journal News
News
junkies who follow every twist in the war in
But
readers of the Irish Echo or El Diario La Prensa, along with stacks of other papers published in the
While
the American press and television focus on the movements of
"The
point is that we have to show the reality of the war," said Jacqueline Donado, managing editor of El Diario.
"There are some faces we don't want to see, but we have to put it in the
paper."
Arabs
and Muslims in the northern suburbs say they have also sought out alternative
media, such as Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, to complement
news from
Wednesday,
for instance, when CNN and Sky News showed the same images as Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi TV of a statue of Saddam Hussein
being toppled in the Iraqi capital, viewers heard divergent messages -
especially when a U.S. Marine placed an American flag on the face of the Iraqi
president's statue.
"The
bringing down of the statue itself wasn't so much a humiliation as the
flag," said Jihad Ali Ballout, a spokesman for
Al-Jazeera.
Wednesday's
symbolic fall of
Instead,
Hoy, which is owned by Tribune, the same company that publishes Newsday,
featured a full-page photo of the
Marcelo
Valdez read Hoy sitting in a car outside the
"I
think it's good because they have a lot of stories about the war," said
Many
of the local ethnic papers, like all community newspapers, devote coverage to
the war's impact on their community. But they add extensive reporting on their
countries of origin. The Irish Echo and the Irish Voice, both based in
"They
were never anti-American before," said Bernard Creaven,
at the
Jewish
papers like the Forward, the English edition of the old Yiddish paper,
extensively cover the war's potential effects on Israel, including the fear
during the early days of the war of a missile attack and whether America's need
to improve relations with Europe and the Middle East will strain its
relationship with Israel after the war.
Massimo
Jaus, deputy editor in chief of America Oggi, an Italian-language newspaper based in
"At
the same time, we are not minimizing the atrocities committed by the Iraqi
regime but we are always asking why now and not before," Jaus said.
Postwar
"We
have lots of questions after the war," Jaus
said. "It's very simple to say 'we are going to put a democracy.' How? How
are we going to do it?"
El
Clarin, a Spanish-language newspaper published out of
Haverstraw village, profiled four soldiers from north
"We
try to give a boost for the families," El Clarin's
publisher, Rafael Espaillat, explained. "Seeing
their son's picture in the paper is good for their morale."
Many
ethnic groups in the region also maintain a connection with the press from
their native countries via the Web or satellite TV. Along with large numbers of
Spanish-speakers,
Some
people, like Maka Robakadze,
find overseas war coverage to be more objective.
Robakadze,
26, who moved to the
"The
broadcasting is trying to be in the middle, discussing all the problems,"
said Robakadze, who lives in Monsey. "They are
not giving their opinions as much."
With
the American takeover of
In
In
a Tuesday editorial, The Times of India took a position that has dominated
Indian newspapers:
"What
next after the war in
Staff
writers Ernie Garcia, Hema Easley, Danny Lopriore, Franziska Castillo and
Susan Elan, and Bloomberg News contributed to this
report.
Reach
Elizabeth Ganga at eganga@thejournalnews.com or
914-637-2244.
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Copyright,
The Journal News 2003