Al-Jazeera Defends Airing Bin Laden Tape

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Al-Jazeera television, facing fresh US criticism for airing a new message by al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, defended its decision to show the tape, saying it was news any media would have jumped on.

"We don't believe anyone can argue about the newsworthiness of this latest Osama bin Laden recording. Any news organisation would have aired the tape if they had received it," al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said.

A US State Department official said Washington had asked Qatar's government to prevent the Arabic broadcaster airing the tape, but al-Jazeera refused.

Government officials in US ally Qatar, which hosts the leading Arabic satellite channel, were not immediately available to comment. Al-Jazeera says it received the tape on Friday.

In Washington, a US official said there is text at the start of the tape attributing the production of the tape to al-Shahab media production and that text has a date of 10 Ramadan, which was last Sunday. The tape also has English subtitles, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Al-Jazeera claims they received the tape by drop at its offices in Islamabad, Pakistan, and then it was transmitted to headquarters in Qatar. Since the tape was received in Pakistan, there's a hint that bin Laden is still hiding in the mountains straddling the border with Afghanistan.