Jehane Noujaim Quotes

Qatar-based 'Al-Jazeera,' the most important news channel in the Arab world, was harshly criticized by high U.S. officials for having 'emphasized civilian casualties' during the destruction of Falluja. The problem of independent media was later resolved when the channel was kicked out of Iraq in preparation for free elections.

When you read Western press, you probably get a feeling that all Russian press is censored, there's no freedom at all, we can't say whatever, which is absolutely, absolutely, completely untrue.

Al Jazeera is demonized by the United States, yet in Egypt my father would be watching it.

You have to be down here in the States to realize just how tightly controlled the corporate media is and how much they practise Soviet-style censorship through creative omission.

Has there ever been a more revealing moment this year? Let me just put this in fairly simple terms: Al Jazeera now broadcasts the words of Senator Durbin to the Mideast, certainly putting our troops in greater danger. No more needs to be said about the motives of liberals.

As far as the media is concerned, I wouldn't shoot anything down.

Fear rules almost every newsroom in the country.

At least in America, you have freedom of speech, which is a good thing. It's just a question of whether you're allowed to use it on 'Fox News'.

To be honest with you, I worry about concentration of ownership in media, where you have a handful of media conglomerates largely controlling what we see, hear and read.

My level of intervention in the press, trying to control stories, is zero. Subzero.

For the sake of public discourse, for the demands of the free market, and for the value we place in citizen advocacy, Rush Limbaugh must go.

In 1996, Al Jazeera was the first TV station in the Arab world to allow Israelis to appear on the screen and express their views and address the Arab world. Before that, Arab broadcasters did not allow what was perceived as the enemy to appear on the screen.

Give people control of the media and they will use it. Don’t give them control and you will lose it.

The fact that there aren't more restrictions on the media is disgraceful.

When I was at MSNBC, I had issues with the Obama administration. I got told by the person who runs MSNBC... that Washington was not happy with my tone.

If the media is a farce, why should you be the only one stuck with rules and restrictions?

The great tension in media has always been that freedom and quality are conflicting goals.

Some of the press who speak loudly about the freedom of the press are themselves the enemies of freedom. Countless people dare not say a thing because they know it will be picked up and made a song of by the press. That limits freedom.

I think there are a lot of reasons to be critical of the media in America.

We need a free media, not just freedom of speech.

I think democracy's undermined when those who own newspapers fill them with trivia rather than real issues.

Nobody from the administration has officially rejected my column.

Al Jazeera is one entity that everyone across the Arab world watches. Arabs are proud of that.

It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.

As the mainstream media has become increasingly dependent on advertising revenues for support, it has become an anti-democratic force in society.