by Bob Boynton

News organizations that aspire to a global audience want to be on both sides of the line. The classic case is CNN reporting from Baghdad when the first Bush president was bombing. It made the reputation of the station. They had the only reporter in town, and he was broadcasting from his hotel room.

There are many other instances of this ‘both sides of the line’ approach to conflict. When NATO was attacking Yugoslavia CNN WorldView worked very hard to get to the ‘other side’ of the line. BBC World had a reporter in Kabul Afghanistan when NATO was after the Taliban. The two most dramatic images of that conflict were the reporter talking to the camera when a bomb exploded in his room. It was very impressive. The second image was the Taliban holding a press conference including female reporters. That was a clear sign of desperation.

A slightly different version of ‘both sides of the line’ happened February 23.

Aljazeera had a story from a reporter who had successfully ‘penetrated’ Taliban territory in Afghanistan. We can assume the Taliban wanted to tell the world what they were telling him.

Taliban ‘in control’ in Helmand was the claim of the Taliban.

James Bays spent two days with the Taliban in Helmand and found that the group is running schools and medical facilities, and is travelling armed and unchallenged by Nato-led forces.

They claimed they were in control of 99% of Helmand, a province in southwest Afghanistan. They demonstrated their contempt for the British forces who were their opposition by driving the reporter past the British compound.

The same day the ‘breaking news’ from BBC World was

More UK soldiers for Afghanistan

Where are the British troops going to be deployed in Afghanistan?

Britain has recently revamped its operations in Afghanistan to put most manpower into Helmand province in the south, where the fighting is at its most fierce.

Nato and British commanders have said for some time that more resources are needed if the Taleban are to be defeated.

They are headed to Helmand province “where the fighting is at its most fierce.”

The stories are not the same, but the photos are very similar. This is the Aljazeera photograph.

And this is the BBC World photograph

Interpretation

This is a different form of both sides of the line.

It would be nice to read a report from Helmand by BBC World. Is the fighting really at its most fierce when the Taliban drives by the British compound.

News Reports

Aljazeera English

BBC World