To new zealand journalists and their 1day news blockout and 12 years after 911, a new World Trade Center rises overman hatten. Thats our web video of the week. As the crisis in syria deep edges, the glom attic battle fought out in the global media intentionfi fies. Various bilateral talks, photo opss while waiting for a vote on the u. N. Resolution that would man date the Assad Government to hand over weapons. Both have reached into their media arsenals as politicians and their proxies have pushed their particularly agendas. President s obama, putin and assad have blitzed the cameras more than a decade that was the sales job whether Media Outlets have looked beyond the spin to see the story at syria what it is, a country at war with its self with more than 100,000 dead, millions displaced and millions more in peril. Our starting point this week is damascus with stops in washington, paris, moscow and london on a story heading for a resolution of some kind at the u. N. Headquarters in new york city. Syrian is a diplo syria is a diplomatic battle. The Media Strategies are cynical. We had a media machine swirling out of control. And then you had a generally pretty high level of ignorance in the media, themselves. Binding commitments. The media battle is as crucial to the war efforts in all directions as the bombs and the bullets. No matter what the u. N. Inspectors say about chemical weapons, no matter what the Obama Administration says about the need to attack, no matter what punditry is produced, and no matter how well intentioned some may be. There is moral equivalent. The road to damascus rungs through the hell of what was baghdad. Thet there were no weapons of mass destruction. We have the opposite situation in syria where it is absolutely clear now, after the u. N. Report, that there are weapons of mass destruction butprice precisely because of the experience of iraq, it doesnt matter. People dont want to get into a war. The u. S. Government flacking for the Bush Administration at the time to have been lying. A lot of people remember that the president of the United States a dozen years ago was saying, hey, trust me. An iraq regime could launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes. The net effect is people have a bit of memory despite the or we willians news media. More and more americans are tired of being lied into war. At the various heads of state taking to the air waves along with Foreign Ministers to make respective cases, there was something ironic and an akronistic, in this age, of with great communicators, the master stroke came from the kremlin which schooled the competition when it went old school through an oped piece in the new yoth times written, the byline would have us believe, by vladimir putin. That was a breakthrough. This was one major move that changed the whole thing. Americans are not used to shahs publi publishing a new york. His major argue was we established Security Council as a way to keep peace on earth. So why are you trying to dismantle it . Putins omed in the new york sometimes was perfectly timed and it also was very deftly written and it hit a lot of key points of concern to the american people. Clearly, putin is an auto accurate. He doesnt seem to care about democra democracy. And yet his position about syria and the middle east in general is far more consistent in terms of International Law and standards than whats been coming out of the white house. I think the article is spectacularly well written. At least we know from now on, president putin has access to at least one good english language writer and it may be he should use this power of writing in english more often than he does. The last few weeks have witnessed a media blitz by various statesmen. Each trying to play the game of oneupmanship each trying to prove to his own people that he is more firmly dedicated to humanitarian principles and the principle of International Law. So we have seen president obama giving six t. V. Interviews in one day. President obama had a big problem in the last interview, which was to george stephanopolous. He said, you know, with the media in washington, people judge you on style. I am less concerned about style points. I am much more concerned about getting the policy right. If you are direct and clear, even if you are incredibly wrong, the way the george w. Bush administration was going into iraq, you get high points. If you are right but people get a little confused, they dont like your style, then washington resents t thats essentially what happened with obama. President assads foray wasnub in that he spoke with the American Network cbs and then fox news. Previously, assad saved his words for more friendly outlets, syrian ones he controls, Russian Networks he trusts but he stuck to his script, that the rebels are alqaeda in disguise. 80 to 90 of the underground. Terrorists are alqaeda and the offshoots. What makes the assad regime effective is that it relies on a number of key messages that get rebyford and over and over again. Assad is controlled from an office within the president ial palace, itself. He relies on a cadre of many with decades of experience. They know the inside tricks. They know how the media works in the west, not just in the arab world, and thats how he has been able to, in many ways, manipulate the western media in his favor. The washingtonbased project for excellence in journalism recently tabulated the coverage of syria on the u. S. Air waves and found by a 2 to 1 margin proceedwar voices out numbered those opposed given that every recent poll shows most americans dont want a strike on syria. The networks are out of step with their audiences. Is that because the journalists are formed by whats coming out of syria . What is indisputable is that the last time america went to war with iraq. War with iraq, for continuing coverage of this story, stay with abc news. The ratings went through the roof. Frankly, the top priority of the largest u. S. Media outlets is to make a profit. And the top priority for many journalists is to build their careers. Lets keep in mind that major Media Outlets have a close relationship with the war planners and the war makers. So just because its coming out of the mouth of a t. V. Anchor who is famous, who is acclaimed, who is blowdried, getting seven or 8figure salaries every year doesnt mean it its true. Often its laundered lies put out there as truth. On august 20th, Al Jazeera America introduced a new voice in journalism. Good evening everyone, welcome to al jazeera. Usa today says . Writes the columbia journalism review. And the daily beast says quality journalists once again on the air is a beautiful thing to behold. Al Jazeera America, theres more to it. Every sunday night Al Jazeera America presents gripping films, from the worlds top documentary directors this is just the beginning of somthing much bigger. Tomorrow, the premier of do the math these companies are a rogue force. One environmentalist says fossil fuels equal disaster. Will his movement add up add up to change . We will fight it together. Al Jazeera America presents do the math premiers tomorrow night, 9 eastern. Time for listening post news bites. Journalists have had a oneday strike to protest the arrest of several media professionals. On september 17th newspapers, Radio Stations, even the countrys news agency imposed a media blockout. Journalists gathered in tunis to decry what they call freedom of expression. Alheney accused a man of an egthrowing attack. The cameraman spent three weeks in custody before being bailed. The president of the National Union of journalists, hamarooney said we insist on the importance of freedom of expression but the government insists on putting its hand on the media. The authorities want to turn our Media Outlets into propaganda mouthpieces to cover up failed policies. Ali uriaded said it was unrelated to freedom of expression. This is the latest of a series of issues in tunisia, and accusations that laws protecting immedia Media Freedom are not being enforced. Vietnam is growing into a dang dangerous place to make political news online. A 65yearold blogger is facing 15 years in jail after being charged under article 79 of vietnams personal code. It for byrd carrying out activities aimed at overthrowing the peoples administration. The charges relate to his blog posts between 2008 and 2012, where he expressed support for opposes and religious minority groups. In an interview with radio free asia, his son said of his father, he has always argued his activities were not, that the om thing wrong is that they have not been accepted by the government one reporter unlikely to be working in pakistan anytime soon is the absent bureau chief from New York Times walsh. He had been bounced oust of the country by the government four months ago, one day prior to the parliamentary elections now there. Now a Political Party based in karuashi has hit him with a 10 million definition notice. The party took issue with his story about its londonbased leader hussein. His piece examined various murder investigations against the party and co incidents dentally, its heavyhanded approach to journalists. Many have been beaten or worse, driving most of the news media in karachi to tread slightly. They accused the party of organizing the killing of babar, a television reporter. Back in may when the authorities deported walsh, they accused him of undesirable activities that were never revealed. He has not been allowed in since. The president said he was ordering his minister of information to look into walshs case. Since then, nothing. Back in the days of the taliban, afghanistans media landscape was barren. Television sets were banned, Radio Stations were not allowed to play music and newspapers were forbidden from printing pictures. But since 2001, the countrys media sector has been revolut n revolutioniz revolutionized. There are now more than 400 news outlets. The explosive growth has been bank rolled by the west, primarily the u. S. But with western troops preparing to leave in 2014, International Funding for the media will soon be drying up. Can afghanistans fledgling economy support its vast new media sector, or will a western backed media, among the most vibrant in the region dwindle giving way to war lord t. V. , the partisan play things of afghanistans political and religious parties. Listening posts on the future of afghanistan media. A stark reminder of the human cost of war. We want to update you on a breaking story we are bringing to you out of afghanistan. Over a decade of war. The news from afghanistan has been unrelentingly grim. However, one of the few Success Stories to come out of the country has been the news business, itself. There has been a revolution in afghanistans media sector in the past 10 years. It hasnt happened by accident. Western governments and institutions realized early on that media could play a significant role in terms of facilitating social change in this country. And, also, to open up the world to afghans. The forms it obtains to a large extent allows people to let off steam. People can hold institutions accountable. It plays a role of many thing. Western governments may have made mistakes helping the media has been, you know, i think one of their big Success Stories. After the taliban were gone, afghanistan went through a difficult period. At the conference in december, 2001, an International Agreement was signed man dating that the people of afghanistan must be helped. Support for Media Outlets was included. If the International Community had not extended financial assistance, we would never have had the type of media we have today. What was unthinkable under the taliban, a woman heading a immedia media network. Its called the khalid group. It is supported by money from the u. S. And the european union. When a u. S. Led coalition drove the taliban out of pour in 2001, there we there were no Television Channels in afghanistan just one Radio Station and a handful of newspapers, all of them under government control. A little more than a decade later, there are nearly 80 television stations, 300plus newspapers, and another 170 radio outlets. The donors role is quite significant in setting up the media sect in afghanistan. I think one has to pay tribute to their role in setting up such a vibranvibrant, strong media s in afghanistan from almost nothing. But there is quite a lot of donor dpnldancy as a result of donor funding in the media market. Usaid is the one. The center for media assistance between 2002 and 2011, the agency spent 65 million on afghanistans media industry. Hundreds of millions of dollars more were spent by the state department and the pentagon. In 2010, the u. S. Embassy in kabul was allocated 183 million to spend on new Media Projects that would, quote, expand media engagement, build communication capacity of the Afghan People and government, and counter extremist voices that recruit, mislead and exploit, unquote. All of this begs the question is International Funding for the prepress in afghanistan reserved for those who take their editorial orders from the west . As someone who has been working in this field in afghanistan for the past 10 or 11 years, i never sensed from the donors anything that would indicate their influence or their sway in elder. I did not sense it. If i were to ever do so, i would never accept funds from that donor. From where we stand, there have been no demands made as far as our editorial lines are concerned. To be honest with you, thats something that would be crossing the red line. We wouldnt certainly accept that but we do share similar aspirations. O policies to a large he extent reflect what the u. S. And others would like to see in afghanistan. On those issues, we are on the same wave lent. Some received the majority of western help while others did not receive any. Aid should be given according to the specific policy of each channel. When we at inet t. V. Broadcast about freedom of speech and talk about democracy, the rights of the people, these are things that are accepted in international and western society. When we talk about things that are accepted in the west here, we must be helped. Ilham is the ceo of it inet t. V. Once once a not otheruos war lord who is now a political leader. Its one of a number of war lord t. V. Stations run by powerful, political and ethnic leaders and used to promote personal agendas. As one journalist told Foreign Policy magazine you cant be a selfrespecting war lord these days and not have your own television station. There are certain strongmen who buy a television station or set one up from scratch, a, because its sort of a vanity project. They feel good that they have a television subject. They defend themselves. They believe if they come under attack from a government institution, from the attorney generals office, that they could defend themselves using this television station. In afghanistan, there is poverty and i will literacy. The benefit of having a t. V. Station is to put across the aims and policies of their parties to their people through broadcast media. The stations collectively have about 2 of the market share in the country. So, in terms of followingnd in terms of audience shares, its for the big, but they do have the ability to incite. So if you remember the burning of the koran by terri jones, the cleric in the u. S. , that was repeatedly broadcast on one of the t. V. Channels in afghanistan. And it did lead to some violent demonstrations and violent protests. Opinion is divided over war lord t. V. While many are glad to see battles between war lords relegated to the airwaves, others fear these channels height enl ethnic and religious tensions in the country. And as the clock ticks down to the planned nato military pullout and western media sub sides, the new independent Media Outlets could be overtaken by these more partisan players. The future for some of the smaller, westernbacked outlets is looking bleak. Some of these television and Radio Stations cannot sustain themselves. They shouldnt be able to sustain themselves. They dont try and get advertising money. They dont have content that really appeals to people. People dont watch them. You will see a consolidation. You will see a lot of outlets go bankrupt. The at thistion revenue is very small. The Advertising Market cannot fund the number of Media Outlets that have sprung up over the past 10 or 11 years. The only other alternative would probably be funding from sources that would want to co opt media organizations that would want to manipulate them. As International Troops withdraw from afghanistan, the ramifications are being felt in politics, security, and the media. The numerous channels, newly trained young journalists, opportunities for free speech are all vulnerable. Nato may be ending soon but it has only just begun. Millions who need assistance now. We appreciate you spending time with us tonight. Up next is the golden age of hollywood going golden but elsewhere. Why l. A. s mayor has declared a state of emergency for the Entertainment Industry there. Next. Finally, this month marked the 12th anniversary of the 911 attacks. Earthcam, a u. S. Tech firm has released a time lapsed video showing the new one World Trade Center in manhattan. Filming began in october, 2004, when ground zero was not much more than a sand pit. We see the rise over what americans consider Hallowed Ground of the 104story skyscraper scheduled for completion in early 2014. Its one of those videos is strangely moving. There is plenty of room to criticize american Foreign Policy post911, but this time lapse symbolizes americans have a way of bouncing back. With more than 2. 2 million hits online the one World Trade Center time lapse is our web video of the week. We will see you next timet time at the listening post. [ music ] [[voiceover]] no doubt about it, innovation changes our lives. Opening doors. Opening possibilities. Taking the impossible from lab. To life. On techknow, our scientists bring you a sneakpeak of the future, and take you behind the scenes at our evolving world. Techknow ideas, invention, life. Hello, and welcome to al jazeera. Dozens of dead after an attack at an upscale shopping maul in nairobi. Obama i will not allow anyone to harm this countrys reputation or inflict harm on its people just to make an ideological point. Reporter president obama lashes out at republicans over the stands off