Bahrain anti-government protester dies in custody
DUBAI, UAE (Kuwait Times) – A young Bahraini jailed for taking part in anti-government protests last year died in custody after being taken to hospital for treatment of a hereditary disease, the interior ministry said. The interior ministry said on Twitter than Mohammed Mushaima, who was serving a prison term, was pronounced dead at a government hospital, where he was admitted on August 29 “for treatment from sickle-cell anaemia.” The major Bahraini opposition bloc Al-Wefaq confirmed Mushaima’s death, saying he “passed away in custody while serving a seven-year sentence for participating in pro-democracy demonstrations.”
‘Bahrain buys favorable CNN content’ – VIDEO by RT.com
Amid a violent crackdown on a popular uprising, Bahrain paid CNN to get favorable coverage, says a former reporter who believes her documentary on the protests there was censored by the network.
Former CNN journalist Amber Lyon made the documentary more than six months ago. It was aired domestically in the US, but never made it to CNN international, raising claims that the management pulled the plug on the story. RT spoke to Lyon to get the full story of what happened.
RT: You feel your documentary should have been aired internationally. Why?
Amber Lyon: I’ve created a lot of documentaries for CNN that didn’t air internationally. Most I feel should’ve been aired internationally because seasoned, decades-long employees have approached me after it wasn’t aired and told me this should’ve been aired on CNN International and told that they felt that something strange was going on and that I should investigate it. And that’s where it was uncovered that we felt that this documentary was censored, because Bahrain was actually a paying customer for CNN. Bahrain is paying CNN to create content that shows Bahrain in a favorable light. Even though CNN says its content is editorially independent Bahrain can affect that – what we’ve seen with that documentary not airing and also with the constant struggle I had at CNN to get Bahrain coverage, accurate coverage of the human rights abuses on-air while I was there.
Info wars exclusive – CNN Exposed! Caught Producing “State Sponsored News” in Bahrain
RT: CNN prides itself as a bastion of excellent journalism and impartiality, but in this case have they let themselves down?
AL: What CNN is doing is they are essentially creating what some people have termed “infomercials for dictators.” And that’s the sponsored content that they are airing on CNN International that is actually being paid for by regimes and governments. And this violates every principle of journalistic ethics, because we’re supposed to be watchdogs on these governments. We are not supposed to allow them to be a paying customer as journalists. And that’s the issue here – that CNN is feeding, then, this propaganda to the public and not fairly disclosing to the public that this is sponsored content.
For example CNN has been doing these programs for Georgia, Kazakhstan, also as we said Bahrain. One of the programs that they aired for Bahrain was called Bahrain i-List and had a CNN reporter Richard Quest lie from Bahrain for one full week. He was live at the racetrack at one point. There were mentions on his page about pearl diving and all the happy sides of Bahrain. But hard to find were the actual accusations from the majority of the Bahrain people that this regime needs to get out and that this regime is abusing and torturing doctors and journalists. Also difficult to find [were] accurate, simple disclosures on the CNN site and on this video telling viewers that this video you’re watching on this news channel – the most trusted name in news – is being paid for by this regime.”
- Bahraini uprising (2011-present)
- NBC News – Mourners clash with police during funeral in Bahrain
- BBC News – Clashes in Bahrain after death of imprisoned protester