Kuwait Times

Published Date: May 20, 2007

KUWAIT: It seems that the hidden struggle between Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya in regards to the stands towards the Saudi-Qatari dispute as well as other issues have serviced, reported Al-Rai.  A poem that has sexual insinuations and a death threat against the presenter of the 'Death Industry' program Rima Salha Al-Qouqa was published by a subscriber in the Al-Jazeera talk site, www.aljazeeratalk.net. According to Al-Arabiya's information director Nasser Al-Sarami, this site is considered by Al-Arabiya as an Al-Jazeera channel site.

Al-Qouqa began as a newscaster in Kuwait Television before moving to Al-Jazeera and then Al-Hurra and then finally working as a presenter of the Death Industry program in Al-Arabiya. The poem was removed from the said site but Al-Sarami explained that the posting of the poem on this site constitutes a public provocation and incitement by a media establishment against another, which is something unprecedented.

Informed sources said the dispute between the two channels became public because Al-Arabiya had an exclusive interview with the former Syrian Vice President Abdelhaleem Khaddam wherein Khaddam protested against the current Syrian regime. Then shortly thereafter, Al-Jazeera had an interview with individuals who belonged to the Syrian regime wherein the individuals justified the bombing of Al-Arabiya's offices.
 
Al-Sarami said that the people working on the "Death Industry" program have been receiving death threats from Jihadi groups that were published over electronic sites.  "But what worries us is that the threat is from a site belonging to a media establishment with which we have worked with for a long time," Al-Sarami said.

"We support the freedom of opinion, but we surely do not support the freedom of opinion that calls for violence and killing," he added. The website, Alarabiya.net said that the information media was shocked by the publication of attacks against the 'Death Industry' program that is being broadcast weekly over Al-Arabiya. The news said a site for Al-Jazeera allowed its subscribers to attack Al-Arabiya and its program, which included clear calls to kill its presenter Rima Salha.

The news item added that the site, which is run by colleagues at the Al-Jazeera channel, published a poem that is full of insults and encourages killings. It also mentioned that the poem's writer did not only call for killing Rima Salha but also had some sexual insults in its first verses.