Why the Der Spiegal Hezbollah article was a legitimate news story

There has been quite an uproar in the Arabic, and particularly Lebanese, media over the Der Spiegal story linking Hezbollah to the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Al Arabiya has come under particularly fierce attack from pro-Hezbollah media, especially of course Al Manar, as well as NBN and other sympathetic media. But they seem to miss the point -- they attack Al Arabiya for reporting on the Der Spiegel article without assessing its inherent news value and recognizing that this was a story across the world and not part of some pro-Hariri or pro-March 14 agenda. All major news organizations across the world covered the story, from news agencies like AP to Al Jazeera and CNN. And of course Al Arabiya (and here's the arabic one).

The Der Spiegel article was published less than three weeks ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections pitting the Western-backed Sunni-led March 14 coalition against the Syria and Iran-backed Shia-Christian alliance known as March 8 led by Hezbollah. And we were clear to point this timing out as were so many others.

The article relied on unnamed and unidentified "sources" in the United Nations Special Tribunal that reportedly told the German magazine that the tribunal has evidence linking special forces in the Hezbollah to the bombing that killed Hariri and 19 others. It cites information obtained from unspecified source "and verified by examining internal documents" and claims that the special prosecutor is afraid of Hezbollah and therefore has not made the information public. And Al Arabiya noted this. But just because there are unamed sources doesn't make an article unquoteable. It is certianly not ideal and should be clearly stated. But when I think to my time at the New York Times and the types of stories that got published without naming sources - think Abu Ghraib, illegal wiretapping etc -- it can sometimes be necessary. And the stories the NYT broke on these subjects as well as recent ones about US strikes in Pakistan were considered newsworthy as well and were covered by all professional media.

Of course there are also stories such as those in the lead-up to the Iraq war that used unamed sources and were wrong. That is why the journalist has a responsibility to make clear that the story is from an unamed source and thus must be treated with a certain amount of skepticism. But when respected news organization write reports they become legitimate story sources for other journalists. It doesn't mean there is a political agenda behind it. And as the head of Al Arabiya told us today, we must cover the news regardless of the politics - if the report was that Saad Hariri assassinated his own father this too would be news and we would have reported it. And the Arabic chanel and Arabic & English sites have done several follow up stories on Hassan Nasrallah's denial, accusations that Israel was behind the story, accusations the story was published to create clashes between Sunnis and Shias, and of course the timing of the Der Spiegel article.

Sr Hamas leader Hamdan urges coexistence between Jews, Arabs under Palestinian rule

Yesterday Hamas senior leader Osama Hamdan sat with me and my colleagues at Al Arabiya in the wake of unsuccessful talks with Fatah and the formation of a new Palestinian government to discuss Hamas' position on a range of issues, from the Egytpian-mediated talks with Fatah to its relations with Hezbollah and Iran to its role in Egypt.

Ayman Taha, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, was also present but didn't speak (though he yawned a few times!). Hamdan was quite polite, and he understands English though he preferred to speak in Arabic. At the end of the session he explained that he does not shake hands with women and means no offense by it. "Ma feesh mushkillah" I told him (no problem), since of course I am accustomed to this practice having lived in several Muslim countries. My colleagues found this funny, though, and one of them teased that he was going to put the handshake in the headline.

Hamas usually reaches out to Al Jazeera, as some perceive that Al Arabiya is not on its "side." But the fact is that Al Arabiya is a respected news station that is doing professional work in a region that until these two satellite stations came on the scene was dominated by ideological and state-owned media. So perhaps I was less surprised than some of my Arab friends that he came to talk to the so-called "CNN" of the Arab World.

We sat in the fourth floor conference room just outside the studio and near the new AlArabiya.net offices. We spoke for about 45 minutes, well, mainly he spoke.

He said progress had been made in the talks with rival Palestinian faction Fatah but only because of Hamas' compromises. Hamdan urged the peaceful co-existence of Jews and Arabs, but stressed it must be under Palestinian rule."There is a Jewish community that lived for centuries in Nablus and remains to this day unharmed and has not been expatriated,” he said.

You can read the article I wrote here for the full story.