I’ve taken to watching Charlie Rose online since it comes on too late here in Kansas City for me to stay awake, and I hate to miss it. Night before last (October 11), the same night that Andrew Sullivan appeared, Charlie also interviewed Brazilian filmmaker Julia Bacha and Jordan’s Queen Noor about the documentary Budrus. Rose opened the segment with a trailer for the film and asked entirely respectful questions. Julia Bacha made sure to say that people are always asking about the Palestinian Gandhi, so she answers that there have always been peaceful protests on the ground, but that the mainstream media gives “very little coverage of civil society and what Palestinians and Israelis are doing together” in the struggle for justice. It’s well worth watching. Queen Noor and filmmaker Bacha hope for wide exposure for Budrus following last Friday’s opening in New York. The interview is at http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11238
Charlie Rose has actually been doing some excellent Middle East interviews lately, including former President Jimmy Carter (who doesn’t hold back his views on Israel-Palestine), Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal, President of Syria Bashar al-Assad, and others who are more likely to appear on mainstream media such as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. I’m not sure how Rose gets away with it given how much pressure Jon Stewart, for example, received for hosting Anna Baltzer and Dr. Mustafa Barghouti months ago. Rose deserves much praise because he must get lots of flack about his “non-mainstream” guests. The Middle East interviews are filed under “Collections” on his website (www.charlierose.com).
Another note about mainstream media and a confession: I’ve become addicted to a prime-time soap, The Good Wife (I know, I know, but even those of us in the movement get to have a little fun). So last night, as my husband watched the PBS series about religion in American, I hightailed to another room to watch my show. Well lo!—the main character’s husband, a politician who is in process of public rehabilitation as he returns to politics following a prison term, has a run-in with a Jewish community leader over his Israel-Palestine views. He’s accused of not being strong on Israel, of being pro-Palestinian. He’s been photographed carrying a copy of Jimmy Carter’s Peace, Not Apartheid—a sure sign of disloyalty to Israel–so his Jewish campaign manager arranges a Yom Kippur dinner at the pol’s house to prove his loyalty to Israel. Turns out the Pol’s teen daughter speaks up, says the book was hers, and what about the flotilla and all the activists who were killed—she is clearly outraged and informed. I was astonished this was brought up on such a show. The usual is to ignore even the word “Palestinian.” And I was glad to be able to later justify (“Guess what, guess what!”) to my husband rushing away from the serious subject of religion to watch my program.
