The Role of MEMRI

Brian Whitaker of the Guardian takes a look at the motivating forces behind MEMRI's translations and concludes,

To anyone who reads Arabic newspapers regularly, it should be obvious that the items highlighted by Memri are those that suit its agenda and are not representative of the newspapers' content as a whole.

The danger is that many of the senators, congressmen and "opinion formers" who don't read Arabic but receive Memri's emails may get the idea that these extreme examples are not only truly representative but also reflect the policies of Arab governments.

...Unfortunately, it is on the basis of such sweeping generalisations that much of American foreign policy is built these days.

Warblogger Watch adds some related comments on MEMRI here.