July 17, 2007	Tuesday	Rajab 01, 1428

ISLAMABAD, July 16: A prominent American professor on Monday warned the United States that it would collapse if its self-centred policies of disrupting world peace continue to rule.

Delivering a lecture on “Media, Education and the State in Contemporary America: Some Critical Reflections” here at the International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) Dr Robert Jensen, professor of journalism, University of Texas at Austin, US said the war on terror was launched to make the world more secure but it had made the world indeed agree on one point and that is to hate America.

He noted that the US media was keeping its American audience unaware of the true pictures of world affairs and one of its biggest failures was its support for US foreign policy especially in war against terrorism. He said the US education system was equally responsible for training generations not to care for world affairs seriously.

According to a press release issued by the IIUI, Dr Jensen rejected the notion that US media was controlled by Jews and said that media in the States was mostly owned by corporate sector.

“Pro-Israeli reporting is due to pro-foreign policy attitude and it has nothing to do with anti-Islamic or pro-Jewish approach”, he remarked.

He stressed that religion had nothing to do with media or foreign policy in the US. He said the United States was one of the core supporters of Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and US forces could potentially kill adherents of any religion challenging US economic interest.

He said that loyalty of media to a nation was not justifiable in this era of globalization where tribes, clans and races were becoming irrelevant and loyalty to humanity should be the hallmark of people especially that of media.

In his presidential comments, Dr Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, President IIUI appreciated Dr Jensen for showing a different picture of US and said that speaking out of American intellectuals even against US policies was encouraging. He said that bonds of nationalism were some time more influential than religion.

A large number of IIUI faculty and local intellectuals attended the lecture that was delivered as part of IIUI’s Distinguished Lectures Series programme.