Al Jazeera and the Election

How Al Jazeera portrayed the election

Al Jazeera's coverage of the election is a world apart from what we're hearing. The photo they chose -- of an Iraqi policeman guarding a voting station -- tells the bias even more than the copy. They could have shown joyful Iraqis dancing in the street, but instead, they lead with a photo of a thuggish, hooded police officer. The copy also works hard to suppress any hopeful thoughts among other Arab populations:

Iraqis cast their vote amidst fear and deadly attacks

The Iraqi people started voting Sunday in their country's first election in half a century, as anti-occupation rebels stepped up their attacks and mortar strikes at polling stations, killing 30 people, including four policemen and two Iraqi soldiers.

Casting his vote in Iraq’s first multi-party ballot in half a century, interim President Ghazi al-Yawer called it Iraq's first step "toward joining the free world."

Although Iraqi authorities adopted strict security measures, numerous explosions and violent attacks shook Baghdad on the elections’ first day. Also multiple blasts rocked the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Baquba.

A bomb attack in western Baghdad killed one policeman and wounded several others. Meanwhile mortar attacks rocked Khan al-Mahawil, 40 miles south of the Iraqi capital, killing another policeman at a polling center.

Three other people were injured when a rocket landed near a polling station in Sadr City, the heart of Baghdad's Shiite Muslim community, witnesses said Sunday.

The Iraqi capital was hit with several explosions and mortar attacks. Several other Iraqi cities, including Baqouba, Basra and Mosul were also struck with similar attacks.

Also the Ministry of Interior on the city's eastern edge was hit Sunday with two mortars, according to one witness.

In the New Baghdad area in the eastern part of the city, an exchanges of gunfire were also heard.

Meanwhile Baqouba, northeast of Baghdad, and southern city of Basra, the country's second-largest were also struck with several explosions.

Only after wading through all that, do you get any coverage of the voting itself. But evenin that coverage elation is underplayed, and negative news takes the fore. Read it here.