How To Be A Newsmaker

Taysir Alouni, the Al-Jazeera reporter who gained fame playing Lowell Thomas to bin Laden's T.E. Lawrence, is facing charges in Spain of funneling money to and recruiting members for al Qaeda. Coverage in Newsweek and the Guardian. The Al Jazeera news readers are all standing by their man, leading to a fashion catastrophe: Their "Free Taysir" buttons clash horribly with their newsdesk suits. Unlike the flag pins our own anchorbots sported briefly after 9/11, the buttons have to be big enough so you can make out the picture of the guy. As a result, the Arab world's most prominent news broadcasters are wearing these big Bozo buttons on their lapels. Alouni, who preferred Taliban activewear in his heyday, wouldn't have had that problem.