Al-Jazeera barred from New York Stock Exchange

Arab satellite network al-Jazeera have been banned from the New York Stock Exchange trading floor, a move widely interpreted as retaliation against the broadcasters stance on the Iraq War.
A spokesman for the NYSE said they were limiting access to "responsible" broadcasters and insisted other broadcasters had also been affected.
But al-Jazeera, who have covered the New York stock market for several years, said they believed they were the only channel affected by the action and attributed the decision to their stance on the war.
"Al-Jazeera have received an official letter from the New York stock exchange informing us that the station's financial reporters can no longer present their reports from the exchange," the satellite channel reported on their morning financial broadcast.
It claimed the decision had been taken "because of al-Jazeera's coverage of the war on Iraq".
A spokesman for the NYSE said they were limiting the number of broadcasters in the stock exchange building for security reasons, adding that they were retaining those broadcasters that focused "on responsible business coverage".
Al-Jazeera have given extensive coverage to widespread Arab criticism of the American war effort and US military officials have criticised the station for broadcasting Iraqi television images of American prisoners of war.
(GB)