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The rise of Al-Jazeera and its controversies

MANZUR ELAHI
***When its foes criticize al-Jazeera for sensationalism, being mouth piece of terrorist groups and inciting terrorist activities, its friends view it as a reliable and professional news channel, which tries to cover all sides of a story. Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau chief Hafiz al- Mirazi defends its position***
A few years ago it was difficult to imagine that an Arabic news channel would lead news agenda, stir the world and throw serious challenges to western media monopoly. Al-Jazeera, a Qatar based television channel, made this happen. It leads, stimulates, enlightens and creates controversies in and out of the Arab world. By the end of next year Al-Jazeera in English will be in screen near you. Now it is preparing to provide English speakers in the US, Europe and elsewhere with more accurate and informed reporting about the world's most turbulent region.
It first came to the living rooms of non Arab viewers in 2001. During the Afghan war, when western media did not have access to the ground, AlJazeera scooped the world with its exclusive war footage and interviews with Taliban leaders. For the first time CNN and BBC broadcasted live its footage and became dependant to a foreign news channel. With airing the statements of bin Laden and his al-Qaeda colleagues it enraged the US administration. Secretary of State Colin Powell personally called the Emir of Qatar to restrain Al-Jazeera from its 'inflammatory' programmes. The National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice arranged a meeting with five major American TV news organizers and persuaded them to limit their use of Bin Laden's videos. It was the first time in memory that the US networks had agreed to a joint arrangement to limit their prospective news coverage. During the Iraq war showing gruesome footage of dead soldiers and civilians added to its notoriety. The US Defence Secretary Donald Rusmsfeld denounced the station, New York Stock Exchange immediately expelled its reporters for 'irresponsible' war coverage, computers hackers knocked out its website and one of its reporter in Baghdad -Tareq Ayoub, killed by US 'friendly fire'. Although for the first time in the Arab world it gave US and Israeli officials ample airtime to talk directly to Arab audiences to justify their point, they do not like the way it exaggerates anti US activities by Saddam loyalists, broadcast al-Qaeda rhetoric, and show graphic images of Iraqi and Palestinian civilian sufferings. In spite of their dislike Al-jazeera has become a reality and no major international TV stations can afford to ignore this phenomenon. CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, BBC, German ZDF and NHK of Japan signed agreements with Al-Jazeera and have co operations.
Although it was known to the western world only in 2001, from the very beginning of establishment in1996 it had been the centre of attention among Arabs. Ever since its birth, Al-Jazeera has been criticised, vilified, boycotted and harassed by Arab governments and media as well as the US administration because of its bold, uncensored and editorially-independent news coverage. It sustained all sorts of calumny: from Arab accusations of being an agency for Zionism to American charges that it is a mouthpiece for suspected terrorists. It brought in an unprecedented international clout for its host country- Qatar. The tiny country's foreign ministry received more than 400 complains and has been facing relentless diplomatic pressure. In occasions Libya, Tunisia and Morocco recalled their ambassadors. Countries do not allow its reporters to enter. Saudi Arabia bars it from its territory except the annual pilgrimage of Hajj. Last year the Jordanian authorities banned the station and withdrew its license, following a program considered as an insult to the Hashamite family and the role played by the Kingdom in Palestine and Iraq. Followed by it, Kuwait closed down the bureau of AlJazeera accusing its reporting of not being objective. It has also been banned from operating in Bahrain. The Bahraini Information Minister accused the station of being Zionist. ' We believe it (Al-Jazeera) is suspect and represents the Zionist side in the region. We will not deal with this channel because we object to its coverage of current affairs. It is a channel penetrated by Zionists.' In the latest incident the Iraqi governing council barred it for two weeks from covering official meetings because its coverage 'incite violence and encourages Saddam loyalists'. Although the Arab leaders dislike it, they can not cover up their curiosity. During a visit to Qatar, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak went to AlJazeera and exclaimed : 'all this noise comes from this matchbox?!' The Syrian Information Minister grumbled 'the Emir's television station is bigger than his country'.
In fact the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Ale Thani was aLthe person who personally took initiative to establish an ambitious station. Sandhurst educated Sheikh Hamad who overthrew his father in 1995, first demolished the country's information ministry and established the station by a decree and grant of $150 million in February 1996. The rare opportunity came when the BBC Arabic News collapsed because of a quarrel over editorial control between the Saudi owners of Orbit satellite channel and the BBC. AlJazeera born from the ashes of that dissolved BBC Arabic News. Most of the original reporters, crews and anchors were hired by Al-Jazeera. In addition it brought together leading Arab journalists across the Arab countries who are not simply journalists but many of them also thinkers having in depth knowledge in world politics, history and religion. It left the traditional television programming set up of heavy local news, songs, some mainstream political debates, innocuous round-table discussions, popular soap operas, review of economic achievements or tourist attractions. It followed the broadcast industry's long run axiom 'content is king'. From the beginning in addition to its fast moving, video - heavy news casts, Al-Jazeera built an audience through its talk shows, which probe political, social, and religious issues previously untouched by Arab media. The questions Arab masses ask in private it did not hesitate put in the public: Why Arab regimes are
dependant on the US? Why they maintain secret relation with Israel? Its talk shows are very popular and termed as 'boxing ring', where Arab intellectuals openly challenge each other on programmes like 'The Opposite Direction', 'Without Borders', 'The Other Opinion'. Through these programs Al-Jazeera broadcast sensational debates like who is a Jordanian, a taboo in Jordan where more than half the population is Palestinian. Opponents of Saudi and Egyptian rulers get chance to talk. Arab audiences across the globe can say whatever they like. An Egyptian can make phone call and urge Egyptians to topple 'hypocrite' regime of Mubarak. When Israeli officials appear and condemn suicide attacks, Hamas leaders appear and try to justify their attacks. It has broken the taboo of not talking about sex, controversial issues of religion and other countries affairs. 'Islam sells well' also came true for the channel. A leading Arab Islamic intellectual, Sheikh Yusuf al Karadawi's weekly show on Islamic issues and one of his debates with a secular intellectual so much enchanted the Arab audience that its video copies went on sale in Egypt and also available as far away as Indonesia and Malaysia .
To describe the channels' characteristic Fouad Ajami, a critic of AlJazeera and Professor of Middle East Studies at John Hopkins University, wrote in the New York Times Magazine: 'The programme (anti American talk show) paused for a commercial break. One ad offered a striking counterpoint to the furious anti Westernism of the call-in program. It was for Hugo Boss 'Deep Red' perfume. A willowy Western woman in leather pants strode toward a half -naked young man sprawled on bed. 'Your fragrance, your rules, Hugo Deep Red,' the Arabic voiceover intoned. I imagined the young men in Arab-Muslim cities watching this. In the culture where the commercial was made, it was nothing unusual. But on those other shoes, this ad threw into the air insinuations about the liberties of the West-- the kind of liberties that can never be had by the thwarted youths of the Islamic World.' To criticise AlJazeera's 'cheap tactics' Egyptian press call its programs 'sinister salad of sex, religion and politics' spiced with 'sensationalist seasoning'.
When its foes criticize al-Jazeera for sensationalism, being mouth piece of terrorist groups and inciting terrorist activities, its friends view it as a reliable and professional news channel, which tries to cover all sides of a story. Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau chief Hafiz al- Mirazi defends its position. 'It covers the news from the Arab perspective, the same way that CNN covers the news from an American perspective.' To explain AlJazeera's success its chief editor Ibrahim Hilal says that unlike other stations it tries to give context and history with every news event. Many countries dislike Al-Jazeera 'because they hate transparency', says Hilal. But critics are unconvinced. They say it does not cover its own country with the same zeal it covers the globe. It does not discuss Doha's relation with Israel with same enthusiasm it discuss other Arab countries relation with the regime. While the AlJazeera executives and Doha officials claim it is an independent, private sector channel, some critics arguing its dependency on Qatari government say that Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al Thani, who is a cousin of the Qatari Emir, owns 35 percent of the channel and most of the members of the board of governors are related to royal family. Although some critics believe Al-Jazeera is a 'sophisticated media wing' of Qatari monarchy that can be used as needed, Qatari officials refute such allegations and liken their relationship with the channel to what the BBC enjoys with the British government. But Al-Jazeera's Washington bureau chief al-Mirazi subtly acknowledges the limit of freedom the channel enjoys. Responding to question regarding its freedom from the monarchy he says, 'If you have a Rupert Murdoch, Turner, AOL Time Warner, General Motors, or Westinghouse , running the show , then you cannot exclude their interests.'
Al-Jazeera has now come under all out scrutiny by media analysts. Some believe the Emir of Qatar is an enlightened ruler who understood the long term benefits of democracy and openness. They cite evidences of his democratic reform in the country like holding elections, building institutions of accountability and transparency. Some refutes the conspiracy theory of some Arab zealots who think it as a part of a 'vast Zionist media conspiracy'; but they do not deny that much of its harvest go to the Israeli regime who did not have access to any Arab media outlet before Al-Jazeera's inception. They cite Israel's cooperative relation with the station and not criticising it for 'anti-Semitism', which Jewish Anti Defamation League (ADL) regularly does for media out lets around the world. Dr.Joshua Teitelbaum of The Moshe Dayan Centre of Middle East and African Studies suggests the possible reason behind positive attitude from the Israeli side. 'Whether or not its coverage is balanced, Al-Jazeera is still an important breakthrough for the Arab world, in that it offers a public forum for contact with Israel. In a region beset with despotism, the Qatari station is doing much to usher in democratisa-tion. Israeli leaders such as Binyamin Netanyahu have made much of this process being a prerequisite to dialogue with the Arab world. AlJazeera, it seems, has worked preemptively, bringing the interface first'. A third group of analysts believe after the bankruptcy of Arab nationalism through Saddam Hussein in the 90's the US did not like to see another Iranian style revolution or government. To maintain the status quo and keep US interest unharmed in the Middle East it needed to nurture so called democratisation and encourage to establish out lets of anger and frustration. Holders of this view mention US policy makers' appraisals. Kenton Keith, a former US ambassador to Qatar clarifies the US position, 'for the long-range importance of press freedom in the Middle East and the advantages that will ultimately have for the West, you have to be a supporter of Al Jazeera, even if you have to hold your nose sometimes.'
Analysts view it positively or negatively, for academics, after the CNN phenomenon in the west, AlJazeera has appeared as another model and become a topic of research in media schools. One aspect has been clear that its success is a wake up call for the Arab world. Apart form old channels' emphasise on news and current affairs, new stations have entered in the competition. Saudi backed Middle East Broadcasting (MBC)'s news channel Al-Arabia, which has been established in Dubai with a $300 million investment, is now head to head with Al-Jazeera. Lebanese Broadcasting Company with partnership of London based pan Arab newspaper Al-Hayat injected multi million dollars to boost LBC's news coverage and is now rubbing shoulder with Al-Jazeera. Abu Dhabi television, Tehran based Al-Alam, London based Arab News Network (ANN), Hizbullah run Al-Manar all are in fierce battle to win Arab hearts and minds. The critical question is: with the wave of media boom in middle east- the countries that were once been major clients of western news imperialism have really started a 'contra flow'? If it really happens the most important lesson of Al-Jazeera would be historic: the global marketplace of news and information is no longer dominated by the United States or west.
Manzur Elahi is a broadcast journalist and Middle East analyst