Media MIDDLE EAST MEDIA IN THE WEST
Al Jazeera
Coming to America Al Jazeera, YouTube and a ‘coalition of the unwilling’ James Allan
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l Jazeera, the news network once referred to by Donald Rumsfeld as the “mouthpiece of Al Qaeda,” is hoping to break through into an unlikely market: the United States. Since 2006, the news organisation has been pushing to broadcast its programming to US audiences. However, so far, the majority of American broadcasters has refused to carry the station. As a result, Al Jazeera, which claims a peak audience of 50 million viewers worldwide, has less than one percent of its audience share in the US. With hopes of changing this, the broadcaster has tried a different approach to crack the US market, the Internet. In April 2007, Al Jazeera turned to YouTube, the popular video sharing website to help reach American viewers. The website, which shares over 100 million videos per day, has agreed to broadcast Al Jazeera programmes to viewers at no charge. Many may be surprised by this move, as the YouTube site is associated more with video clips of celebrity outtakes, college pranks, and parody videos than with hard news. However, the two media outlets are hoping to change that perception. Al Jazeera programmes such as Frost Over the World with veteran British journalist David Frost, Riz Khan featuring the former BBC and CNN correspondent, and the weekly programme Inside Iraq are now featured on the website.
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Anti-American?
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ritics of this agreement cite what they view as antiAmericanism of Al Jazeera, as the network has aired controversial material, such as the footage of dead American soldiers, and video of Osama bin Laden justifying the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. When asked about this, a YouTube representative explained that, despite the controversy, Al Jazeera has the right to broadcast on the site, just as any individual does. “YouTube is an open and democratic platform and anyone can upload content as long as it doesn’t violate our terms of use or the local law,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Middle East in Europe. Many media scholars believe that this perception towards Al Jazeera is unfair. Bella Mody is a media scholar who has consulted for the United Nations, many national governments, and NGOs. Mody expressed frustration that Al Jazeera has been forced to turn to YouTube rather than traditional American broadcasters. “It is quite pathetic and reflects poorly on US broadcasters,” said Mody. Mody believes Al Jazeera is just as ‘professional’ as any other news organisation, as she explained that the news organisation was one of the first to cover the genocide in Darfur. Mody also reinforced the fact that Al Jazeera is
a private media organisation, free of government control, in a region with many state-owned media outlets which cannot report freely and accurately. “Nobody likes them because they are a true broadcaster,” said Mody. “But the US should like Al Jazeera because they are not government-controlled. They are independent, which is what the US should want.” Other media scholars agree. Hun Shik Kim is a former foreign correspondent with KBS, a South Korean news organisation. Kim has spent extensive time in regions where Al Jazeera is popular, such as Kuwait, Iraq, and Palestine. Kim, now living in the US as a media scholar, believes that the controversy surrounding Al Jazeera is due to the network’s target audience, not the network itself.
‘Extremists’ favourite’
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im echoes the view of many others that Al Jazeera essentially is an Arab network, owned and operated by the Arabs for the Arabs — though that view is held by others with varying degrees of intensity and disregard for objectivity or facts on ground. He tempers his argument with what still is a factual observation. “Al Jazeera’s main audiences are people in the Arab world who openly express anti-US sentiment. As such, it is not unusual to assume Al Jazeera sometimes conveys messages to please the Arab audiences’ tastes,” said Kim. “As the most influential (and controversial) pan-Arab satellite television network, Al Jazeera is a favourite choice for many Muslim extremists and Arab politicians when they try to send their political messages.” Kim described this tactic as nothing more than any news organisation playing to their audience, such as FoxNews taking a conservative, pro-military stance. However, Kim believes this strategy triggered a backlash by the US government. “Al Jazeera’s public image in the US is severely distorted due to the successful PR campaign of the Pentagon.
In the News
A poll of Arab scholars and academics by the Amman-based Knowledge World Centre for Polls found Al Jazeera to be the most respected news agency in the Middle East. Over 96% of the Arab academics surveyed in the poll considered Al Jazeera a reliable source for news, and over 73% expressed confidence the channel would quickly correct any mistakes that surfaced in news reports. The Knowledge World Centre for Polls conducted the poll over 11 months in 19 Arab countries, sampling over 600 PhD holders, almost 50% of all political science and media professors in the Middle East, almost all of whom reported using Al Jazeera as a primary source of news. Al Jazeera was founded 11 years ago and now claims an estimated peak audience of over 50 million viewers and in 2005 was ranked by brandchannel.com as the most recognisable and influential
Rumsfeld’s criticism toward Al Jazeera hurt the network’s public image in the western world, particularly in the US,” said Kim. Kim pointed out that the news organisation has made enemies with Arab governments as well as the US. “Al Jazeera is known to criticise many Arab governments and politicians as well. That’s why the network has been banned in many Arab countries and its correspondents were arrested by foreign governments,” said Kim in references to incidents in Algeria, Bahrain, Sudan, and post-Saddam Iraq. As for the future, Kim has doubts as to the success that Al Jazeera will have online. “Internet TV only has a limited influence and the vast majority of Americans have never even heard of Al Jazeera online. Although web TV has its own promising future, carrying Al Jazeera online has many disadvantages over carrying the channel on a regular cable system,” said Kim.
Cautious optimism
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he majority of traditional broadcasters is still refusing to air the news organisation, but some among them are cautiously open to the idea. Wick Rowland is President of Colorado Public Television, KBDI, Channel 12, one of Denver’s PBS stations. KBDI has a reputation for airing controversial and unusual content from around the world. While the station currently has no interest in broadcasting Al Jazeera, Rowland did not rule out the possibility of considering a future agreement. “Our motto is ‘World View and Community Voice,’ and as such we’re always looking for material that is otherwise unavailable in the community. Sometimes such programming is unsettling by conventional broadcast television standards,” said Rowland. “But we always want to know a good deal about such material before deciding to take it, and so far we don’t have that understanding of Al Jazeera, and in any case it hasn’t even been offered. So far, then, it’s not been an option for us.” television broadcast news brand globally. However, in mid-February, Al Jazeera challenged a Charter issued by the Arab League ministers of information as a risk to the freedom of expression in the Arab world. It said some of the language in the League’s charter, ‘Principles for Regulating Satellite TV in the Arab World,’ was ambiguous and could be interpreted to actively hinder independent reporting. Wadah Khanfar, Director General of the Al Jazeera Network, said, “Any code of ethics or governance for journalistic practices should emerge, and be governed, from within the profession and not be imposed externally by political institutions. Also in February, Al Jazeera appointed Denton Wilde Sapte as its global counsel. “This is an extremely exciting appointment for the firm,” its TMT sector head John Worthy said. Denton Wilde Sapte has advised Al Jazeera in the past and, in September last year, opened a Doha office headed by Safwan Moubaydeen (pictured).
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