Falah Alqahtani ENG1301 11/19/2013
Commentary
For each country on the world their must a power to defined itself and there many kinds of powers such as military, econmey and also the media, but in this essay I will .be focusing on the power of the media and how countries are using it as weapon
To talk more about this case Qatar and its own channel Aljazeera can be the best .example to talk about
I read a lot about Aljazeera and I stared from the history and it says that Aljazeera have opened on 1 November 1996 with $137 millions as supporting from the Emir of Qatar sheikh Hamad bin Khlifah Al-thni. The support was enough to attract the most of professionals employees on the other channels such as the Arabic BBC which .closed on 1997 just one year after Aljazeera opened
At the begging Aljazeera was offering 6 hours of programming per day and to be sure .that everyone can reach and watch Aljazeera it was free users in Arabic world
On Afghanistan war Aljazeera was there to cover what happening and to give a voice .to the Taliban
After the September11 attacks on the United States, Aljazeera became the most famous and trustworthy channel in the Arabic world especially after it showed tapes .about the most wanted man in world Osama bin Laden
Aljazeera opened its own office in Kabul before the war and this gave it better access .for videotaping events then other channels The Kabul office was destroyed by United States bobs in 2001 to stay away from possible future conflicts, but Aljazeera then opened a new office in other troubled .spots
Falah Alqahtani ENG1301 11/19/2013
Moreover, Aljazeera was there in Iraq to cover and broadcast the war. During the .war in Iraq Aljazeera was getting bigger and bigger On 2003 Aljazeera opened more channels such as Aljazeera sport, children, .documentary, America,….ect.the channel had more than 1,400 employees
On 1 April2003, a united state plane fired against Aljazeera office and killed reporter .Tareq Ayyob and the attack was called a mistake However, on 2011 Aljazeera was also in Egypt and Syria. as what I mentioned at first of this essay that the owner of Aljazeera is the Emir of Qatar sheik Hamad bin Khlifa and Qatar has its own official TV station , but Aljazeera was pitched an impartial . news source and plat form for discussing issues relating to the Arabic world
Actually Aljazeera channel allow Qatar to be more active than before because it’s a really small country with no military power so the media was the best idea to .achieve its own benefits
To tell the truth Aljazeera never talk about Qatar and the problems in Qatar but lately Aljazeera got a bad renown among the Arabic world and that happened after other huge channels showed up on the Arabic media. For example, Alarbyia which owned by the government of Saudi Arabia and it was opened to cover the other side .of the news that which Aljazeera won't cover or trying to hide
When the other channel showed up the truth up with it which Aljazeera was changing to just approve that it works only for what Qatar government wants. Such as in Libya, Aljazeera had a big role in the Libyan revolution against Alqadafee and if wonder why? I can tell nothing but it's defiantly for politics benefits or maybe .because of problems between Alqadafee and Sheikh Hamad
What I am trying to deliver to you is that Aljazeera works as a weapon for the government of Qatar .moreover, Qatar use Aljazeera to change some ideas among the people in the Arabic world. For example, in one of the discussions programs on Aljazeera TV channel they hosted an Israeli political scientist which was the first time that an Israeli man shows up in an Arabic TV. That wasn’t expectable among the .Arabic nation
Falah Alqahtani ENG1301 11/19/2013
Now Aljazeera have opened America Aljazeera and it has one of the largest newsgathering capabilities of any news organization in the United States with 12 bureaus in major cities around the country, 3 broadcast centers, a headquarters in .New York City and a team of close to 800 journalists and stuff
The question is what kind of benefits does the government of Qatar hops to get back ?from America Aljazeera
To sum up, the media was and will be always captive for specific purpose for government or some organization and Qatar was a perfect example for the country that use media for personal benefits so it's really hard to trust on the media .anymore