webmaster
© Copyright DEHAI-Eritrea OnLine, 1993-2011
All rights reserved
From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Sat Apr 30 2011 - 00:37:10 EDT
PolicyWatch #1802 Aljazeera: One Organization, Two Messages
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=3355
By David Pollock <http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC10.php?CID=59>
April 28, 2011
Top U.S. officials are now offering praise for Aljazeera, a Qatar-owned and
-based news network that broadcasts in both Arabic and English-language
versions. Aljazeera, not carried by any U.S. cable networks and broadcast
locally in only a few cities, depends on its English-language website to
reach an increasingly large U.S. audience. The problem is that the content
of Aljazeera's English site differs, at times radically, from that of the
Arabic version. To illustrate: at a time when Aljazeera is polishing a new
image as a champion of media reform and freedom, one of its most popular
Arabic television programs is that of fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood
preacher Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose twinkly grin accompanies virulently
anti-American and anti-Semitic diatribes interspersed with expressions of
support for censorship of "anti-Islamic" messages. This is not to say that
Aljazeera English is without problems of its own or that Aljazeera Arabic is
entirely flawed; the point is that the messages are often different.
*Makeover and Growing Influence*
Aljazeera is striving to move beyond allegations of anti-Americanism
garnered during the Iraq war, as well as perceived association with radical
Islamism due to its habitual airing of grievances by Usama bin Laden, Ayman
al-Zawahiri, Hamas, Hizballah, and other violent extremists. The network now
reports critically, though selectively, on dictators and their security
apparatuses. As a consequence, Aljazeera offices have been ransacked from
Cairo to Sana, while staff and reporters have been harassed, detained,
abducted, or worse -- as when one cameraman was killed by regime forces in
Libya. Meanwhile, Aljazeera's online English-language viewership has
reportedly skyrocketed. On February 23, the network issued a press release
announcing that it had given Comcast executives more than 13,000 letters
from Americans demanding access to the channel, and it has submitted more
than 40,000 emails as well. This campaign has reportedly led to ongoing
talks with both Comcast and Time Warner.
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted last week that
the network "has been the leader in that they are literally changing
people's minds...It is really effective. In fact, viewership of Aljazeera is
going up in the U.S. because it's real news." And during an April 21 meeting
of Democratic Party donors, President Obama was caught by a live microphone
praising Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, whom he had met
earlier that day and who has used the emirate's huge natural gas revenues to
pump millions of dollars into Aljazeera. The president described him as a
"pretty influential guy. He is a big booster, big promoter of democracy all
throughout the Middle East. Reform, reform, reform -- you're seeing it on
Aljazeera. Now, he himself is not reforming significantly -- there's no big
move toward democracy in Qatar. But you know part of the reason is that the
per capita income in Qatar is $145,000 a year. That will dampen a lot of
conflict."
Yet Aljazeera's reformist reputation does not hold up to heavier scrutiny.
Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani once remarked (in a
cable released by WikiLeaks) that the network's "ability to influence public
opinion is a substantial source of leverage for Qatar." The cable further
implied that the network was willing to adjust its coverage in exchange for
political favors. In this light, Aljazeera's publicly acknowledged goal of
agitating against the status quo reflects active political interests rather
than journalistic integrity.
*English vs. Arabic Web Content*
Aljazeera English must be distinguished from its Arabic counterpart in
several regards. While the Arabic website reflects Qatar's regional
interests, the English site has a greater internationalist bent to its
reporting. Moreover, Aljazeera English reports favorably on many issues that
are largely absent from the Arabic site, including low wages, poor working
conditions, class conflict, and feminist and other minority groups
throughout the Middle East.
Aljazeera Arabic, in contrast, has much less freedom to report on regional
developments -- including in Qatar -- than the English site. Very little
criticism of Doha can be found in Arabic; consider the zero coverage given
to the government's embarrassment over anti-Iranian comments revealed by
WikiLeaks. The regional climate and political dealmaking often temper other
aspects of Aljazeera's Arabic coverage as well, resulting in delayed or
deficient reporting on some events (as in the case of Egypt and Syria) or a
failure to report on them altogether (as in Bahrain). Qatar is located
between two vying regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, yet the Arabic
site almost never reports on internal disputes in those countries, despite
the occasional such report on the English site.
*Missing In Action on Bahrain*
Aljazeera's online Arabic coverage of Bahrain is a glaring example of
politics trumping journalism. Saudi Arabia has a vested interest in keeping
the island's Sunni monarchy in power and sees Shiite activism there as an
Iranian plot. Furthermore, Qatar, like Bahrain, is a GCC member. As a
result, Aljazeera Arabic did not report on the hardening of the Bahraini
opposition on March 8, when the Coalition for a Bahraini Republic called for
an end to the monarchy, nor did it cover protests held there on March 9, 10,
and 13, the critical days leading to Saudi Arabia's decision to send troops
into Bahrain. Riyadh's March 14 deployment received scant morning coverage
-- masquerading, in fact, under the headline "Gulf forces in Bahrain" -- and
remained buried throughout the day. Furthermore, when Qatar deployed its own
troops to the island in accordance with its GCC commitments, the development
was not reported at all on Aljazeera Arabic. Incredibly, while Aljazeera
English showed pictures of Saudi troops headed across the causeway
connecting the two kingdoms, Aljazeera Arabic's headline read "Bahrain's
Government Rejects Foreign Intervention" -- alluding to Iran!
Indeed, rather than report on the grassroots nature of Bahrain's
pro-democracy protests, the Arabic website has consistently helped to
develop the narrative of a Saudi-Iranian struggle for the island by
highlighting Bahrain's connections with the Islamic republic, supposed
"foreign plots" within the emirate, and Hizballah's support for Shiite
protesters. On April 21, for instance, the author appeared on an hourlong
program aired by al-Alam -- Iran's elaborate Arabic-language television
channel broadcast from Beirut -- in which the other guests lamented at
length on the "total silence" of Arab media regarding the ongoing crackdown
in Bahrain, a silence that has not gone unnoticed by Iran.
*Slow Start in Syria and Egypt*
As unrest broke out in Syria, Aljazeera Arabic initially failed to report on
a level worthy of its antiestablishment reputation, possibly in deference to
Iran. Its television coverage was conspicuously absent during the first
protests, leading to YouTube videos of some demonstrators chanting
"Aljazeera, Waynik?" (Aljazeera, where are you?). To be sure, as pressure
mounted in Syria, the Arabic channel and website improved its coverage to a
level far better than its reporting on Bahrain. Still, the reporting never
reached the same level as its English counterpart, whose website carried
hopeful commentary such as "The Winds of Change Reach Syria," "The Delusions
of Bashar al-Assad," and "The Coming Revolution in Syria?"
One leading Syrian activist noted that although he is regularly featured on
Aljazeera English television, he and other prominent Syrian dissidents in
exile are never featured on the Arabic television channel. And the website
content seems to reflect this: indeed, as the country's April 8 "day of
rage" unfolded, Aljazeera English reported "Fresh Protests Erupt in Syria,"
mentioning several deaths in Deraa; in contrast, the Arabic site's only
reference was Asad's meager overture to the country's long-oppressed Kurdish
minority.
Even when the Egyptian revolution began on January 25, Aljazeera Arabic got
off to a slow start, missing many of the day's events and leaving many
Egyptians angry and perplexed. Some attributed the delay to former president
Hosni Mubarak's late 2010 visit to Qatar and presumed backroom dealmaking.
Others speculated that the network did not want to reduce coverage of its
recently featured "Palestine Papers" scoop -- another episode in the long
saga of animosity between Aljazeera, the Palestinian Authority, and Israel.
Whatever the case, political interests and self-promotion apparently trumped
media activism on those momentous first days of Egyptian protests. Possibly
as a result, Aljazeera's reported audience in Egypt during the revolution
was smaller than that of either Al-Arabiya or Alhurra, according to a phone
poll conducted in Cairo and Alexandria at the time and later released by the
U.S. government's Broadcasting Board of Governors.
*Strategic Overreporting*
Aljazeera Arabic online tends to overreport events in Libya and Yemen,
countries unfriendly to Qatar, possibly as a means of burying more
politically sensitive news stories such as the Bahrain protests. Aljazeera's
coverage of every minute development in Libya and Yemen would, in fact, set
the journalistic standard if it did not correlate to a paucity of
information on other regional developments. For example, in contrast to its
underreporting of Syrian protests on April 8, mentioned earlier, Aljazeera
Arabic featured a leading story titled "Warnings of a Catastrophe in
Misratah," four pieces focused on the Qadhafi regime, and three dedicated to
the power struggle in Yemen.
*Beware the Spin*
In general, Aljazeera Arabic balances groundbreaking news with Qatari
interests, however awkward this approach may be. Accordingly, the U.S.
audience should understand that the news and viewpoints published on the
network's English website are often not seen on the Arabic site, a
discrepancy often reflected in the television coverage. Unfortunately,
Aljazeera's English/Arabic bifurcation helps to ensure that these
constituencies will never see eye to eye. As long as this practice
continues, Aljazeera should not be touted as a true reformer or promoter of
democracy.
*David Pollock is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute, focusing on
the political dynamics of Middle Eastern countries. He would like to thank
Andrew Engel for his valuable research assistance.*
----[This List to be used for Eritrea Related News Only]----