Al Jazeera For The West Of Us
This column was written by Abigail Lavin.
Since it first began broadcasting 10 years ago, Qatari satellite network Al Jazeera has become the Arab world's media juggernaut, claiming 50 million viewers across 137 countries. A 2005 survey by Brandchannel.com ranked Al Jazeera as the world's fifth most-influential brand, just behind Starbucks, and plans are in the works to extend the network's reach even further with the launch of an English-language version, Al Jazeera International. High-profile personalities such as Riz Khan and ABC's David Marash have signed on as the network's news anchors. But AJI representatives have declined to comment on whether the network has secured a cable distribution deal in the United States, and the consensus among outside sources was that they had not. While it has been picked up by Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB channel in Europe, it remains to be seen whether Americans will get the chance to see what English-language news from a Middle Eastern perspective looks like.
Originally slated to launch in 2005, Al Jazeera International has pushed back its projected start date several times. As of this writing, network representatives would not give any date more specific than "later in 2006." AJI chalks up the delays to "technical issues," but it is more likely that they are waiting until they have confirmed distribution in the United States, guaranteeing a truly global splash for the network's launch.
Jonathan Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, believes it would make sense for AJI's American newsfeed to sit out the initial launch. He points out that AJI can be a successful global enterprise even if it isn't seen within the United States: "This isn't about America. Part of this is about de-centering news from Western prisms. The fact is that there are billions of people around the world who know this [Al Jazeera] brand, who want to see what English-language news that doesn't come from a Western perspective looks like."
Because it is bankrolled by the emir of Qatar, Al Jazeera does not have the same financial considerations as other television networks. Alterman derides the assumption that "Al Jazeera needs to be commercially successful in the way that American networks need to be successful." He observes that "Al Jazeera has never been a successful enterprise insofar as accounting, but Al Jazeera has helped make Qatar relevant, and in those terms it's been a wonderful investment for the government of Qatar."
If Al Jazeera International does come to the United States, who will watch it? Adel Iskandar, co-author of Al Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism, says that AJI "has a problem from the outset, which is being able to identify a potential audience" within the United States. The channel hopes to appeal to "Americans who are curious about what the other side is watching," as well as this country's large population of English-speaking Muslims. But many Americans view the network as a mouthpiece for terrorist organizations, and it isn't at all clear that Americans will warm to an English-language offshoot of a network with reporting that Donald Rumsfeld once decried as "vicious, inaccurate, and inexcusable." While Rumsfeld's characterization may be debated, the association of Al Jazeera with terrorism remains deeply ingrained in the minds of many Americans.
When AJI does finally go live, what will its news look like? Analysts wonder about issues of congruity between the English and Arabic versions of Al Jazeera, and where AJI will come down on polarizing issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Iraq war. Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute, is sharply critical of the very idea of an English version of Al Jazeera. In terms of how closely the channel's content mirrors that of its Arabic counterpart, Carmon feels that AJI is caught between a rock and a hard place. He says that, "if they copy the Arabic version . . . into English, then they will be committing suicide. Because the whole world will see what role Al Jazeera is playing in making the Muslim world extreme." On the other hand, Carmon says that if the two channels were to take different stances on global issues, the organization would be "speak[ing] from two sides of its mouth."
For all the criticism it draws for being biased against the West, Al Jazeera stirs just as much controversy in the Arab world. The network does provide forward-thinking criticisms of authoritarian regimes, and it airs a weekly show on women's issues that is not unlike an Arabic version of The View. As a home-grown voice of free expression, Al Jazeera is a powerful antidote to its oppressive surroundings. And in terms of impartiality, Al Jazeera is a model network compared to Al Manar, the Hezbollah-run news outfit that broadcasts 9/11 conspiracy theories and once reported that Zionists were spreading AIDS among the Arabs.
Some wonder whether AJI will take on its forbearer's mantle of inflammatory reporting, but there is reason to believe that there will be only a nominal relationship between the English and Arabic channels. Adel Iskandar predicts that, "the connection [will be] a successful brand name that appears to galvanize audiences, so that's something they're using as ammunition."
If AJI ever makes it into our living rooms, one area where it could rattle viewers is its coverage of the Iraq war. While American reporting on the war has been criticized as overly sanitized, Al Jazeera Arabic is known for broadcasting gruesome images of civilian deaths, as well as footage of insurgent attacks. Iskandar believes that, because conflict coverage has been Al Jazeera's "bread and butter" in the past, AJI is likely to use similarly graphic imagery. Shawn Powers of the University of Southern California's Center for Public Diplomacy agrees that AJI will likely broadcast some jarring footage of the war, but says that it will probably be limited to civilian casualties and structural damage, rather than American casualties and successful insurgent attacks.
While past relations between Al Jazeera and the Bush administration have been tense, Powers notes that recently "we've witnessed a pretty significant swing in the way the Bush administration treats Al Jazeera." In public statements, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes has embraced an end to this administration's "informal policy of ignoring Al Jazeera," and the Pentagon has offered AJI a seat in its briefing room. Unlike Al Hurra, the American propaganda channel widely regarded as a laughingstock in the Middle East, a good relationship with Al Jazeera could burnish the United States' image abroad. As for AJI's American prospects, as Alterman puts it: "The proof of the pudding's in the eating." If Americans ever get to see it, they will be able to decide for themselves whether it's worth watching.
Abigail Lavin is a staff assistant at the Weekly Standard.
By Abigail Lavin
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