'Three cheers for Al Jazeera'

Jordan Times - 14/03/2007

Michael Jansen
Al Jazeera-English is a dream-come-true satellite television channel.Since the 1960s, when many Third World countries became independent, the media folk of Afro-Asia longed to launch their own independent mass media with the aim of providing the world public with a Third World perspective on events to balance coverage given by Western news agencies, newspapers and, more recently, satellite channels.As Al Jazeera's highly successful Arabic channel was marking its tenth anniversary, Al Jazeera-English began to broadcast news, views and backgrounders. Suddenly, BBC World and the US Cable News Network (CNN) had a serious competitor.Al Jazeera English has the talent, the equipment, the contacts and the correspondents to mount a serious challenge to the dominant channels of the Western world. And, thanks to Qatar, the finance to mount this challenge.Arab, African, Latin American, Indian and Asian broadcasters are the talking heads talking sense about their problems without filtration through Western eyes and editors.Steve Clark, head of news at Al Jazeera-English, said that when he began working with the English channel, it had three employees. Now it has 1,000 and shares 60 bureaux round the globe with the Arabic channel. Its employees have a "pioneering spirit". They have "come out into the desert to launch a global channel."All but one of the high profile media personalities invited to join Al Jazeera-English agreed without hesitation. Famed British interviewer Sir David Frost, Ragi Omar of the Guardian, and Riz Khan and Veronica Petrosa, formerly of CNN all signed on.Clark, who roamed Africa alongside his engineer father, previously worked for ITV and MBC in Britain. He said that Al Jazeera-English has the most multinational range of employees in television. In the newsroom alone there are four dozen nationalities. This feat of recruitment was not by design but by chance. They and the other broadcasters and technical staff were hired in an intensive 18-month drive. Twenty-five per cent are "old hacks" (experienced journalists), 25 per cent in their "something thirties" with experience and 50 per cent new talent in their twenties."It's the youngest channel in global news broadcasting," asserted Clark."We hit the ground running" on November 15 last year with an hour's broadcast from nine locations. Al Jazeera took the view that there is "no point building up" to a full service. So the station started as it intended to proceed.He is particularly pleased with Al Jazeera's coverage of Africa and Latin America, areas of the world generally ignored by the main Western channels. "We are the only channel to have a permanent office in Harare" or Mogadishu. It took a lot of effort to get permission to operate in Zimbabwe, he observed.There was a great deal of suspicion in Washington about Al Jazeera-English. Before broadcasts began, Clark paid 38 or 39 visits to Capitol Hill in Washington. His job was to convince congressmen "what we are not". Not a "terrorist" channel, as alleged by hostile quarters, including former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who accused the Arabic channel of cooperating with Al Qaeda and showing video of beheadings.Clark firmly stated: "We have never broadcast beheadings. We employ the same standards of decency as other channels."He will be visiting Washington next fall to check out opinion. "We are already getting some positive feedback."Presumably, congressmen and women and other officials are viewing Al Jazeera-English on their computers. It has not been able to get a US cable network to carry the channel there. The BBC apparently has the same problem. US cable operators prefer movies, sports, or music to news.This is an old story. Not really plugged into the wider world, US citizens opt for entertainment rather than enlightenment. The ignorance of the US public is one of the most serious problems facing the international community. Unless the US is informed about world affairs, Washington will never be held accountable for blunders like its war in Iraq and submission to Israel's every whim.In spite of being excluded from the US, Al Jazeera-English reaches 100,000 households, or at least 400,000 viewers. The Arabic channel has 30-50 million viewers, most viewing thanks to satellite carriers. Some viewers of the Arabic channel whose Arabic is weak have switched to the English channel so they can not only view the news but fully understand what is being said.One of Al Jazeera-English's most provocative programmes is "Inside Iraq". Its presenter, Jasim Azawi, was born in Iraq, studied biochemistry and emigrated to the US in 1982. There he worked for 15 years as an interpreter for the State Department. He joined Al Jazeera-English in 2006 and his wife took up employment with the Arabic channel."We try to cover big themes — history, culture, oil" as well as news. He pointed out that the channel also broadcasts reports from organisations like Amnesty International which are critical of US policies in Iraq. Most other broadcasters steer well clear of these reports.Al Jazeera can do a good job because it is well funded. It does not have its own point of view; it has many. The staff reflect "all points of view: liberal, progressive, secularist and Islamist. No one tells us what line to take or issues any directives. We want to show all aspects of the issues."Maire Devine, who heads the "Everywoman" team, said her programme also deals with controversial subjects in the Arab world and elsewhere. In the four months since the channel began broadcasting, "Everywoman" has dealt with spousal violence, handicapped children, the hijab and nikab, education, and the impact of warfare on women and children.Born and raised in Ireland, Devine compared the situation in Qatar to conditions in her homeland in the seventies. She particularly likes to bring powerful women into the studio and hold interesting exchanges with them."Young women here need [positive] role models. In the West our role models are empty, airheaded celebrities.""Everywoman" interviewed the first Qatari female paramedics and bodyguards. Five years ago, women could not do such jobs or speak about their work to the media.Al Jazeera-English's motto is "Setting the news agenda". The channel is doing precisely this. BBC World, in particular, is having to follow Al Jazeera's lead. Competition can be good for broadcasting if it drives broadcasters to improve their performance and programming. The West has dominated the newspapers airwaves, and satellite bands for long enough.