Greetings from "The Island:" Wish You Were Here* (Part I)
by Hilary Crowe
“Oh, jeez. Just don’t get blown up.”
That was my dad’s snarky comment after I told him my professor for "Contemporary Media in a Global Society" was taking the class to tour Al Jazeera’s offices on K Street in Washington. A response to the mundane “Sooo, what’re you doing this week?” usually only muttered half-heartedly via webcam, one of a few painfully pragmatic Christmas gifts I received about two months ago. My enthusiasm regarding the media pariah alarmed him. He wasn’t alone: my roommate, friends and classmates were also nervous – one girl even asked what the female students should wear. Honestly, what did she think? A burqa?
I was nothing but excited to visit the network's D.C. news bureau. Since January, I had been zealously reading the books and articles my professor assigned as homework, and after watching a documentary on the network (Control Room: I highly recommend it; it’s quite eye-opening) and listening to a guest speaker who worked for other Arab media outlets (now employed by the Committee to Protect Journalists), I was ready to see for myself what went on behind the scenes with the network's controversial material and who was responsible for it.
It was nothing like I had expected.
The bustling interior is kept masked and anonymous behind the building’s marble facade. Unmarked and inconspicuous, the network's office was a challenge to find amid the morning snow flurry and when I arrived (late) I was whisked into a first-floor production studio where Al Jazeera English’s bureau chief, and later the well-respected Dave Marash (one of the anchors in D.C.), spoke to us about the mission of Al Jazeera English (AJE) behind the network’s slogan, “Setting the news agenda.” Already the network is behind; it is still looking to be picked up by a cable carrier (it is not a satellite network like its predecessor, Al Jazeera in Arabic).
Later, we were taken to the newsroom, introduced to the tech crew, and allowed to view the recording of a segment of the Riz Kahn Show; Kahn was a reporter and anchor for BBC World and CNN International before joining AJE. Surprisingly, many reporters and producers bent over their keyboards and switchboards in the newsroom were speaking with British and Australian accents, an occasional southern drawl thrown in for good measure. Admittedly, I expected to see more, well, employees of Middle-Eastern background. Instead, many were formerly employed by media outlets as varied as VOA (the Voice of America), CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), and CNN. Still young (AJE began broadcasting over the 'net late last year), the energy and enthusiasm in the newsroom are palpable and contagious. (For this blog's take of the network immediately after its debut, please see: "Al Jazeera: Ideology or Profit?") Much to Donald Rumsfeld’s dismay, I’m sure, I never felt once that I might be brainwashed by the supposedly Jihad-ist network and its evil beliefs.
(Continue on to Part II.)
*In Arabic, al Jazeera means "the island" or "the peninsula."
(Photo of Dave Marash from Al-Jazeera English.)
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February 22 marked first 100 days since the launch of Aljazeera English. It has aired more opinion from the Bush administration and the Olmert government than any other channel in the Middle East.
The US Defense Department began airing Al-Jazeera on closed circuit Pentagon TV since early December 2006. Any body with even a casual exposure to typical media in the Middle East will not be surprised if soon all US missions will ask the State Department carry Aljazeera on its VOA-TV platform. That will happen as US diplomats find AJE's multi-regional coverage and multi-perspective insights so rich on AJE that they won?t afford to miss it.
When it comes to an even handed treatment of the hot topic of the day, viewers may feel well-served by the channels manifested approach to cover "Every Angle-Every Aspect"
To determine how effective this channel?s approach may watch any of its flag-ship programs i.e. Inside Story or Inside Iraq taking the act of balancing to a level of art while demonstrating its intellect, wit, and analytical strength.
Another strength noted early on is the effort to cover "every angle-every side." Thus we see Shimon Peres: Deputy Prime Minister who's appearence on the channels launching day proved the first drop of rain which follows almost daily feeds from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to cover Israeli opinion and views.
The fact that Israeli Deputy Premier Shimon Peres would set aside some time to visit the headquarters of Aljazeera News Channel in Doha will not surprise observers of the region's media scene. Peres also appeared in an special interview on the 24 hour news channel launched only in November 2006. The attention and engagement accorded to AJ belies and dismisses what some alarmists portrayed to regarding this new channel with a multi-dimensional perspective to current affairs.
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres' visit to the headquarters of Aljazeera News Channel in Doha would have shocked those oblivious to the region's media scene. Peres endorsed the need to communicate with a sizeable audience by appearing in an interview programme on this news channel established recently. The attention and engagement accorded to AJ sends a message on how seriously the newly established channel is taken by important regional players.
An Italian scholar of the Arab media, Donatella della Ratta rightly suggests that the West should seriously consider before blaming or blocking channels like Aljazeera that are in fact educating tools to inform rather than a medium providing an embedded version from a warring side. Her analysis is a wake-up call for those who believe that pouring $62 million on Al-Hurra can make the US image right in the Middle-East. Instead of making wrong choices and pursuing wrong approaches that are just goose-chasing and witch-hunting exercises US needs to befriend with the ones that capture and portray the facts professionally and far effectively.
The fact that Peres made it a point to appear on the channel reflects the significance of reaching out to an audience genuinely interested for peace in the region. This leaves cynics on the wrong foot when it comes to the realities of the Middle East. It is an hour of reckoning for critics to come out from his age of denial, dismissal and disapproval of those he dislikes and differs with.
It is fine to keep a watchful eye if any incorrect views or statements are aired and to take appropriate action.
But gagging a channel which consists of acclaimed professionals like Dave Marash, David Frost and Steven Cole is
like doubting intentions not backed by any sound evidence. The proof comes only AFTER seeing what AJE is or isn't about.
analyse an event with far reaching implications for the role and impact of media on future Middle East peace. Consider the attention and engagement accorded to Al Jazeera by a statesman tipped soon to lead Israel as its next president.
Shimon Peres’ visit to the headquarters of Aljazeera News Channel in Doha invites us to recognise the emerging realities of region’s media scene. On the launch of Aljazeera English Peres (15 Nov, ‘06) welcomed the new channel hoping that it may enable all to talk about peace better than its predecessors. On 29 January Peres reiterated the need to communicate with a sizeable audience by appearing in an interview programme recorded in Doha. This highest-level visit by an Israeli leader to a Middle East TV station sends out a clear message as to how seriously the newly established channel is taken in the pursuit of peace.
An Italian scholar of the Arab media, Donatella della Ratta rightly suggests that the West should seriously consider before blaming or blocking channels like Aljazeera that are in fact educating tools to inform rather than a medium providing an embedded version from a warring side. Her analysis is a wake-up call for those who believe that pouring $62 million on Al-Hurra can make the US image right in the Middle-East. Instead of making wrong choices and pursuing wrong approaches that are just goose-chasing and witch-hunting exercises US needs to befriend with the ones that capture and portray the facts professionally and far effectively.
The fact that Peres made it a point to appear on the channel reflects the significance of reaching out to an audience genuinely interested for peace in the region. This leaves cynics on the wrong foot when it comes to the realities of the Middle East. It is an hour of reckoning for critics to come out from their age of denial, dismissal and disapproval of those they dismiss on prejudice and not principles.
Another factor that merits due consideration is what the viewers in Israel prefer to see. BBC World has been dropped by Israel’s satellite provider Yes TV in favor of the Al-Jazeera English. The Guardian, London dubbed it as “the first major distribution blow the corporation’s international news channel has suffered since al-Jazeera’s English-language service began broadcasting”.
Although BBC World will still be available in Israel via cable, it will lose around 50% of its audience in the country as a result of being dropped by Yes. Al-Jazeera English signed the carriage deal with Yes in November 2006, but the damaging consequences for BBC World have only just emerged, remarked media commentator Tara Conlan.
The true proof of responsible activism is in promoting and not preventing pluralistic viewpoints.
Alternative, accurate and accountable media is what the global audiences deserve and watch groups should put their energies to ensure the availability of such options.
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