Welcome to "The Island" (Part II)
(This is the second part of a story by Hilary Crowe about a visit to the bureau of Al Jazeera English in Washington, D.C. Click here, if you missed Part I.)
Al Jazeera has been famous, or infamous, since its inception in 1996 for providing a platform for “the opinion, and then the opposite,” never averse to ruffling the feathers of regime leaders, political or religious leaders and the like. Two years ago, the network was banned from Iraq, and the Saudi Arabian government has been accused of denying Al Jazeera's journalists work visas. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld also criticized the network for being “the mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden.”
As of now, I don’t know what to think of these claims against the network or by the network. I neither know a single word of Arabic nor watch Al Jazeera via satellite. I only know what I saw, what I was told and who I met during my visit. I have read Al Jazeera English (AJE) online and find it similar in reporting style to CNN International and the BBC (which is no surprise, as network executives told us that Al Jazeera was modeled after Western news media outlets, and has since replaced CNN in Al Jazeera's home country of Qatar, as well as Israel, as the top news outlet). Some discredit the network’s objectivity, as it is funded by the Emir of Qatar; however, network executives insist (and based on what I saw, I believe this whole-heartedly) that journalists working there are so strong-willed and independent that they wouldn’t take the emir's orders. Anyway, how’s the network supposed to distance itself from the emir’s bank account if no cable carrier will risk picking it up because the cable operator stands to lose advertising revenues?
Since it is still early in AJE’s life, there are many internship opportunities available. Interested in learning from some of the best international reporters just a few metro stops away from my university, I was exchanging contact information with a producer when she startled me with a seemingly innocuous question: “Aren’t you afraid of what future employers might think when they see 'Al Jazeera' on your resume?” she laughed.
I said "no," but now that I think about it, "yes." Yes, I would be nervous, trying to explain to uninformed superiors the noble mission of AJE in today's society to deliver balanced, international news: news as relevant to the farmer in Iowa as it is to the banker in Malaysia. AJE seems to be a network better respected by journalists than the general public, but it is my fear that this may always be so. Honestly, I don’t know if I want my first internship to be with such a controversial, negatively-viewed media outlet. But have I been scared into thinking that way, perhaps by Rumsfeld and his compatriots? The “War on Terror?” Prejudice? I once thought that AJE could be the bridge between the East and West, a real opportunity to relate to each other and to obtain a more complete understanding of how our actions and policies affect each other. Now, like AJE’s future, I’m not so certain.
(For another view on the network, please see: "Al Jazeera: Ideology or Profit?")
(The photo is of Al Jazeera's main headquarters in Doha, Qatar by aljazeerastaffer using a Creative Commons license from Flickr. To see a trailer for Control Room, the documentary about Al Jazeera, please check below.)
(If you missed it, follow this link to Part I.)
journalism
politics
television
Al Jazeera
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2 comments:
sorry if I post this twice but at times this blogger comment stuff is infuriatingly maddening, as you have to hit enter twice to get it in and every now and again it goes poof and you lose your entire input. I have a hard time turning my PC on some days... so go figure what I can do with a webpage.
Interesting blog with many potential points of discussion.
I lived in England for a few years, where to this day basic journalist standards still seem to be honored by the non tabloid majority of the British press.
I am still bitter with the American press ever since their tragic waving of the flag in the run up to the Iraq war. My opinion is that in the run up to the war, most journalistic standards were ignored in fear of driving down advert revenues. I was proud of outlets like the Times of London, the BBC, the Guardian, who all tried to examine both side of the story and let the reader draw conclusions. While all we saw from the other side of the pond were brain dead flag wavers...
In that kind of environment I think it normal that a news outlet like Al Jeezera is judged by Americans for anything but their journalist integrity.
It's funny to see this because I recently found myself wondering what it would be like to work at al Jazeera. I also saw "Control Room" and agree that it's a must-see. Thanks for offering another peek at The Island.
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