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Al Jazeera
built 127 days ago
Al Jazeera is the only twenty-four-hour Arab news station. In addition to its fast-moving, video-heavy newscasts, it has built an audience through its talk shows, which probe political, social, and religious issues previously untouched by Arab media. Perhaps the most popular program is The Opposite Direction, hosted by Faisal Al Qasim, a British-educated Syrian who has a talent for drawing out guests with opposing views and goading them to mix it up on air. He has pitted an Egyptian supporting normalization of relations with Israel against another Egyptian who quoted anti-Semitic writings. A woman opposed to the abolition of polygamy walked off the set, fed up with her counterpart's insistence that it was an anachronistic practice.
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Al Jazeera claims to be the only politically independent television station in the Middle East. It now rivals the BBC in worldwide audiences with an estimated 50 million viewers. Al Jazeera was started with a US$150 million grant from the emir of Qatar. It aimed to become self-sufficient through advertising by 2001, but when this failed to occur, the emir agreed to continue subsidizing it on a year-by-year basis (US$30 million in 2004,[1] according to Arnaud de Borchgrave). Other major sources of income include advertising, cable subscription fees, broadcasting deals with other companies, and sale of footage (according to Pravda,[2] "Al Jazeera received $20,000 per minute for Bin Laden's speech.") In 2000, advertising accounted for 40% of the station's revenue.[3]
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"Al Jazeera has an editorial line and a way of presenting news that appeals to the Arab public," said U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in 2003. "They tend to portray [U.S.] efforts [in Iraq] in a negative light."
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[R]emember - Al Jazeera, while it has a lot of viewers, does not have a lot of fans. Like Yaman said, they have been kicked out and denied entry in numerous Arab countries, Bahrain included. The reason? They tend to report the “truth,” ... unethically they do so (graphic images, sometimes no respect for the dead, etc.)
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Despite its controversial coverage, or maybe because of it, Al Jazeera continues to grow in scope and popularity. In response to the flood of accusations of bias, Al Jazeera maintains its mantra that it gives all sides a chance to defend their view, and presents news from the diverse perspectives of the Arab world. Indeed, the station was founded and thrives on living up to its motto: “The Opinion and the Other Opinion�? (el-Nawawy and Gher, 2003). Al-Jaber (2004) argues that part of the reason for Al Jazeera’s popularity is that it is seen throughout the Middle East as “local news,�? presenting information and viewpoints that are important for the various Arab communities.
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During the Iraq war, Al Jazeera faced the same reporting and movement restrictions as other news-gathering organizations. In addition, one of its reporters, Tayseer Allouni, was banned from the country by the Iraqi Information Ministry, while another one, Diyar Al-Omari, was banned from reporting in Iraq (both decisions were later retracted). On April 3, 2003, Al Jazeera withdrew its journalists from the country, citing unreasonable interference from Iraqi officials.
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Al Jazeera