Viet Nam Human Rights
Al Jazeera is a terrorist media?
7/7/17
Qatar-based media channel al-Jazeera and
21 other ‘terrorist’ news websites were banned in Egypt on Wednesday, the
ministry of interior said, just hours after a media war erupted between Gulf states and Doha. Al Jazeera has
also been blocked in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. So is Al
Jazeera truly a terrorist media?
Al Jazeera literally "The Island",
though referring to the Arabian Peninsula in
context, also known as JSC (Jazeera Satellite Channel), is a
state-funded broadcaster in Doha, Qatar, owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is partly funded by the House of Thani, the ruling
family of Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite
TV channel, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets,
including the Internet and specialty TV channels in
multiple languages.
Al Jazeera is a major global news organization, with
80 bureaus around the world. The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to
broadcast dissenting views, for example on call-in shows,
created controversies in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The station
gained worldwide attention following the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, when its office there was the only
channel to cover the war live.
Al Jazeera is owned by the government of
Qatar. Al Jazeera officials have stated that they are editorially
independent from the government of Qatar. However, this assertion is disputed, and many
have accused Al Jazeera of being a propaganda outlet for the Qatari government. The
network is sometimes perceived to have mainly Islamist perspectives,
promoting the Muslim Brotherhood, and having a
pro-Sunni and an
anti-Shia bias in
its reporting of regional issues. It is also accused of having an
anti-Western bias, although the Arab Gulf States Institute agency is
funded by Saudi Arabia and
the United Arab Emirates, who are
against Al Jazeera. However, Al Jazeera insists it covers all sides of a
debate; it says it presents Israel's view, Iran's view and even aired videos
released by Osama bin Laden.
News companies hate becoming the story.
Unfortunately for Qatar's state-backed media network Al Jazeera, it's now the
focus of a diplomatic crisis in the Middle East.
The closure of the network and its affiliates is one
of 13 demands made by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt
for restoring diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, according to multiple
media reports.
The coalition of countries led by Saudi Arabia broke off relations with Qatar earlier
this month. They have accused the tiny Gulf state of supporting terrorism.
Qatar built Al Jazeera into a global brand. But the network has made enemies
from Riyadh to Cairo with its criticism of Arab governments and coverage of
deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsy.
Al Jazeera first garnered attention in the U.S.
after it aired videos of Osama bin Laden justifying the 9-11 attacks. During
the Iraq War, top Bush administration officials were highly critical of its
coverage. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said its accounts of
civilian casualties during the battle for Falluja were "outrageous
nonsense."
The network broadcast messages from Osama bin Laden,
prompting outraged criticism from the US, where it was referred to as a
"terror network”. In 2003, an Al Jazeera staff member was killed and three
other employees were wounded by an American airstrike during the U.S. push into
Baghdad. American officials denied the bureau had been targeted.
While Al Jazeera has stated that it was 'not
partisan to any ideology, group or government', the network's Arabic political
coverage was problematic. Recently, however, several top journalists have left,
saying the station has developed a clear political agenda. It seems pretty
clear from watching some of Al Jazeera's Arabic coverage and the coverage of Al
Jazeera's Egyptian channel Mubasher [Misr] that there was a bias in favour of
the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Jazeera has over 3,000 staff members and 65
correspondent offices worldwide -- and viewers in some 50 million households
throughout the Arab world. But it also has a problem: More than ever before,
critics contend that the broadcaster is following a clear political agenda, and
not adhering to the principles of journalistic independence.
A prominent correspondent who, until one year ago,
used to report in Beirut for the network, says: "Al-Jazeera takes a clear
position in every country from which it reports -- not based on journalistic
priorities, but rather on the interests of the Foreign Ministry of Qatar,"
he says. "In order to maintain my integrity as a reporter, I had to
quit."
In a series of articles in the Qatari
daily Al-Watan, editor Ahmad Ali harshly criticized the administration
of Al-Jazeera TV, which broadcasts from Qatar. This was the first time
that any Qatari body had dared to directly and openly criticize the channel,
and as such Ali's series sparked a wave of reactions in other Qatari papers.
Yet, while if Al Jazeera is a terrorist media is
still unclear, the organization and the original Arabic channel in particular
have sometimes been criticized and have been involved in several controversies.
And, for these, its coverage seems not to be trustful enough./.
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All comments [ 4 ]
Established two decades ago in Doha, Al Jazeera helped to expand Qatar's political influence by broadcasting Arabic-language programs that were seen in millions of living rooms around the region.
Al Jazeera is sensationalist, Islamic, and pan-Arabic, but it mirrors Doha's policy concerns in more ways than it might care to acknowledge.
Al Jazeera has faced headwinds on the economic front, as well. Despite winning plaudits for its journalism, the network abandoned its U.S. network -- Al Jazeera America -- in 2016 after it failed to attract an audience.
For a long time, I have thought that Al Jazeera is a terrorist news station, and now it seems to be true!
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