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Will You Watch Al Jazeera English?

Amar C. Bakshi - The Arabic news network Al Jazeera just launched its English-language channel today. According to the station's Director General Wadah Khanfar, its goal is to "revolutionize TV news by giving voice to the oppressed South." This sounds ambitious. Will Al Jazeera English live up to it? Watch a clip below and tell us what you think.

The station is certainly not lacking in resources. Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has staffed it with 500 reporters spread across the world. They've managed to pull some big names from CNN, BBC, and even the U.S. Marines like Riz Khan, Sir David Frost, and Josh Rushing respectively.

Al Jazeera's bureaus in Washington DC, London, Kuala Lumpur, and Doha house over one hundred employees each and are immaculately designed. I visited their Doha headquarters two weeks ago exactly on the station's tenth anniversary. Though I was in the city for a United Nations conference on emerging democracies, the Al Jazeera compound was where all the action was.

In their main English language newsroom, a vast plasma image of the globe illuminated the anchor desks. Skinny silver computers stood perched on custom-curved desks. "We've spared no expense," exclaimed a young Egyptian employee, quoting the billionaire scientist from the movie Jurassic Park. He explained that Al Jazeera's "polish proves its professionalism." But then he quickly changed gears to stress that Al Jazeera would win world support only "by sounding truly different from our competitors like CNN and BBC."

Al Jazeera's consultant on Middle East affairs and new PostGlobal panelist Lamis Andoni outlined just what "different" meant:

Al Jazeera will cover the developing world; it will offer another view on the Israel-Palestine conflict. It will inject international discourse with the arguments of and the social and economic plights of the South to enable a real dialog.

With her voice rising, she gestured toward a huge photograph hanging on the newsroom wall of a young Al Jazeera cameraman picked up on the border of Afghanistan and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay:

Al Jazeera's status was earned at a high price. Cameraman Sami al-Hajj is spending his fifth year in Guantanamo. Two of our journalists are killed -- one during the American bombing of Al Jazeera in Baghdad. Our top correspondent Tayser Allouny is under house arrest in Spain for unsubstantiated charges. These colleagues are an inspiration for the rest of us, a call to courage, and a constant reminder of the cost of telling the story.

She then swept her arm across the newsroom pointing to dozens of young faces scurrying in and out of the building. Many of these employees were British and Australian students fresh out of college, sweating in the hundred-degree Doha heat. According to Andoni, they too share her vision:

There are many young people who are coming on board, and many seeking to. They want to be part of a new, more inclusive, daring medium -- a medium that speaks truth to power.

But an hour's flight away in Dubai, another PostGlobal panelist, Bashir Goth expressed far less hope for Al Jazeera English. He thinks Al Jazeera inexcusably promoted Osama bin Laden for mutual benefit. Al Jazeera achieved substantial publicity by airing the terrorist's videos before anyone else could see them. Bin Laden, some scholars argue, would not have been a global celebrity without the TV platform Al Jazeera offered. By airing his clips, the Wall Street Journal argues that Al Jazeera became a "mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden," offering free publicity that helped him recruit more fighters. When I asked Director General Wadah Khanfar if Al Jazeera English would show more bin Laden tapes should they be released, he replied forcefully, "Yes, we will abide by the same editorial guidelines as our Arabic channel."

Though Al Jazeera launched today, it will be tough to find in the United States. Cable companies here worry that in the minds of Americans Al Jazeera is too closely associated with Al Qaeda for comfort. The station's presentation -- some would say selective presentation -- of atrocities in the Middle East, especially in Iraq, Palestine and most recently Lebanon, have inflamed anti-American sentiment.

On multiple occasions, officials within the Bush administration accused the station of willfully stirring hatred toward America. As Al Jazeera's introductory video boasts, Donald Rumsfeld called their broadcasts "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable". Rumors circulate that America even considered it an outright military target after it bombed its offices in Kabul.

But beyond the simple accusation that Al Jazeera aids terror groups comes a more fundamental criticism. Is the station's articulated concern for "voices from the South," for the billions who don't watch TV but are affected by the global players who do, a genuine one or just more anti-West rhetoric? Will this station really open up new debates that are often overlooked like poor education, weak public health systems, or hunger? Or will Al Jazeera just add to the cacophony of angry voices and polarized discussions, perhaps even promoting violence in the process by providing a platform for an extreme few?

What do you think? Have you watched Al Jazeera in Arabic and do you have thoughts to share?

Below, we invite our global readers to discuss the clip, share their view of Al Jazeera, and debate whether the station's call to "lift oppressed voices" is hollow rhetoric, dangerous propaganda, or a cause for hope.

Please e-mail PostGlobal if you'd like to receive an email notification when PostGlobal sends out a new question.

Posted by Amar C. Bakshi on November 15, 2006 2:05 PM