(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: CPJ ISSUES SPECIAL BRIEFING ON AL-JAZEERA’S COVERAGE OF NEW WAR Is channel a balanced news source or a biased outlet for inciting the Arab world against the United States? New York, October 23, 2001-As the sole foreign broadcaster in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan (and Osama bin Laden’s preferred […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release:
CPJ ISSUES SPECIAL BRIEFING ON AL-JAZEERA’S COVERAGE OF NEW WAR
Is channel a balanced news source or a biased outlet for inciting the Arab world against the United States?
New York, October 23, 2001-As the sole foreign broadcaster in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan (and Osama bin Laden’s preferred media outlet), the Qatar-based television channel Al-Jazeera has recently come under fire for its coverage of the “war on terrorism.” A special briefing released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists examines the controversy surrounding the Arabic-language channel and investigates what critics call the United States’ hypocritical policy toward it.
The CPJ report, Between Two Worlds, explores Al-Jazeera’s popularity in the Middle East, where “its bold, uncensored news coverage, its unbridled political debates” reach an estimated 35 million viewers. According to CPJ Middle East senior program coordinator Joel Campagna, the channel’s programming revolutionized broadcasting in the region, while also earning the wrath of local Arab governments. “Governments from Algeria to Yemen have lodged complaints against the station at one time or another. Some, like Tunisia and Libya, have temporarily withdrawn their ambassadors from Qatar’s capital, Doha, to protest the appearance of political dissidents on talk shows or slights made against their leaders.”
Now the U.S. government has joined the critics’ ranks. According to the briefing, “U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell urged Qatar’s emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani in early October to rein in what the U.S. administration sees as Al-Jazeera’s anti-American bias and inflammatory coverage of the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks.” The channel has since come under intense scrutiny, and journalists and commentators are also questioning its balance.
But the channel’s defenders point to the double standard applied to Al-Jazeera. Many in the Arab world see bias in Western media coverage of their region, and critics urge engagement rather than censorship. The briefing notes that, “Critics of the administration’s policy have advised the United States to respond to Al-Jazeera in the same way it would respond to critics in the United States-by getting out its own message instead of trying to censor the channel.”
That advice seems to be working. According to Al-Jazeera, the State Department has now assigned at least one official per day to speak with the channel. The U.S. government is also considering taking out paid advertisements on the station-a policy that may become more essential as Al-Jazeera continues to cover the war in Afghanistan and its effects on civilians.
For the full briefing and for more information on press issues in the war on terrorism, visit www.cpj.org
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom around the world.
