Coming across Al Jazeera in one of my University lectures a few days ago, I was surprised by its highly recognised status as a news channel not only in the Arab world but also internationally.
By now, the broadcasting service Al Jazeera is widely known amongst most people through their diverse and unique news coverage as a global news channel. It seems like Al Jazeera is the Middle- Eastern answer to popular Western Media outlets such as BBC or CNN. But even though I have heard about the news channel, I wasn’t really aware of what an impact Al Jazeera had and still does have on the worldwide audience, and especially the Arab world.
When Al Jazeera became more widely known, it was seen as the new voice for the eastern media and gave Arabs the opportunity to form and discuss opinions. Before that, news was basically coming from western media outlets and most Arabs didn’t understand the way these outlets covered their nations’ news, especially referring to the US war against Afghanistan which evolved out of the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Only known in the Arab world, Al Jazeera began broadcasting in 1996 but it wasn’t until 2001 that its content began capturing international attention. Their videos and exclusive coverage of Osama Bin Laden raised questions about a new form of news coverage, guaranteeing that the world and especially America was tuning in.
Al- Jazeera emerged from the war with vastly increased name recognition and a growing audience internationally. Finally the Arab world found a media outlet which was showing the war from their own perspective through very open opinions and footage of the war which was not only attracting more audience but also confronting other media outlets and the US military.
But how far does news coverage go? Does this include showing Iraqi-supplied videos of dead and captured coalition troops? Or crying children who just lost their parents?
Watching the documentary ‘Control Room’ (2004) which was also part of my lecture’s assignments, I saw a different angle on how Al Jazeera works inside their newsroom. Just for those of you who haven’t watched or heard about this film, ‘Control Room’ is a documentary about the Iraq war and it compares the preconceived notion of the Al Jazeera network with that of American news outlets as well as showing interviews with Al Jazeera journalists and American military. It reveals on a very personal basis how Al Jazeera is seen by other media outlets and how its presence and coverage of the Iraq war influenced today’s media.
“Any war has a human cost”- Al Jazeera’s words in this documentary and their statement about the war.They want to show what’s happening with all the bad things going on, there is no war which is good, there is only pain and it hurts but their stories are real and they do show the human cost at war. This shows a different kind of news coverage, and this is why it makes them so successful. Even though it became the most controversial news channel in the Arab world, it is now seen as a highly classed media outlet all over the world.
Some people even say that the channel is rather tasteless in showing violence but compared to other countries, they are allowed. Or have you seen news on Channel 9 or Channel 7 where they show how Iraqi soldiers are killed?
I don’t think you have and neither have I. So is this straight-forward news reporting a question of simple boldness or purely to get the most clicks on their website for their footage?
There is definitely a clashing of opinions but one thing seems where everyone would agree on: the news are stirring and getting the audience’s attention which is the main purpose of a media outlet. Who gets the most audience and who can best convince with their deliver of what’s going on in the world?
But is this all Al Jazeera wants - success and fame? Some people may think so and Al Jazeera did confirm this up to a certain degree when they sold their exclusive footage of e.g. Osama Bin Laden videos to media outlets all around the world. But the channel refers back to the importance of them representing a different view in the Arab world and giving Arab people an alternative media outlet to Western news organizations.
It has become clear that Al Jazeera’s influence is pervasive. The difference between Al Jazeera and other traditional media organizations in the Middle East is its independence.
In a region that has been dominated by state run, Al Jazeera was the first to actually represent news coverage of Arab and global politics that was relatively independent of the powerful elite interests. An element of this independence can be observed in the nature of Al Jazeera’s programs. In contrast to traditional coverage, Al Jazeera adopts a western model of media entertainment, offering shows that encouraged critical coverage and debates between opposing political and social groups.
Al Jazeera shows the war right from the centre with its confronting but in-depth news footages such as people getting killed or bombing houses. The images Al Jazeera shows are more confronting and the war is real, it hurts and Al Jazeera is there to show it all.
Comparing Al Jazeera to other media outlets such as BBC or CNN, I agree with Robert D. Kaplan who says that Al Jazeera’s news coverage is “vibrant, visually stunning, the reports are real and the interviewees are honest”. Al Jazeera tries to get people ‘on air’ who are a part of the war, and tell their own stories as opposed to just show politicans and the military talk such as CNN or BBC would do.
Overall, I think that Al Jazeera has changed the way we conceive news nowadays, and it may now be seen as one of the most influential media outlets with its world wide coverage and availability to be watched in English. Making the channel available in English gives people who are not from the Arab world, the opportunity to understand the Arabic taste and the culture difference. It lets them see the Arab cultures from their own point of view and it does not get filtered through the Western perspective.
As for me, I believe that Al Jazeera has made a big difference in the way news can be broadcasted and it did make me rethink some of the values a news channel should have. Honest and real news have become very rare in a world of fame and entertainment and Al Jazeera brings back these important values of a news channel for me.
Wouldn’t you rather see what’s going on in the world than Ricky Nixon yelling at a journalist for asking him questions about his sex affair with a St. Kilda schoolgirl?
I sure do!
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