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Journalism of Courage
The influence and reach of Al Jazeera continue to astound. It is certainly the most powerful news-and-current-affairs channel in the Arab world,well ahead of Al Arabiya,its Saudi-owned,more pro-Western rival. Al Jazeera claims to beam its main Arabic-language channel into around half of all Arab homes. Its English-language channel is said to reach 200m elsewhere,making waves in Africa,Asia and Latin America. Quite a lot of Europeans watch it,too.
This year,thanks to the munificence of the emir of Qatar,who is said to put at least 400m a year into its coffers,Al Jazeeras clout may yet strengthen. The English-language channel and the Arabic one between them have at least 60 bureaus,with 12 in Africa alone,a number unthinkable for their shrinking Western rivals. Ten more,beyond Al Jazeeras hubs in Doha,London,Washington,DC,and Kuala Lumpur,are expected to open by the end of next year. Coverage of events such as Sudans recent election,to which seven staff reporters and a score of technicians were assigned,put Western media in the shade.
The Arabic service is a lot more controversial. Pro-Western Arab governments,particularly those of Egypt and Saudi Arabia,which denies Al Jazeera a bureau,repeatedly accuse it of bias. In particular they say it favours the Muslim Brotherhood,Egypts chief opposition,and Hamas,the Islamist movement that runs Gaza and refuses to recognise Israel. The Arabic services head,Waddah Khanfur,and his news editor,Ahmed Sheikh,are both West Bank Palestinians said to enjoy cosy relations with Hamas. Many of the stations Egyptian staff are deemed sympathetic to the Brotherhood,of which Hamas is a branch.
Al Jazeeras bosses deny bias but explain that Palestine and especially the plight of Gaza are bound to top the agenda for Arabs. The sometimes emotional lexicon of struggle is,they say,inevitable. Shaheed,or martyr,is deemed a fair term for a suicide-bomber. The phenomenon of political Islam,they have argued,badly needs friendly illumination.
Al Jazeeras anti-Western populism was strongly echoed at its recent forum on the Arab and Muslim world: alternative visions. Many speakers,denoting piety or loyalty to political Islam,prefaced their remarks with incantations of reverence for the Prophet Muhammad. On Palestine,not a single one of 200-odd invited participants spoke up for a two-state solution,apart from a clutch of doveish Americans; Hamass official one-state preference for the Jewish states abolition easily prevailed. A senior Hamas man waxed eloquent. If a representative of the Palestinian Authority,now in proximity talks with Israel,was present,his voice was unheard.
On Iraq,not a single speaker,apart from a forlorn parliamentarian from the Iraqi prime ministers party who made a desultory comment by video-conference,expressed a flicker of sympathy for the new Shia-led order,which several voices denounced as wholly illegitimate. The Gazan who edits al-Quds al-Arabi,a populist London-based newspaper that resonates in the Arab world,drew the loudest applause with a ringing call to back the continuing Iraqi resistance,even though the fight is now almost entirely between Arabs. No wonder Al Jazeera makes pro-Western Arab leaders,excoriated as puppets,feel queasy Qatars,of course,excepted.
