Al-Jazeera: The Thousand and One Bin Ladens Samya Nasser
After the disasters of September 11, much of the world made its first acquaintance with the Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera. While US forces headed toward Afghanistan, that country's government expelled all foreign journalists except Al-Jazeera's. The station has since held the monopoly in broadcasting the American bombardment. In addition, it alone receives the video cassettes of Osama Bin Laden, which it passes on, with his permission, to other networks. Among these was the cassette from 1998, in which he announced his jihad against America, as well as one that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Though new to most of the world, Al-Jazeera is now in its fifth year. It had a peculiar beginning. In 1996, the station was just getting started (in the city of Doha in the Gulf principality of Qatar). The owner, a member of the royal family, was looking around for staff. In April of that year, the BBC closed its Arab wing, dismissing forty editors and journalists. Al-Jazeera snapped them up. Thus it got, ready made, a sophisticated team, trained in the most advanced techniques.
Since then Al-Jazeera has become the favorite of Arab audiences and the nightmare of Arab regimes. The station played a central role in fanning the flames of the current Intifada. It also broadcast, day after day, the demonstrations taking place on the streets of the Arab world. President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has threatened to shut down its local office. The existence of an open network is an anomaly indeed in a region ruled by dictators with zero tolerance for free expression.
Why does the royal family allow such an anti-establishment phenomenon? The answer may be found in the network's broad appeal. By letting this popular station carry on, the family enters into a kind of compact with the appreciative masses, thus gaining a reputation for openness and bolstering its authority. The case is similar to those of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, except that in the latter two, the bolstering alliances are with Islamist groups.
Yet is Al-Jazeera really so open? In one sense, yes. Those who know how to fish in its waters can catch, now and then, a species they will not find elsewhere. But my general conclusion is not encouraging, and let me state it at the outset: In the realm of media, this station is as weird as was the attack on the WTC in the realm of international politics.
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