Al Jazeera
To my surprise, I’ve found that of the media outlets available here (the ones in English at least) Al Jazeera has some of the most consistently high-quality programming, and its placement on the dial is amusingly right next its major foe, Fox News.
We’ve heard nasty things about this organization in the States, and it’s clear that they have been misrepresented. It was never funded by the Saudi government, or the Taliban, or any other dubious source. A wealthy emir from Qatar who, granted, I know nothing about, gave millions of dollars to a Saudi station, owned by former BBC employees, that was shut down due to censoreship, and this became Al Jazeera. Prior to 9/11 Western commentators commended their independence and their criticism of Arab governments and regimes. For this reason, they’ve always been controversial, and the government of Bahrain once accused them of being Israeli sympathizers!
Their current image of Al Jazeera in the West is quite different. As they have broadcasted statements from Al Qaeda leaders (it would be strange if they didn’t, considering how it directly relates to the concerns of its main viewership) they are now alleged to be Islamist propagandists and co-conspirators. After all, how else could Bin Laden recruit members, or instruct his soldiers? It is true that Al Qaeda itself wants to topple the same governments Al Jazeera has been so critical of. They must have the same worldview, right?
Well, it’s not so clear. False accusations have been leveled at them. As they were initially an Arabic language channel, non-Arabic speaking viewers have had no way to know the truth of the matter. It makes sense that Al Jazeera has been a target, sometimes literally, as they seem to be the only major news-outlet in the region that honestly and credibly reported on what’s been happening since the Iraq invasion.
Now they have international satellites, including an English network. I’ve never seen anything that promotes Islamic fundamentalism (then again, maybe it’s just a conspiracy in that they’re trying to rope in well-meaning but gullible progressives who have similar feelings towards the right-wing leadership in the West, especially the US).
There are many excellent shows, my favorite being Riz Khan’s. He is an excellent broadcaster who has worked for CNN and BBC, and has interviewed, among others, Kofi Annan, the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Hillary Clinton.
About a month or so ago he interviewed the American historian Howard Zinn on the topics of pre-emptive strikes, what drives Muslim terrorists, and the futility of war in general. It was a good show, but the dialogue would’ve been much more interesting if some of the callers or emailers had dissenting opinions. Just to play devil’s advocate, I decided to send such an email. I don’t know if it ever got on the air, although if it didn’t, I doubt it’s because of its content, as I’ve never seen him back away from controversial viewpoints.
I don’t remember the exact wording, but the email said something along the lines of: “If Islamic violence is solely a result of Western policies and actions, or globalization in general, why is it that you don’t find non-Muslims in Asia and Africa, some of whom I would argue are equally affected by said forces, responding in the same way? What about non-Westerners who are victims of human rights abuses by Muslims themselves? Wouldn’t they be tempted to resort to violence? If not, why not?”
