The History of Al Jazeera
The shutting down of BBC’s Arabic language television station instigated the initiation of the Al Jazeera Arabic (AJA) on November 1, 1996 (Allied Media Corp). The AJA was set to achieve strong ideals, because its predecessor was closed within a mere two years, as the Saudi Arabian government repressed the truth about political and social events in its nation—the BBC channel had prepared an explicit report on executions and major dissenting ideas (Allied Media Corp). Qatari Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa’s loan of 137 million USD upheld the AJA for the first five years, but the channel has always claimed that its editorial policies were never dictated by anyone (Miles, 2005). From its code of ethics, AJA’s mission is clearly to provide precise and unbiased news with a comprehensive, global outlook (Code of Ethics, 2014). Their commitment to the truth and fair media practices is also admirable (Code of Ethics, 2014). The channels commitment to these ideals is evident in the manner in which it reported controversial news, such as the relationship between Syria and Lebanon, the 1998 Operation Desert Fox bombing campaign in Iraq, and even reported about its funding source, Qatar (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). However, it was only in 1999 that the network could broadcast around the clock, and by now it had loyal Arabic followers, admiring followers in the west as well as almost 500 employees deployed in offices across the world—as far as Russia (Miles, 2005).
Al Jazeera’s Contribution to Globalization
As mentioned above, news from the Middle East was not easily accessible to the Arabic world or the world outside and the closure of BBC’s Arabic network in 1996 was an example of this. State owned and government controlled television stations did not allow the common Arabic families the right to information (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). The Al-Jazeera has taken some seriously hazardous ventures to defy such weighty political norms. It has revealed controversies, such as the above-mentioned Syrian-Lebanon relationship and the Operation Desert Fox Campaign. It has shown Israelis speaking in Hebrew on its channel, shocking many (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). The network’s coverage of such news items resulted in its censure in many Arabic countries; for instance, it is believed that in 1999, the Algerian government severed power supply to many major cities in the country for banning the presence of the network, when it presented critical views on the Algerian governance (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). The channel had to undergo financial losses too, such as Saudi Arabia’s pressure on advertisers to shun the channel (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). Moreover, not only Bin laden, but also other militant groups, such as Chechen separatists, other Taliban members, and the Hamas contacted the channel for expressing their opinion, which in turn brought it the wrath of the Americans (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). It thus had to face attacks on its offices, such as the above-mentioned ones in Kabul and Baghdad. Nevertheless, firsthand and sole news from the Arabic world, such as war-torn Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Egypt, have given the network an unshakable presence in the media world. Today, Western networks often rely on the channel to bring the news from the Arab world, and indeed, the Al-Jazeera has been able to accumulate financial resources by selling crucial broadcasting rights to channels such as the CNN and BBC.
Al Jazeera's terrestrial broadcast or expelled its correspondents
Today, Palestinians on the network was their only true source of information about the world (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). In the US, Arabic coffee shops have asserted the value of the network in their cafes (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). While the Arabic tradition focuses on the importance of ardently arguing and discussing issues, the Middle Eastern atmosphere of controlled media exposure, encumbers the Arabic masses’ freedom of thought (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). Consequently, news items that were never thought to be possible were brought to the homes of many Arabic people as well as the Western world—for e.g., a Palestinian and Kuwaiti discussing the Gulf War or an Iraqi dissenter forsaking Saddam Hussein (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). The launch of the Al-Jazeera Arabic language website in 1998—it was free even then—brought the Arab community even closer, and Arabic people across the world had a means to not only access news about the Middle East but also give their opinions about it (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). The Arabic expatriates across the world have been long dependant on Al-Jazeera to provide them news of their home countries (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). For instance, Palestinians depend living outside their nation have openly claimed that the network has been their only true source of information about events such as the Intifada (El-Nawawy and Iskander, 2002). In merely 18 years of existence, the network has been able to redefine the manner in which people perceive news from the Middle East as well as the Middle East.
References
Allied Media Corp. Retrieved October 17, 2014 http://allied-media.com/aljazeera/jazeera_history.html.
BBC. (April 8, 2003). “Foreign media suffer Baghdad losses,” BBC News. Retrieved October 17, 2014 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2928153.stm.
Boston Star. (August, 2014). “Al Gore alleges breach of contract in Al Jazeera lawsuit” Retrieved October 17, 2014 http://www.bostonstar.com/index.php/sid/224813153.
Calderone, M. (3 January 2013). “Time Warner Cable Will Consider Carrying Al Jazeera's U.S. Network,” Huffington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2014 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/time-warner-cable-al-jazeera-america_n_2404879.html.
El-Nawawy, M. & Iskander, A. (2002). Al-Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East. Cambridge, Mass.: Westview.
Miles,H. (2005). Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel that is Challenging the West. New York: Grove Press.
