Tuning out Al Jazeera

IN Media Practice | 13/07/2008

Ever since it¿s launch in November 2006, Al Jazeera English (AJE) has received abundant applause and faced myraid controversies. Most agree that AJE differs in it¿s attitude and point of view from the other major global television news media outlets such as BBC and CNN. While its sister network, Al Jazeera Arabic, was already established as an independent voice in the Middle East, AJE in these two short years has also carved a niche for itself with its Middle East, Asia, and Africa- focused programming. No doubt the news channel has attracted large viewership around the world and in Israel, where Yes TV, the country¿s largest cable provider, carries both its English and Arabic channels.

So, what could be reasons that most people in India and United States, two countries with long tradition of democracy and free speech, do not have access to the channel?

The reasons are baffling.

The ban-happy Indian government (which has had a disturbing legacy of banning anything it deems remotely controversial including the ban on what is now considered a literary masterpiece, Salman Rushdie¿s seminal novel, "The Satanic Verses") has effectively stopped the channel from broadcasting in India by refusing Al Jazeera permission to downlink. This means no cable operator can carry AJE on their channel lineup. A Home ministry spokesperson cited "security reasons" for not recommening the registration of AJE (to allow for its downlinking by cable operators) in September 2007 as AJE was getting ready for its international launch.

Ironically, the owner of AJE, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, Emir of Qatar, has been considered a strong allay of India and was one of the first to allow Indian immigrants to work in Qatar¿s oil refineries. The largest non-Arabic community in the Middle East, including in Qatar, are Indians. A number of journalists of Indian descent work for AJE – and other Middle East news organizations - in their Doha, Kuala Lumpur, and London offices.

In the US, the scenario for AJE is somewhat different but equally abysmal.The American government has not imposed an outright ban but large cable carriers have shied away from adding AJE to their channel lineup because of the reputation of its Arabic sibling as the preferred outlet for videos from Osama bin Laden and for showing images of dead American soldiers. Except in two small cities (Burlington, Vermont, and Toledo, Ohio), most Americans do not have access to AJE programming on their cable television. Burlington’s reasons are a story in itself.

Tony Burman, managing director of AJE who previously headed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, said at a press conference this June: "The fact that Al Jazeera English¿s Web site receives 4 to 5 million page views per week with up to 60% of the hits coming from the United States tells us there is a great demand for international news by the U.S. audience. And other markets such as India and Hong Kong, which have large English-speaking populations, are keen to see local news through their own eyes, not through those of someone sitting in Atlanta or London. That’s what Al Jazeera promises and delivers."

I have had the opportunity to watch AJE for the past two years and use it as a primary source of information. Burman is right on all accounts. AJE¿s absence in India and US is guided more by misperceptions than actual content.

Indeed, AJE is different from American and Indian news channel in fundamental ways. Unlike news channels in these two countries which cater to advertisers with a constant and alarming emphasis on infotainment, AJE¿s focus is on investigative journalism. Several times during the week, AJE broadcasts hour long documentaries on topical and international issues ranging from rigged elections in Zimbabwe to life in Banda Ache, Indonesia, after the Tsunami.

Burman is right to note that the voice of AJE is different from those emanating from London, New York, and Paris. In programs like "Global Voices", "Witness", and "People and Power," AJE presents a gamut of factual information about peoples, places, and events that do not makeheadlines in Western newspapers and news channels. One program, for instance, covered the earthquake in China from the perspective of a Chinese school teacher who lost his family and his students after the devastating earthquakes in the Sichuan province and was now living in a makeshift tent.

Since its launch in 1996, there have been attempts to ban Al Jazeera Arabic by a number of regimes including the governments of Algeria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. A few weeks back, a Moroccan court imposed an exorbitant fine on the bureau chief of Al Jazeera news division in Rabat (capital city of Morocco) deeming that some of Al Jazeera¿sbroadcasts about the country were "false information worthy of criminal negligent." But these regimes are anti-democratic with little or no history of free press.

Unfortunately, AJE¿s absence in India and the US proves that even the best of democracies are neither exempt from xenophobia nor fear of a healthy, vibrant, and free press.

Shakuntala Rao is Professor of Journalism and Communication at State University of New York, Plattsburgh, USA.