In just 42 years the State of Qatar, a small (almost) island in the Persian Gulf, has become the richest Country in the World. It now boasts the best Airline in the World, Qatar Airways, with the youngest airline fleet. The first Middle Eastern Country to host the prestigious 2022 FIFA World Cup, which will feature the best Football (Soccer) nations in the World.
Qatar’s achievements do not end there, in 1996 the Emir or Ruler of the Country bankrolled the modern era’s newest and one might say only unbiased News Channel: Al Jazeera. What started as a 6-hour broadcast in Arabic has now grown into 3 sports channels, 2 English channels, a children’s channel and a documentary channel. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post Al Jazeera’s news team features some of the best talent from BBC and CNN.
Al Jazeera Arabic News Channel was the name that was making the rounds among the Media professionals in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 1996. I was working in Dubai and was fascinated by the potential that a well funded channel with a quality team could achieve. To, perhaps, understand the motivation behind Al Jazeera, it is important to note that the Al Thani family, ruling family of Qatar currently led by a ‘benevolent monarch’ who tends to go his own way, value their independence and being the best above all else. When the UAE, a federation of 7 emirates, were forming a unified country, Qatar was asked to join but instead decided to become an independent Country. The other bold and ground breaking decision was in 1993 when Qatar pulled out of Gulf Air, the largest Airline in the Arabian Peninsula, to form Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways has now become the best airline in the World.
So it was quite understandable that the buzz in the Editorial and Media community, in the UAE, when word spread that Al Jazeera Satellite Channel was launching just as the BBCs Arabic Language channel was closing down and laying off all its staff. The feeling was that if this new Channel was going to have the same capital, desire for excellence and top quality staff then the possibilities were endless.
A mere 16 years on and the Al Jazeera satellite network has received, in equal measure, brickbats and accolades. From being labelled as a terrorist network for showing videos from Osama Bin Laden and during the invasion of Iraq for showing dead and injured American soldiers. While on the other hand many Arab countries accuse Al Jazeera of being a mouthpiece for the Americans and anti-Arab for shining a spotlight on police brutality in Kuwait, bad governance in Egypt and for allowing Jews to be interviewed in Hebrew on the Network. While the Israelis have a voice into the Arab world through Al Jazeera even Israel accuses the channel of biased coverage in favour of Palestine.
There is no doubt that Al Jazeera is well funded through Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani and other investors as well as having the best talent through hiring quality from some of the other channels. In my opinion the question of unbiased reportage can be answered by mentioning that across the Gulf all references to Israel including all websites ending in .il are banned. However, Al Jazeera allows Israelis the opportunity to have their opinion, or as the logo says the opinion and the other opinion, heard. In an ironic way the fact that Al Jazeera is equally criticised by both sides is a testament to their commitment to allow all viewpoints airtime. So maybe, just maybe Al Jazeera is the only island of unbiased news network in the Media World.
i-Write.com.au 