{"id":705,"date":"2007-11-16T05:31:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T11:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/?p=705"},"modified":"2007-11-16T05:31:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-16T11:31:00","slug":"al-jazeera-english-an-email-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/2007\/11\/al-jazeera-english-an-email-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Jazeera English: an email exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"

I<\/span> wrote an anniversary review<\/a> of Al Jazeera English<\/span> recently, pointing out the dilemma of running a globally \u201cprogressive-minded\u201d news channel on behalf of a despotic regime.<\/p>\n

Here is an email exchange with someone at Al Jazeera English in Doha, responding to that piece: <\/p>\n

…I am a tad disappointed with your recent Press Gazette<\/a> article on \u2018Al Jazeera English – 1 year on.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cAn expensive attempt to buy silence\u201d? Check your facts. [Al Jazeera English has] reported on stories unflattering to the Qatari regime – the plight of abused domestic workers, and the level of human trafficking to name but two … Al Jazeera Arabic has done an entire programme questioning Qatar\u2019s regime for allowing a US Army base on its territory, complete with phone-ins. I can safely say no journalist involved was imprisoned\/deported\/beheaded as a result.<\/p>\n

You go so far as to quote the US State Department<\/a>: \u201cOn domestic issues, Al Jazeera covered local news generally only if there was an international angle to it.\u201d Yes? And? Al Jazeera only covers MOST stories if there’s an international angle to them. It’s also questionable to quote the Bush administration, given their top man actually considered bombing Al Jazeera Arabic. Press freedom indeed.<\/p>\n

So what stories do you think we\u2019ve missed? Send us a list – the planning department is always glad of editorial suggestions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

My reply:<\/span> Hmmm. I guess I\u2019ll have to wait for the investigations into how the al-Thanis make and spend their money – would AJE ever go near the Qatari royal family? Or another Gulf royal family? The BAe investigations?<\/p>\n

There are a few story ideas in the (partly state-sponsored) human rights review quoted here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Self-censorship is a criticism I\u2019ve heard from people in Qatar, and in the Arab media generally (and about<\/span> the Arab media generally).<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t hold a torch for the Bush administration, but when Qataris vote the al-Thanis out, or impeach them, or their term of office expires – let me know.<\/p>\n

There is a fundamental dilemma in a \u201cprogressive\u201d TV station funded by a despotic regime (even an enlightened despotism). I don\u2019t think it\u2019s wrong to point that out.<\/p>\n

And I don\u2019t think the coverage you mention (some of which others had also told me of) in any way redresses that balance or answers that fundamental question – for me. You obviously feel differently. <\/p>\n

Yes, Qatar is a non-democratic regime. Yes, there are aspects of civil infringements here that right-minded people like you or I deplore – not being able to leave the country without official permission, for instance. But the point is, Qatar\u2019s leadership is essentially a benign regime, and the issues here are simply not as gripping as what\u2019s happening in Pakistan, Myanmar, Georgia, Mogadishu, Sudan, etc etc.<\/p>\n

If we were called Doha Today<\/span> I could understand your beef – but we\u2019re not. We\u2019re a global news organisation. And let\u2019s face it, all news organisations operate editorial judgements when it comes to selecting which stories to broadcast… the duller stuff doesn\u2019t make it. That\u2019s not special to Al Jazeera. How many Qatar stories have you seen on BBC World or CNN? Exactly.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve done sterling work upsetting lots of regimes – operating undercover in Myanmar, for instance.<\/p>\n

And we don\u2019t shy away from political stories involving this region. We\u2019ve done the BAe story. We\u2019ve questioned the point of the GCC, and the efficacy (or lack of) of the Arab League. And we\u2019ve covered the grass-roots campaign for democratic reform across the Gulf – I did that one, so I can assure you they got good airtime.<\/p>\n

Would we ever be stopped from investigating the Al Thanis? I\u2019m not saying it couldn\u2019t happen. If a big juicy royal scandal erupted on our doorstep, would we be prevented from reporting it? Or pressed into reporting it a certain way? Maybe, who knows? And if we are, I promise you I will be straight on the phone to you. But I can say unequivocally that hasn\u2019t happened so far…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote an anniversary review of Al Jazeera English recently, pointing out the dilemma of running a globally \u201cprogressive-minded\u201d news channel on behalf of a despotic regime. Here is an email exchange with someone at Al Jazeera English in Doha, responding to that piece: …I am a tad disappointed with your recent Press Gazette article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,139,15,39],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journalism","tag-al-jazeera","tag-al-jazeera-english","tag-bbc","tag-cnn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adrianmonck.com\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}