Layalina Productions, Inc. | The Layalina Review: "Al-Jazeera's New Venture in the US"

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 16, July 17-July 30, 2009

Al-Jazeera’s New Venture in the US

On July 1, 2009, Al-Jazeera English began broadcasting in Washington, DC on the MHz Network. MHz Network is an independent, non-commercial television broadcaster that provides international programming to the Washington-area. Al-Jazeera English only broadcasts in two other locations within the US: Toledo, Ohio and Burlington, Vermont, reports Forbes Magazine.

The deal with MHz Networks is a big step in Al-Jazeera’s attempt to break into the US market. Tony Burman, managing director of Al-Jazeera English, tells Forbes Magazine that now there exists a new opportunity for Al-Jazeera in the US. “The transition from the Bush era to the Obama era has changed the game dramatically” because “as America reengages with the wider world, the appetite for more international news is there.”

However, Al-Jazeera’s greatest challenge in the US will be to overcome American’s perception of bias in Al-Jazeera’s reporting. Many Americans believe Al-Jazeera promotes a negative image of the US and Western Europe. According to the Associated Press, former President George W. Bush frequently accused Al-Jazeera of "anti-Americanism."

Cliff Kincaid, director of conservative media watchdog Accuracy in Media and producer of the documentary Terror Television: The Rise of Al Jazeera and the Hate America Media, tells Forbes Magazine that Al-Jazeera “is a channel with an anti-American bias that since inception has been known as a mouthpiece of terrorists and of Al-Qaeda."

Al-Jazeera also suffers from a history of reporters with controversial connections. Forbes Magazine cites the example of Al-Jazeera correspondent Taysir Alouni, who interviewed Osama bin Laden just after the Sept. 11 attacks and is now under house arrest in Madrid after a Spanish court convicted him in 2005 of transporting cash for Al-Qaeda.

Moreover, the recent death of former ABC and Al-Jazeera producer Rebecca Lipkin, has brought negative publicity to Al-Jazeera. Lipkin was credited with bringing former ABC newsman Dave Marash to Al-Jazeera as a news anchor in 2006, and her obituary in the Washington Post claims that “Marash left the network [Al-Jazeera] last year, saying it had an anti-American bias.”

Burman claims that the network has no connection to Al-Qaeda and is on a par with CNN International and BBC World in the quality of its programming. Forbes Magazine asserts that although the network is owned by the government of Qatar, it is free of censorship and government meddling. Furthermore, oil-and-gas-rich Qatar is not an enemy of the US.

Interestingly, Burman believes that skepticism about the network’s point of view can be an advantage, since Al-Jazeera aims “to appeal to viewers who get tired of Western or American perspectives and want a more global view of the world.”

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