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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 2, January 02-January 15, 2009

Al-Jazeera, Live from the Palestinian Territories

During the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Western news media have been "largely prevented from reporting from Gaza because of restrictions imposed by the Israeli military," writes Noam Cohen for the International Herald Tribune. In contrast, Al-Jazeera, the Qatar based news network, is using its sizeable presence within Gaza to issue daily reports from the frontlines, and is in a unique position to influence coverage of the war. This is an important issue for both its supporters and detractors.

There is limited access to live reports since Israel "isn’t allowing journalists to enter Gaza" because "opening border crossings would put [Israeli] soldiers in danger," writes Shane Bauer for New American Media. Al-Jazeera has six reporters working in Gaza for both the English and Arabic language broadcasts.

Nick Allen of the Daily Telegraph contrasts Al-Jazeera coverage with Western networks. Allen states that the Qatari network can "show footage considered too graphic for broadcast in the UK," including "grizzly images [of] mangled corpses." Allen notes that Al-Jazeera defends its objectivity and often interviews Israeli spokespeople to balance its coverage.

The Jerusalem Post concurs that Al-Jazeera has published graphic, uncensored images throughout the conflict and referred to Palestinian combatants as martyrs. "Analysts say that these and similar images broadcast around the world have played an important role in mobilizing the Arab street to protest by the tens of thousands, burn effigies and Israeli flags and demand action from their governments."

Ofir Gendelmen, director of the Arab press and public affairs at Israel’s foreign ministry, told the Jerusalem Post that Al-Jazeera "gives a lot of air time for [Hamas] officials to speak…and they don’t differentiate between citizens and militants" while disregarding Hamas’s continued rocket attacks over the years.

Al-Jazeera is vehemently defending its objectivity, with executives telling the International Herald Tribune that it is "being blamed for accurately reporting what is going on in the world from an Arab perspective – in other words, for committing journalism on behalf of its audience."

Gabriel Rosenbaum, director of the Israeli Academic Center in Cairo, disagreed. "It’s 100 percent one-sided. There is not any attempt to understand the motivation of Israel for the operation in Gaza," he claimed in the Jerusalem Post.

Bauer disagrees and believes that Al-Jazeera’s coverage is successfully delegitimizing Israeli claims that there is no humanitarian crisis by exposing the trying conditions in hospitals and within cities.

As the conflict wears on, opinions on both sides are becoming more extreme.

According to the Yemen Observer, some Islamists are heavily praising Al-Jazeera and criticizing media with restricted access. Yemeni MP Mohammed Al-Hazmi declared competing network Al-Arabiya as a "Zionist trumpet" that was "trying to find out excuses for the Jews" as they carry out "the industry of death."

Meanwhile, Mordechai Kedar called for the immediate shut down of Al-Jazeera’s Israeli operation in Ynetnews, declaring it "a jihadist terrorist channel that aims to eliminate the State of Israel." He believes Al-Jazeera is entirely biased and rejects "Western media rules" which "aim to ensure that news consumers view reality and understand it in the way it really is."

Al-Jazeera’s greatest challenge in America is overcoming such accusations of bias and increasing its market share. Its presence in Gaza is emboldening its efforts to build a presence with the English speaking public in the United States, where only a few markets in Vermont, Ohio and Washington DC provide the channel on regular cable service.

Al-Jazeera’s efforts include a comprehensive emphasis on new media. "The Gaza crisis is helping to convince [Al-Jazeera executives] of the power of the internet to tell a sprawling story that unfolds over weeks or perhaps months," writes Cohen.

Its online material includes an interactive map with updates from Gaza; Livestation, which facilitates discussion on the war; Twitter feeds; a dedicated YouTube channel with over 6,800 videos; and its English-language website. In addition, the network is providing its video material to other news organizations under a lenient Creative Commons license, allowing almost anyone to use it.

"Part of our mission, our mandate, is to get our news out," said Mohammed Nanabhay, the executive who established the company’s new-media group, to the International Herald Tribune. For him and others at the network, commercial pressures are ultimately subordinate to providing information to viewers.