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The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 4, January 30-February 12, 2009

New Dawn for Al-Jazeera

Al-Jazeera's English-language news channel is continuing to gain popularity, writes Sean Blanda of BNET Media. The network's coverage of the Gaza conflict, where it benefited from unrivalled access to the territory, was responsible for a 600% increase in viewership. Additionally, 60% of new viewers were from the United States.

Reporting for Arab News, Tariq Al-Maeena polled 148 people about their views and preferences regarding news coverage of the Gaza conflict. 72% of the respondents named Al-Jazeera as their "channel of choice for news."

Many respondents of Al-Maeena's survey complained of "politicking." One respondent from Oman replied, "Forget CNN! ... that channel has been a Zionist organ…Al-Arabiya is no better. Sometimes I think they are competing with Al-Hurra…For me it is and will be Al-Jazeera."

Al-Jazeera's impartiality and reporting style was also praised. Rana from Dhahran argued that Al-Jazeera "presented the events from all angles." Meanwhile, Umm Omar in Riyadh spoke of Al-Jazeera's "amazing footage and compelling groundwork." He added, "They don't try to hide the truth."

Al-Jazeera has also taken considerable steps towards making Arab media contemporary, progressive and more relevant, reports Marten Youssef in The National. Youssef quoted Adel Iskandar, co-author of Al-Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East, as saying, "Finally, the Arab media is reaching out to tell their own story in their own way and the world is listening."

Youssef notes that in the past, "the West's perception of the Middle East was cast by how its own media portrayed the region." However, since the news service Al-Jazeera English launched in November 2006, "the use of western reporters or western-trained Arabs based in the Middle East to tell their own story became a hit," and "Al-Jazeera's slogan became: 'Everyone watches CNN, but who is CNN watching? Al-Jazeera.'"

Adel Iskandar adds, "Until recently, there was a great deal of antagonism towards Arab media, at least in America, because it was perceived to be biased towards the region. Things like Osama bin Laden's video messages to Al-Jazeera are an easy target for criticism of the Arab media. It gave the perception of radicalism."

Al-Jazeera is intent on covering "what some at the station have called the 'south,' or underreported part of the world," reports Kim Andrew Elliot on his website. Al-Jazeera's decision to field a permanent news team in Gaza and their introduction of numerous online initiatives, including "a [Gaza] citizen journalism portal that [encourages] viewers to submit photos and eyewitness accounts" and creating a Twitter page for instant Gaza updates, demonstrates a significant dedication to reaching this objective.

Al-Jazeera's efforts are garnering the network massive popularity, as "the Arabic Al-Jazeera channel [now] rivals the BBC in worldwide audiences with an estimated 40 to 50 million viewers" while "Al-Jazeera English has an estimated reach of around 100 million households."

Additionally, Al-Jazeera's decision to publish news footage online under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license has also brought in viewers. Dave Lee, a blogger writing for Journalism, said that Al-Jazeera's move means that "you can do what you like with this, just so long as you tell everyone you got it from us."

According to Lee, Al-Jazeera's decision is "a very brave experiment." Moreover, Lee concludes that "this scheme has the potential to make Al-Jazeera news the most watched in the world…It's a marketing and brand identity masterstroke."