LOST IN BIAS
WHILE THE NEWS CHANNEL HAD A PROMISING BEGINNING, IT HAS TURNED INTO A MOUTHPIECE FOR EXTREMISTS
Once a shining example of positive Arab journalism, Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel has evolved into a mouthpiece for extremists. Its agenda has been exposed through its biased reporting and proliferation of fake news
On June 1, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dr Anwar Gargash summed it up in a tweet.
“The media summary after one year of the Qatar crisis: Saudi Twitter beat Al Jazeera [Television]; your voice is louder when you defend your homeland.”
When the pan-Arab channel was launched by Qatar in 1996 with a budget of 500 million Qatari riyals ($137 million), there were claims that the Arab media landscape would change forever and that standards would be elevated to international levels.
The channel, built on the defunct BBC Arabic, gained notoriety by covering controversial issues. It asserted its international presence with its coverage of the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent wars and armed conflicts.
In 2011, it had a major role in the dramatic events that unfolded in Arab countries, mainly Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Syria and Libya. And then, as its political agenda became clear to the Arab masses, the downfall began.
“Al Jazeera launched with great fanfare, but now it has become a state within the state. The question today is does Doha own Al Jazeera or does Al Jazeera own Doha?” veteran Bahraini media figure Saeed Al Hamad told Gulf News.
Al Hamad said that Qatar enjoyed great influence on the Arab scene when it first started.
“Al Jazeera invited rebellious voices and gave them a platform,” he said.
Charm offensive
Moroccan journalist Abdulhak Sanaibi said that Al Jazeera, when it was set up, launched a massive charm offensive to lure viewers.
“People believed that a new media light was shining from Qatar on the dark Arab homeland and that it would guide it out of ignorance, arrogance and the sole official opinion to the gardens of freedom of thought and expression,” he said, writing for Saudi daily Al Riyadh.
“Al Jazeera relentlessly tried to present itself as an independent and neutral platform for all, without any allegiance or subservience,” he added.
However, shortly after its “media empowerment”, the pan-Arab channel moved towards propagating the terrorist ideologies of Al Qaida, Daesh and the Muslim Brotherhood, he charged.
“Under the much-trumpeted claims of breaking news, journalism professionalism, efficiency and competence, [Osama] Bin Laden entered Arab homes and terrorists celebrated the fall of the world trade towers in the September 11 attacks on the screens of Al Jazeera,” he said.
Al Hamad said that the malicious schemes adopted by Al Jazeera did not last and gradumore and more people lost interest in the channel.
“From that moment, Al Jazeera’s audience numbers plummeted sharply and the channel resorted to openly court every chaotic and rebellious group, Al Hamad said.
“In such a game, Al Jazeera was forced to reveal its true colours and people comprehended that it was an ideologydriven channel that was serving its own agenda through its interviews, perspectives and reports.”
The channel that had billed itself as the voice of the voiceless has become a shill for Islamist extremists and Qatar’s foreign agenda, clearly avoiding the voices that did not support Qatar’s policies.
Questions raised
People started to ask the question: Who is behind this channel and who decides its policies, editorial line and goals? It is based in Qatar, but it has no Qatari anchors, no Qatari stories, and no Qatari coverage of the local scene.
During Haj seasons, it turns into a channel of sensationsationalism, like yellow journalism. Its reports focus on attacking Saudi Arabia, doubting its capabilities and denigrating its achievements.
Reports are no longer based on “reliable” sources but on stories planted on Twitter or in Facebook.
People who are little known outside their immediate circles are promoted as experts and analysts and invited to share their “in-depth” assessment of major issues as long as they converge with the views of Al Jazeera.
Fabricated videos have been used to discredit Arab armies and show them in negative light and fuel anger and hostility against them.
In Yemen, figures were inflated and events exaggerated in order to incite the international community against the Arab coalition to restore legitimacy.
Claims made by human rights groups are taken at face value and used against members of the coalition, without proper verification.
In the crisis between the Arab Quartet and Qatar, the channel sided blindly with Doha and sought to dehumanise the other capitals, using every opportunity to attack them. The channel’s reports started with the aim they wanted to achieve and then looked for arguments to build their anti-Quartet narrative.
Feelings among Arabs turned bitterly sour about the channel, which has been increasingly looking more like an office at Qatar’s Emir Court or foreign ministry than a news operator.
Bahrain’s Information Minister Ali Al Romaihi has been very explicit in analysing the “destructive role” of Al Jazeera.
After losing the power to influence the masses, Al Jazeera is now trying to regain some ground through cheap populist means, he said.
“Freedom of expression used to be a means to achieve noble goals, but today it has become the means to insult others. This is a new culture that Al Jazeera has established. It has disseminated hatred and arrogance towards Arab regimes and institutions, causing Arabs to lose confidence in the state, society and eventually in themselves.”
Sanaibi reached a similar conclusion.
“Two decades after its launch, Al Jazeera is being thanked by Daesh, Al Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood while millions of their victims, afflicted by sedition, ruin, destruction and terrorism pray that the channel gets shut down for the sake of Arab and Islamic unity and for the sake of all those who had been exiled or made to suffer because of its direct and indirect role,” he said.
Did the owners of the Al Jazeera project predict that it would one day turn into a liability for Doha? They launched it with great fanfare, but they now discover that it has become a state within the state. The question today is does Doha own Al Jazeera or does Al Jazeera own Doha and dictate its decisions?”
Saeed Al Hamad (left) | Veteran Bahraini media personality
Two decades after its launch, Al Jazeera is being thanked by Daesh, Al Qaida and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Abdulhak Sanaibi | Moroccan journalist