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Al Jazeera
Stirring Controversy - Steps in Development
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On the cutting edge
From the beginning Al Jazeera has provoked controversy. In the
late nineties, it rapidly drew Arab viewers to the station’s open
criticism of their regimes, but Jazeera was little noticed elsewhere. The international media
first took notice during the 2000 Palestinian intifada.
In the months leading to this uprising, Al Jazeera
exposed the corruption and impotence of Yassir Arafat and the Palestinian
Authority and thereby won the trust of many Palestinians. As a result, when the intifada
began, Palestinians flooded Al Jazeera’s bureaus in Gaza and the West Bank offering information and tips. This put
it at the cutting
edge of the action. Much of the station's resulting footage focused on the brutality
of the Israeli army, showing images of dead and mutilated Palestinian
children, which further incited Arab outrage at Israel.
Pro-Palestinian, Anti-Israel?
Many of Jazeera’s critics argued that it focused on atrocities
committed by Israelis and ignored those committed by Palestinian fighters. For
example, in the first few days of the intifada, cameras recorded a
twelve-year-old Palestinian boy named Muhammad al-Durrah allegedly being
gunned down by Israeli soldiers. Al Jazeera showed this repeatedly for
weeks.
Jazeera used pictures of the terrified boy as a logo
for the intifada coverage, suggesting that this represented the larger
conflict. This made it seem that Al Jazeera sided with Palestinians in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Much of Al Jazeera’s staff at the time were
Palestinian Arabs; none were Israeli Jews.
However, Islamists heavily criticized Jazeera
for interviewing Israeli officials - broadcasting uncensored statements by
Jews about Palestinians. No Arab network had done this before. For this
indiscretion it was called an Israeli supporter and traitor.
Dangerous relationships
Al Jazeera’s motives are often suspect, largely from its habit
of communicating with militant organizations. For example, it opened an
office in Kabul, Afghanistan in the late 1990’s and soon established a
relationship with Islamic radicals there.
Al Jazeera soon became the regular outlet for Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and
the Taliban to broadcast their statements. Thus, for the majority of the
Western world, Al Jazeera was first seen as Osama bin Laden’s news channel
of choice. Spokesmen for Al Jazeera said these relationships were fostered
because the organizations were newsworthy, not agreeable.
Help from the Taliban
In the 2001 US-led war in Afghanistan, the Taliban granted Al Jazeera
access to the action as a result of their established
relationship. Jazeera was
the only foreign television news broadcaster allowed to operate within
Taliban-controlled territory. Therefore, it was able to get footage much
closer to combat than any other international news agency. CNN and the BBC
showed much war footage purchased from Al Jazeera.
US bombs Al Jazeera
During the Afghan war, on November 12, 2001, American bombs
destroyed Al Jazeera’s bureau in Kabul. Whether this was intentional is
still debated. Certainly, US animosity towards Al Jazeera was clear. In the
early stages of the war, Al Jazeera aired uncensored interviews with Taliban
officials who used the opportunity to call for financial aid from wealthy
Muslims in the name of jihad. It also broadcast inflammatory reports
implying that American forces were bombing hospitals and targeting
civilians.
Repeat performance?
A similar scenario played out two years later in Iraq. On April 8 2003, soon
after the start of the war in Iraq, an American plane bombed Al Jazeera’s bureau in Baghdad.
The bomb killed a popular Jazeera reporter, Tareq Ayyoub. As with the bombing in Kabul, US forces said it was
unintentional. Many at Al Jazeera believed it was not, claiming that it
had given US central command the precise coordinates of its Baghdad office
to avoid such an attack.
During the next several months, Coalition and Iraqi
authorities repeatedly accused Al Jazeera of inciting anti-Coalition
violence and feeding ethnic tensions with extreme broadcasts. On April 27,
2004, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said that Jazeera has
“established a pattern of false reporting.”
The interim Iraqi Governing Council and Coalition authorities
closed Al Jazeera’s Baghdad office in August 2004. Al Jazeera
promised to continue reporting inside Iraq. It has, with
limitations.
Part III:
The American Government and Al Jazeera
- from friends to enemies
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