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Who Covered The War Best? Try al-Jazeera
By Frances S. Hasso
Frances S. Hasso is assistant professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program and the Sociology Department at Oberlin College in Ohio.
April 17, 2003
Throughout the war in Iraq, al-Jazeera has been accused, both by U.S. and Mideast officials, of being a propaganda tool. But continued attacks on the Arab satellite network, most dramatically exemplified by the recent U.S. bombing of a newsroom in Baghdad that killed a correspondent, shows that al-Jazeera's approach to covering the war - both critical and multidimensional, with an ideological commitment to democracy, openness and pluralism - has seriously threatened the political projects of the world's most powerful.
Al-Jazeera's extended, uncensored, on-the-ground coverage of the invasion has demonstrated, contrary to U.S. and British claims, that this has not been a bloodless, costless and clean war. The coverage has reflected the Arab recognition that the Saddam Hussein dictatorship was a tragedy, but it has also questioned the claim that the war has been motivated by interest in regional democracy and liberation.
In addition to showing images largely censored by the U.S. media of the death, destruction and pain of war on all sides, al-Jazeera has conducted interviews with Kurdish leaders who have explained their alliance with the United States and Britain on the basis of the historic violence of Baathist Arabism, visited a small town in Iran that is the haven of Iraqi Shia refugees who fled Hussein's rule and shown the anger, as well as political sophistication, of anti-war demonstrators in the region.
Al-Jazeera viewers have also received live, full coverage of press statements and conferences held by U.S., Iraqi, United Nations, Arab League, European Union, French, British, Egyptian, Saudi and other officials, thus always reflecting multiple realities throughout the war that are once again not covered routinely by the U.S. news networks.
In covering the war, al-Jazeera was unique in the number of independent reporting teams distributed throughout the region, some of whom have been beaten by Kurdish forces, banned by Iraqi government officials, and reprimanded almost daily by U.S., Iraqi, Kuwaiti, Saudi, Jordanian and other state and military officials at press conferences. These states recognize the destabilizing potential of al-Jazeera's brash willingness to ask difficult questions and give voice to the marginalized majority.
Charges of al-Jazeera Arab and Muslim bias ring untrue given the U.S. television media's crass nationalist apologetics, best demonstrated by Fox News and CNN, and their heavy reliance on superficial sound bites, interviews with current or former government officials, and expertise from a narrow ideological range. Rather than being an anti-Western propaganda tool, al-Jazeera is popular in the Arab world because it addresses issues that are already on the minds of people in the region: U.S. foreign policy and militarism, Israeli occupation, poverty, democratization, gender inequality, and the role of religion in public life.
What Arabic-speaking viewers see in al-Jazeera and similar news outlets is hope - the possibility of democratic change facilitated by an independent and critical media. Indeed, viewers in the United States would benefit from an English-language television station that followed the al-Jazeera commitment to democracy, debate and accountability.
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