Tearing Down The Walls

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Many experts see the impact of al-Jazeera and its imitators on the quickened pace of political reform in Arab countries. When the channel first aired, Arab rulers unprepared to accept internal criticism or news reports they could not control bitterly complained to the Emir, or simply banished al-Jazeera's reporters from their countries. The Iraqi government closed the bureau in Baghdad in 2004, for example, and it has not reopened since; Saudi Arabia never allowed one to open there. Qatari officials say that last week, Tunisia, which also bans the channel's journalists, recalled its ambassador after al-Jazeera broadcast an interview with a Tunisian dissident in Paris. But other regimes have begun to change their state-run channels to appear more like al-Jazeera, and some genuine competitors have appeared, such as the al-Arabiya channel, owned by Saudi investors related to the late King Fahd and his powerful son, Prince Abdul Aziz.

It was not just in the Arab world that al- Jazeera's impact was felt. The channel has also driven changes in U.S. diplomacy. "For all its huffing and puffing, the West cannot ignore the impact of al-Jazeera on the mind-set of the Arab populace," says former staffer Jihad Ballout. Washington's decision to launch its own U.S. government-financed Arabic-language channel, al-Hurra (the free one), was an obvious attempt to counter al-Jazeera's influence. Some U.S. officials acknowledge that the al-Jazeera phenomenon prodded the State Department's new emphasis on public diplomacy.
Yet though U.S. officials appear on al-Jazeera and acknowledge its influence, it is not loved in Washington. Al-Jazeera gives full vent to criticism of U.S. foreign policy, from American support for Israel to the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

As Marc Lynch, author of a book on the channel, puts it: "A nutshell of al-Jazeera's narrative is that the Arab status quo is a mess and that the fault lies with the Americans and Arab regimes." Undoubtedly, as U.S. officials have complained, al-Jazeera has sometimes crossed a professional line that divides journalism from advocacy. The channel has scooped the world's media by obtaining several exclusive video statements by Osama bin Laden. But its repetitive airing of bin Laden's early speeches initially served al-Qaeda's propaganda aims more than any journalistic purpose. Al-Jazeera won loyal viewers with its on-the-spot coverage of the Palestinian intifadeh in 2000, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars waged in 2001 and 2003, and the conflict in Lebanon this past summer. But the tone of the output was often partisan, and some thought its grisly footage of death and destruction accompanied by angry commentaries took al-Jazeera's journalism toward the realm of incitement to hatred.

In their defense, the channel's executives say that al-Jazeera is just the bearer of bad news. And there is evidence that the channel has consciously moderated its line over the years, scaling back the Arab flag-waving in its news bulletins and talk shows. It now makes a real effort to include opposing views, including those of U.S. and Israeli spokespersons. Yet when even a State Department official can let slip that U.S. policy in Iraq has been arrogant and stupid, it's no surprise that views critical of U.S. policy permeate al-Jazeera's shows. One U.S. official comments on the similarities between al-Jazeera and Fox News in the U.S. Like Fox, the official said, "Al-Jazeera has an agenda, a point of view and plays to its audience."

For their part, al-Jazeera's executives point to what they claim is a campaign against the channel. They note that U.S. forces fired on al-Jazeera's offices in Kabul in 2001 and in Baghdad in 2003 — when correspondent Tareq Ayyoub was killed. Al-Jazeera officials claim that politics is at work in the jailing of two of its journalists. Tayseer Allouni was convicted in Spain in 2005 of carrying funds to al-Qaeda; his conviction was affirmed by Spain's Supreme Court. Sami al-Hajj, a cameraman for the channel, was detained in Pakistan in December 2001, and has been held at Guantánamo Bay by the U.S. ever since. Says Wadah Khanfar, Director General of the al-Jazeera network: "Tayseer is a victim of the new mood in Western countries. Sami al-Hajj is a victim. It is about al-Jazeera."