Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera, a Qatar-based satellite television news network, exemplifies the global expansion of information flow and illustrates the political impact that global media possess. Since its creation in 1996, Al Jazeera's Arabic channel has shown news consumers in the Arab world that they need not rely exclusively on Western media organizations, such as the BBC and CNN, particularly for news about themselves.

Although some critics challenge the channel's commitment to Western-style journalistic objectivity, others believe that misses the point about Al Jazeera's popularity. Its greatest asset among its viewers is its credibility; it lets the Arab public see events that affect them through their own eyes, and it provides the rest of the world with a different perspective on news. Its English-language channel, begun in 2006, gives Al Jazeera even greater global influence, delivering reports from places that many Western television news organizations overlook.

By offering a mix of innovative programming, high production values, and persistent marketing, Al Jazeera has established itself as the go-to information resource in much of the Middle East. In many of the cafes from Morocco to Kuwait, the televisions in the corner are tuned to Al Jazeera. A 2004–2005 survey of television viewers in Cairo found that 46% of households watched satellite television, and, of these, 88% watched Al Jazeera.

The channel's iconoclastic approach to news includes criticism of government corruption, discussions about women's rights, and other topics that staid state-run news organizations tend to ignore. Al Jazeera's coverage of the 2005 Egyptian elections, for example, included reports about charges of vote rigging and police interference, matters that many of Egypt's own news organizations did not dare to cover. Al Jazeera's coverage of the January 2011 protests in Tahrir Square was so inflammatory that the Egyptian government attempted—unsuccessfully—to shut down the network's Egyptian coverage in the midst of the protests. On a daily basis, Al Jazeera's talk shows often feature fiery debates about political and social issues. The substance and tone of Al Jazeera's programming have altered the public sphere in the Arab world and beyond, establishing new boundaries for discourse and changing the public's expectations of media and government.

Despite having an Arab audience estimated at 35 million, affection for the channel is by no means universal, even within the Middle East. [Page 53]There are those who dislike the fractiousness of its talk shows, some who see a religious slant in its news coverage, and others who simply don't care for its rock-the-boat journalism.

Nevertheless, Al Jazeera is a political force within the Middle East and globally. It is a descendant of Voice of the Arabs, an Egyptian radio station launched in 1953 that was designed to foster pan-Arab unity. Al Jazeera made its mark as a pan-Arab force with its coverage of the Palestinian intifada in 2000 and further established itself with its reporting from Afghanistan, Iraq, and other scenes of conflict. This kind of coverage has periodically led to harsh criticism of the channel from the U.S. government, which has alleged that Al Jazeera encourages anti-American sentiment. Some American public diplomacy efforts in the Middle East have been designed to counter Al Jazeera's influence.

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