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To: Mephisto who wrote (563)	10/11/2001 4:50:14 AM
From: S. maltophilia	Respond to of 15516

More on Al-Jazeera. They're pissing off all sides, so maybe they're doing something right. Popular Qatar TV network draws viewers, irks Arab regimes By BARRY SHLACHTER Star-Telegram Staff Writer MANAMA, Bahrain - When Osama bin Laden wanted to denounce the United States, he sent his videotaped statement to what has become the CNN of the Arab world. Al-Jazeera, Arabic for "The Peninsula," scored an international scoop by televising bin Laden's statement Sunday, the day that U.S. and British forces unleashed attacks on Afghanistan. The network scored again Tuesday when it broadcast the second statement from bin Laden's al Qaeda group since the start of U.S.-led airstrikes against Afghanistan on Sunday. Launched five years ago, the Persian Gulf-based 24-hour news network has set a new standard for objectivity in a region known for heavy-handed state control of the media, say Western diplomats and Arab intellectuals. "It's very famous in the Arab world and I believe it has the most credibility," said political analyst Abdul Nabi Mansour of Bahrain's Research and Study Center. "It's state-owned but it operates independently. It even criticizes Qatar." The network was begun by the Gulf's most liberal leader, Sheik Hamad bin-Khalifa al-Thani of the tiny oil sheikdom of Qatar. By all appearances, Hamad has given it a free hand. Many of its experienced broadcasters were recruited from a failed Arab-language TV news venture by the British Broadcasting Corp. Although it receives subscription and advertising revenues, the network relies on a $30 million annual subsidy from Qatar. The subsidy reportedly will end next year. Satellite systems throughout the region carry its signal to the discomfort of authoritarian heads of state unused to being criticized in their own living rooms and in their own language. "It's probably the most widely watched channel in the Middle East," said a Western diplomat in the Gulf. "It's listened to closely. And, as far as I know, it's the first Arab-language network that says nothing is too sacred to put on the table." Its correspondents have been denied visas to thin-skinned countries. A few bureaus have been closed. Morocco is among the countries lodging diplomatic protests with Qatar over reports. "But Qatar tells them it has no control - and it doesn't," said Arar Al Shara, an ex-BBC radio reporter who is now an Al-Jazeera news producer. A Jordanian subject, he said such independence is unheard of in the Middle East. "Some Islamic movements won't have anything to do with us," Al Shara said in a telephone call from the network's headquarters in Doha, the capital of Qatar. "At times, we're accused of being pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian. You can never satisfy everybody." Al-Jazeera has infuriated Israel by its coverage of the Palestinian uprising - often from the Palestinian point of view - and angered Arabs with interviews of Israeli leaders. The United States has also become annoyed. Last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell used the occasion of the Qatari sheik's visit to Washington to urge more "balanced" coverage by Al-Jazeera. His remarks apparently stemmed from anti-American views expressed on talk shows after the Sept. 11 hijackings were linked to bin Laden. Hamad told reporters in Washington that he takes such criticism of Al-Jazeera as "friendly advice," then added: "Qatar is embarking on a parliamentary life with a democracy, which dictates that freedom of the press should be granted, and that press should enjoy credibility." Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt have been peeved by the air time that Al-Jazeera gives to their respective dissidents. When relations between Qatar and Bahrain were strained by a territorial dispute, some critics charged that Bahrain's argument didn't get equal coverage. It won the case in the World Court. Al-Jazeera's discussions of current affairs and use of female broadcasters raises the ire of the Taliban and other fundamentalists. Its credibility no doubt was a factor in being permitted to transmit from Kabul. CNN, with which it has an agreement, has relied on Al-Jazeera for video footage. Back to Top © 2001 Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, Texas web.star-telegram.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (563)	11/22/2001 10:19:54 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

the station reported that Jews were told not to go to work in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 — promoting the rumor, widely believed by Muslims, that Jews were behind the attack. I read a quote of an Al-Jazeera spokesman saying that that they presented this idea as a topic of discussion in a talk show, not as news during a news show. The circumstantial evidence indicates that the U.S. intentionally bombed Al-Jazeera's office in Afghanistan. guardian.co.uk Tom