Since its start in 1996, Al Jazeera has become one of the most influential broadcast networks in the Arab world. Its all-news and public affairs format reportedly reaches 40 million viewers from its base in the tiny Persian Gulf emirate of Qatar. American networks like CNN buy its footage and exclusive video.
Al Jazeera’s freewheeling broadcasts have long made it the bête noire of Arab governments, and in some earlier instances they have succeeded in reining it in. Western governments see it as shaping a narrative of popular rage against oppressive American-backed Arab governments (and against Israel) ever since its founding. That narrative has long been implicit in the channel’s heavy emphasis on Arab suffering and political crisis, its screaming-match talk shows, even its sensational news banners and swelling orchestral accompaniments.
Yet for all its flaws, Al Jazeera still operates with less constraint than almost any other Arab outlet, and remains the most popular channel in the region.
It rose to special prominence in early 2011, when it was widely hailed for helping enable the revolt in Tunisia with its galvanizing early reports, even as Western-aligned political factions in Lebanon and the West Bank attacked and burned the channel’s offices and vans this week, accusing it of incitement against them.
Not since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, when American officials accused it of sympathy for Saddam Hussein and the insurgency that arose after his downfall, has Al Jazeera been such a lightning rod. This time, its antagonists as well as its supporters are spread all over the Arab world.
It is accused of tailoring its coverage to support Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza against their Lebanese and Palestinian rivals. Its reporter in Tunisia became a leading partisan in the uprising there. And critics speculate that the network bowed to the diplomatic interests of the Qatari emir, its patron, by initially playing down the protests in Egypt.
The channel got it start when the new emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, eager to put his country on the world stage and separate himself from the region's more traditional leaders, bought a failed BBC Arabic television service and gave the journalists the reins. Al Jazeera, which means “the Peninsula,” referring to the Arabian peninsula, was an instant success. The broadcaster's uncensored independence, unusual in most of the Arab countries where its signal reaches, quickly found an audience— and controversy.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Al Jazeera aired tapes made by Osama bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda, becoming the terrorist group’s main link to the outside world. In the aftermath of American or Israeli military actions, it often aired graphic images of violence and civilian casualties. Senior Bush administration officials called on Al Jazeera to tone down its coverage of the Middle East, arguing that arguing that its reporting inflamed Arab public opinion against the United States. Its talk shows have also angered Arab governments; many countries have jailed Al Jazeera’s reporters or shut its offices.
The network has expanded to include several Web sites and the television channel, Al Jazeera English, which seeks to compete directly with international news stations like CNN. It appears to have modified its tone, no longer referring to Iraqi insurgents as the “resistance” or to casualties of American troops as “martyrs,” and has similarly softened its stance on the Saudi government, perhaps under pressure from Qatar’s rulers.
Al Jazeera English, which was launched in 2007, is not available on most American cable networks, but can be viewed on YouTube, the online video service
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