Alternatives

Al-Jazeera created, supported by government of Qatar (“Cutter”), one of several small Persian Gulf states, formerly known as the United Arab Emirates. Not democracies, but governed by generally pro-western leaders with oil wealth. Royal family of Qatar wants to introduce idea of freedom of the press to the Arab-speaking world, where it is a rarity. From its beginnings in 1996, Al-Jazeera has been under continuous criticisms and pressure from authoritarian Arab governments to censor its broadcasts. (The other 22 nations of the Arab League voted the latest resolution two weeks ago.)

Al-Jazeera staff hired initially from the BBC, which closed its Arab-language broadcasting in the 1990s. Since then, expanded its outlook to become the free voice of the Arab world, reflect experience of Arab citizens (not necessarily governments) and to allow as diverse range of viewpoints as possible. Definitely wider range of views than U.S. networks – ranges from interviews with Bush, Rumsfeld to updates from Osama bin Laden. (Content studies of war coverage indicated Al-Jazeera had a wider range of commentators on the war than any of the U.S. networks except Fox News! Surprise! That study measured the range of opinionated commentators, not the newscasts. And I assume the Fox regulars were quite argumentative about unpatriotic commentary.)

Few Americans heard of Al-Jazeera until it was denounced as terrorist organization by Bush administration. White House enraged by graphic pictures of civilian casualties of U.S. bombing, footage of captured U.S. soldiers being questioned. This documentary, filmed in 2003, captures the intensity, drama of the early period of the war. During the filming, February-April 2003, U.S. invaded Iraq, sent tanks into Baghdad, declared “mission accomplished.” At the same time, U.S. also bombed the Bagdad news bureaus of three Arab-language television channels and killed the correspondent from Al Jazeera.

(U.S. in 2001 had bombed Al-Jazeera’s bureau in Afghanistan and captured an cameraman in Afghanistan who was sent him to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation. He’s still there, never having been charged with a crime. His defense attorney said he was held to force him to become a spy for the U.S. inside Al-Jazeera. On the overhead, there’s a link to a Nicholas Kristoff column from the New York Times two weeks ago on this case.)

Update: Member of royal family visited captive at Guantanamo, raised hopes he may be released. See link above.

Many ironies here, and not just about the violent loss of freedom of the press in wartime. Qatar was (and is) an ally of U.S. against Iraq, contains U.S. military bases from which invasion was launched. Centcom headquarters, home of the briefings and news releases, was just down the road from Al-Jazeera, and the DVD shows some of those briefings.

DVD, shot mainly in the control room of Al-Jazeera, has many dramatic subplots, sometimes shocking footage. Al-Jazeera apparently does a lot less self-censorship than U.S. media. The documentary’s director, Jehane Noujaim, who is an Egyptian, is the thin woman with glasses and a headset speaking English at the beginning.

Note particularly two characters: Hassan Ibrahim, Al-Jazeera senior producer (big, loud), and U.S. Marine Corps Captain Josh Rushing, who tries to convince Ibrahim of the rightness of the U.S. position. Rushing, those of you who are doing the readings know, has since completed his career in the Marines and is now a correspondent for Al-Jazeera.

Note: The DVD is not available in the Knight Library, but can be obtained through interlibrary loan (Summit). This DVD is a personal copy that will be placed on reserve after this week.