The view from Qatar

Flooded with a barrage of news channels, Americans have more than enough places to find the news they need to make informed decisions--or do they? A host of lesser-known English-language stations are battling to find their place in the world market. Among the emerging contenders, Al-Jazeera--a Qatar-based network--and BBC World News seem like the most likely stations to find a niche market in North America. Their journalistic standards are equal--if not greater than--CNN and FOX News; Al-Jazeera even has a multitude of respectable journalists, including renowned talk show host David Frost.

One of the first aspects of these lesser known channels that catches the viewer’s attention is the lack of graphics. The display is remarkably simple. A slow ticker might appear on screen, but the viewer is not bombarded with multiple displays of stock quotes, headlines and emerging stories. Bold headlines don’t bounce around the screen or have nifty sound effects. The lesser-known networks appear more concerned with providing the news than hooking the viewer.

As I scrolled through the list of lesser known channels, I subconsciously started to turn down the volume on my television set, where Keith Olberman and Sean Hannity had been incessantly arguing, and began to intently watch Al-Jazeera and BBC World News. Neither station had a single story about American Idol or was reliant on loud pundits to enhance the viewing experience. I watched a segment about the Iranian elections and was astonished to hear new views and angles about the event. Whenever the elections are discussed on American news stations, the issue is framed from the perspective of how Obama’s speech in Cairo is influencing the election. Al-Jazeera actually talked about the candidates and their campaigns with more depth and detail than any other station.

Anyone familiar with Al-Jazeera is probably aware of the criticisms being hurled at the Middle Eastern news channel. Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously charged the station with displaying anti-American propaganda and said the network was willing to lie for any cause. Arabs could accuse Fox News of similar journalistic breaches of integrity. In the eyes of the Muslim world, Fox is in all probability seen as the voice of western imperialism.

It is easy for Americans to condemn Al-Jazeera for acting as Osama Bin Laden’s voice, but American news stations disseminated countless speeches from the Bush administration in the weeks leading up to the invasion of Afghanistan, which were little more than propaganda designed to rally Americans around the flag and the war. One could argue that the lack of serious journalism before the war led to more unnecessary deaths than the attacks of 9/11. Journalists have a responsibility to determine how their story will affect the public and they must adhere to an ethical code.

This issue was impeccably examined in the 2004 documentary “Control Room.” Raising pressing issues about whether or not journalists can truly be objective, the filmmakers illustrate how life experiences shaped the journalists of Al-Jazeera and, ultimately, the news they reported.

Another aspect that grabs the viewer’s eyeballs is Al-Jazeera’s utter lack of watered-down imagery. In several segments, the station displayed the real cost of war: dismembered bodies, decimated buildings, grieving relatives. If Americans witnessed these images on CNN or MSNBC, the war would have ended years ago.

Due to the discord surrounding Al-Jazeera, I think it will be primarily relegated to the internet in the coming years. Although, if more and more well-known journalists relocate to the Middle Eastern station, which would not be a surprise given globalization’s ability to level the playing field in almost every other business sector, Al-Jazeera could emerge as a counterpoint to the corporate networks.