218

Israeli communications minister seeks shutdown of Al Jazeera bureau (www.reuters.com)

submitted 8 months ago by NightOwl@lemm.ee to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 36 points 8 months ago

Not that Al Jazeera isn't biased, and the organization does receive Qatari government funding...

But they are relatively fair and balanced in terms of coverage and takes. In a conflict like this, they will platform both the Israeli government and Hamas, and have their own or other local reporters provide an accurate as possible picture of the ground situation, where either side in the conflict will try to convince people differently.

People in the Middle East and internationally rely on Al-Jazeera. Removing them means that people will not be as informed of what's really happening, and will cause some to turn to more biased and extremist channels.

[-] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 39 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Big caveat: AJ ENGLISH is very different from their Arabic organization.

Honestly, I just saw one of the BEST interviewers, ever, on AJ ENGLISH this past week.

The information in the interviews themselves was nothing groundbreaking, but the AJ hosts UNWILLINGNESS to let either the Hamas spokesperson OR the former Israeli defense minister simply evade his questions was breathtaking and SHOULD be the standard for this format.

The AJ host is Marc Lamont Hill, and here is a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgoUq69NZ30

Again, and I cannot stress this enough, this was phenomenal work by Mr. Hill, massive respect.

He was combative, but not aggressive, just extremely assertive, and very skilled at active listening in order to adjust his questions when the subjects tried to stonewall and dodge. Top notch. A+++

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 7 points 8 months ago

Though I can't speak a lick of Arabic, I did check both the English and Arabic livestreams of Al Jazeera (Arabic on https://aljazeera.net), they had many of the same videos, a few bilingual reporters talking on the situation that I saw on both casts.

[-] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 20 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

AJ is Qatari state media and a core component of Qatari statecraft, but AJ English and AJ Arabic serve different state policy projects.

Qatar's World Cup fiasco was an unusual stumble in their generally highly sophisticated and very effective western PR apparatus.

I say this to emphasize that Qatar uses AJ English to raise it's own respectability around the world, and is very mindful to NOT be seen abusing AJ English to blatantly and nakedly advancing Qatari state interests, although that can get a bit fuzzy around it's ME coverage at times. But overall, AJ English is supposed to help present Qatar as a moderate and reasonable government in the eyes Westerners.

Which, again, is why the World Cup was such a gigantic clusterfuck in the context of Qatari foreign policy.

Now, AJ's Arabic organization however is much more direct tool for Qatar to use in advancing Qatari interests in the region, and amongst the Arab world. It's not remotely held to the same western notions of "balanced journalistic" standards, as AJ English is.

That doesn't mean it's like OAN, or InfoWars, just that it's reporting and coverage is designed to fill a different niche of Qatari foreign policy.

[-] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Thank you to circuscritic@lemmy.ca and rentlar@lemmy.ca for breaking this down so exhaustively. It was very helpful and informative.

[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 4 points 8 months ago

You're absolutely right, I think Al Jazeera fills a similar niche as Japan's NHK and UK's BBC.

[-] circuscritic@lemmy.ca 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Sort of, but there is a significant difference: democracy vs monarchy.

For all of Japan's and the UK's problems, they're still democratic.

Qatar is a Gulf monarchy so the objective of Al Jazeera English is to give the false impression to it's western audience that Qatar shares any of the values that Western democracies do, or at least profess to.

Without BBC, the UK would still have elections and it's global reach to shape global opinions.

Japan would still be a democracy with gigantic cultural and (high tech) economic soft power.

Without Al Jazeera English, Qatar's global perception would entirely be shaped by oil, slavery, and the world cup.

Al Jazeera English pulls a lot more weight than the other two simply because it has to.

Edit: After bashing Qatar, I should circle back and reiterate that Al Jazeera English is generally high quality and reputable news organization. It should absolutely be ONE of the sources you consume.