Insiders say the Arab channel is another target for control on the US hitlist, says matthew carr |
 |
Is the Bush administration engaged in a behind-the-scenes attempt to muzzle Al-Jazeera? According to the Friends of Al-Jazeera website, recent appointments of pro-US members to the station's board of directors, including a former Qatari ambassador to Washington, result from US pressure on the Emir of Qatar.
These appointments, says one AJ insider, are intended to bring about a change in the station's 'tone and content' in line with Qatari and US interests.
It is no secret that the Bush administration loathes Al-Jazeera. Since 2001, US forces have bombed its offices on two occasions, arrested and beaten up its journalists and imprisoned one Al-Jazeera cameraman in Guantanamo Bay for the last five years. According to the leaked 2005 'Al-Jazeera memo', Bush also contemplated bombing Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha.
|
|
 |
 |
|
| US officials have accused AJ of being a vehicle for ‘terrorist’ messages and anti-American propaganda |
|
|
What explains this antipathy? In the Arab world, Al-Jazeera has gained a huge audience of 35 million because of its reputation for independent and uncensored reporting. Such a station should constitute a logical ally for a US Government intent on bringing democracy to the Middle East.
Instead, administration officials have accused Al-Jazeera of being a vehicle for 'terrorist' messages and anti-American propaganda. In 2004, Donald Rumsfeld called its coverage of the battle for Fallujah "vicious, inaccurate and
inexcusable".
For the last seven months, non-Arab audiences have had a chance to evaluate these claims for themselves, with the broadcast of the English-language Al-Jazeera International.
AJI has clearly been tailored to some extent to suit a different audience, and there is nothing obviously radical about its coverage. It obeys most of the conventions of TV news reporting - glamorous female presenters, rolling news, chat shows and so on.
What is striking and refreshing about the  |
