Friday, Sep 5, 2008
The "Fox News of the Arab world" plans to take on Rupert Murdoch and friends with a new English-language service -- unless the Bush administration succeeds in squashing it.
Apr 22, 2005 | It is fitting, somehow, that Al-Jazeera, the satellite channel most Americans believe speaks for the most militant part of the Arab world, and that the Bush administration has been gunning for ever since 9/11, owes its success to a French porn movie. Back in 1997, a year after the channel's launch, would-be viewers in the Middle East required an expensive, 6-foot dish to pick up Al-Jazeera's signal. To reach more viewers, Al-Jazeera needed a change of frequency, but for that, it required a slot on a Saudi-controlled satellite, which happened to be occupied by the French network Canal France International.
It would take a miracle, or an enormous sum, for Al-Jazeera to land the necessary space. Then, one summer day, a CFI technician flipped the wrong switch -- or so the story goes -- and pumped 30 minutes of "Club Privé au Portugal" into millions of Arab homes. The House of Saud, apparently more fearful of hardcore porn than news and current affairs, booted CFI from the "Arabsat" and signed a deal with Al-Jazeera, greatly expanding its audience and its fortunes.
Since then, Al-Jazeera -- based in Qatar, a country with a population smaller than some Manhattan neighborhoods -- has become the media powerhouse of the Arab world, a scrappy independent-minded news outlet in a region where media has long served the Arab ruling elite, not questioned them. It has made powerful enemies in every Middle Eastern government (excepting, as critics point out, Qatar), as shown this week when its Tehran, Iran, bureau was closed for reporting on -- or, as Iran's theocrats charge, inciting -- ethnic riots near the Iraqi border. The network's approach to the news has not made it a lot of friends in the halls of the American government, either. Despite this, or because of it, Al-Jazeera now claims tens of millions of viewers.
And if all goes according to plan, the channel's massive audience will soon expand beyond the Arabian peninsula (its name means, literally, "the Peninsula"). By the end of 2005, Al-Jazeera plans to launch a new international English-language service, to be called Al-Jazeera International. Westerners may still debate whether Al-Jazeera provides forward-thinking programming or jihadist propaganda, but soon more of them will be able to judge the controversial channel's brand of programming for themselves.
Right now in the States, about 200,000 paying subscribers can watch Al-Jazeera on the Dish Network. If all goes as planned, Al-Jazeera could go the way of the Beatles during their Liverpool days: an already sizable audience, but on its way to being bigger than Jesus. Al-Jazeera International's target audience: Westerners dissatisfied with the mainstream media and intrigued by a news organization that openly attacks the "blatant lies" behind the invasion of Iraq and purports to speak for the world's forgotten billions. Then, of course, there are the Muslims: 6 or 7 million of them in the U.S., only one-quarter Arab. There are many millions more in Southeast Asia and Africa who understand English, but not Arabic -- though their relatively meager incomes aren't as attractive to advertisers.
The biggest snag for Al-Jazeera International is securing distribution. Indeed, it could be a deal-breaker. The English-language channel wants to be as easily accessible as MSNBC or Animal Planet. But this, says J. Max Robins, editor of Broadcasting & Cable, is an uphill battle. "Even networks attached to big media conglomerates have trouble getting distribution," he says. And in this case, such universal business difficulties are compounded by the network's status as a lightning rod. Its best bet, according to Robins, may be to shoot for the emerging broadband market.
Faced as they are with a number of significant unknowns, the leaders of Al-Jazeera International have been advised not to talk to reporters. The management team includes former executives from Hill & Knowlton, CNBC and the BBC. Nigel Parsons, the managing director -- and the only executive who would speak to Salon -- previously worked at the television arm of the Associated Press. He explains the career move thusly: "As a journalist, what more could you ask for? It's a blank sheet of paper and an opportunity to make a difference."
Parsons, who was hired last August, has brought on about 30 staff so far, with 270 more soon to come. Al-Jazeera International will have news centers in Doha, Qatar; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; London and Washington. For the on-air jobs, it wants native English speakers. According to Parsons, a lot of talent from places like ITN, Sky News, the BBC and CNN have applied. "A lot of people are cutting back on foreign news, and journalists are getting discouraged," Parsons said. Al-Jazeera International will be all foreign news.
Though everyone says it will be different from its Arabic parent, no one knows exactly what the editorial content of Al-Jazeera International will look and sound like. The rank and file in Al-Jazeera's current Washington bureau, who plead ignorance when asked about the plans of their new colleagues, even stress its independence. (That independence will not, at least at first, extend to finances -- but Al-Jazeera isn't saying how much seed money it has put into the new venture.) Executives are promising extensive coverage of the developing world, so often neglected on the international airwaves. They also plan to lend a bullhorn to figures on the fringes of the American left, such as Michael Moore and Noam Chomsky.
BBC World Service director Richard Sambrook says that to the extent that Al-Jazeera recasts itself for a global audience, "They will be a very serious competitor. They've got a lot of resources, they will clearly be trying to make a splash, and they are good at doing that." It is, Sambrook adds, a happy competition: The more communication between the Arab world and the West, the better. "There is a gulf to be bridged," he says.
Al-Jazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout agrees that the English service could do some pluralistic, peacemaking good. He says, though, that the bridge to America from the Persian Gulf might take a few generations to build. "It's difficult, especially in the U.S. of A., to get people to think outside the box, to reach out and find alternative sources of information that complement existing ones." Even more so when it comes from a guy named "Jihad."
The launch of Al-Jazeera's English-language service comes at a pivotal moment in the channel's tortured relationship with longtime foes in the Axis of Good. Since 9/11 its coverage has been the subject of loud and regular complaints from American officials. In both Kabul, Afghanistan, and Baghdad, Iraq, its offices were hit by American weapons, although the U.S. military insists the incidents were accidental. The U.S. establishment view has been that Al-Jazeera is as much an enemy weapon as a shoulder-fired missile or a money-laundering "charity." A recent story in the New York Times speculated that the Bush administration is trying to kill Al-Jazeera by urging the Arabic channel's patron, the Qatari government, to fully privatize it -- and that Qatar seemed, at long last, ready to cut the cord. The story, based on anonymous sources, may have been a bit overhyped. (Some competitors suspect the recent speculation about its impending privatization may be part of a publicity scheme for Al-Jazeera's English-language service.)
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