Tuesday May 24, 2005

Column:

There was one significant holdout. Only one 24 hour all news network. Otherwise,...

Every paper, every news outlet, to publish THOSE photos, the ones of Saddam in his undies, had an explanation for doing so. Some published the photos before the general outcry of violation of privacy. Some published them after, in order to explain exactly what the violation of privacy was all about. Bottom line is that people - American people, British people, like to gawk. And everyone needs a good snicker once in a while.

Even the Arabic press went with THOSE photos. It was available for every Muslim, every Arab with access to a newspaper or a television. And then that same media proceeded to ridicule the United States for allowing the pictures to be taken. Their bottom line is that these photos, courtesy of the United States, embarrassed the entire Arab world. Truth is, they're right.

Who did not run with the photos? On which airwaves could THOSE pictures not be seen? On Al Jazeerah TV.

Why? The popular 24 hour Arabic news network said, simply, that Saddam Hussein in underwear is not newsworthy. The end.

Is it possible that Al Jazeerah did not want to slather more mud on the face of the United States? Highly unlikely. After all, Al Jazeerah is the network that has no compunction about displaying beheaded Westerners, sparing no gory, gruesome detail. The only reason that practice has stopped and that the network now shows only before and after clips rather than entire beheadings is because of the professional criticism leveled upon them by other news agencies.

Al Jazeerah reaches between 40 and 80 million viewers at any given moment. That is an enormous viewership. Al Jazeerah is powerful. Al Jazeerah shapes the opinions of many people in the Arab world. And I can't figure out why they decided not to run with the picture. Not newsworthy isn't good enough. Al Jazeerah thrives on turning stories around making them worthy for Al Jazeerah news audiences.

I spent two days watching, observing and getting to know two different Al Jazeerah crews this past month. One day was spent at the Jewish settlements of Gaza. The other day was spent in Samaria at the four settlements scheduled to be dismantled together with the Gaza withdrawal. I took the opportunity to speak to these Al Jazeerah representatives about their perceptions of America.

I asked one team, a correspondent and producer, why they thought the US president and leadership were so upset by the Al Jazeerah network. To my mind, they just did not understand the big issues. Both the correspondent and the producer, the people who shape and influence the stories their viewers see, felt the problem was one of control, censorship and power. They thought that the United States was upset by Al Jazeerah because the US did not have the power to control their content. Slant, truth, standards and expectations were issues the Al Jazeerah people could not even discuss let alone identify.

The journalists I spoke to, and we spoke at length, paralleled the criticism of Al Jazeerah leveled at them by the United States to the criticism they receive by the Arab dictatorships that also have great difficulty with their network.

In the Arab world, Al Jazeerah is one of a very few media outlets free to discover and cover what is really happening in the great world. Other stations are under the thumbnail of all-powerful dictators. Al Jazeerah serves an essential democratic role in the Arab-speaking world. It is an important voice against the totalitarian system that governs their local competitors. It grieved me to realize that, at least the people I met, did not recognize any substantive critique of the content.

There is no doubt that on the big Arab issues Al Jazeerah is very effective at chipping away at autocratic rulers. And that alone makes them a valuable resource for Western news watchers and decision makers. But when it comes to anything else, like the United States in the Middle East and certainly like the Palestinian and Israeli story, they function as propagandists selling a story, not as journalists covering it.

That is the real reason for America's frustration. Al Jazeerah just does not hold the professional standard. Al Jazeerah does not have a slight bias. Al Jazeerah gives one-sided coverage. Al Jazeerah refuses to show the other side at all.

Al Jazeera may not always cover the news the way we like it to be covered. And they may not always cover the news the way Arab dictators want it to be covered. But as long as we are aware of their self-imposed limitations, they are the best the Arab world has to offer. And for our needs, that makes Al Jazeerah newsworthy.