al-Jazeera beleefd ook Arabische lente

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:38 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
Al-Jazeera is niet objectief. Net als BBC en CNN beschikken ze over een eigen agenda.

Ik heb vandaag nog een Arabische anti-aljazeera email ontvangen, ze hadden het over de hypocrieten van al-Jazeera die het nooit over Qatar hebben en er is nu kritiek op hen omdat ze de protesten in Bahrein nauwelijks aandacht geven.

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:38 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
Al-Jazeera is niet objectief. Net als BBC en CNN beschikken ze over een eigen agenda.

Ik heb vandaag nog een Arabische anti-aljazeera email ontvangen, ze hadden het over de hypocrieten van al-Jazeera die het nooit over Qatar hebben en er is nu kritiek op hen omdat ze de protesten in Bahrein nauwelijks aandacht geven.

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:38 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
Al-Jazeera is niet objectief. Net als BBC en CNN beschikken ze over een eigen agenda.

Ik heb vandaag nog een Arabische anti-aljazeera email ontvangen, ze hadden het over de hypocrieten van al-Jazeera die het nooit over Qatar hebben en er is nu kritiek op hen omdat ze de protesten in Bahrein nauwelijks aandacht geven.

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:38 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
Al-Jazeera is niet objectief. Net als BBC en CNN beschikken ze over een eigen agenda.

Ik heb vandaag nog een Arabische anti-aljazeera email ontvangen, ze hadden het over de hypocrieten van al-Jazeera die het nooit over Qatar hebben en er is nu kritiek op hen omdat ze de protesten in Bahrein nauwelijks aandacht geven.

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:38 schreef Rambolin het volgende:
Al-Jazeera is niet objectief. Net als BBC en CNN beschikken ze over een eigen agenda.

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Op maandag 4 april 2011 19:15 schreef blazik1 het volgende:
Mensen in Qatar hebben straks het hoogste inkomen ter wereld, waarom zouden ze dan nog kritiek hebben op die emir?

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:39 schreef FreezePop het volgende:

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Objectiviteit bestaat naar mijn mening niet.

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Op maandag 4 april 2011 20:02 schreef Hans_van_Baalen het volgende:

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Omdat statistieken niet weerspiegelen hoe mensen zich voelen en hoe ze zijn.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 14:52 schreef MouzurX het volgende:
Idd toch wel een goede zender, ik heb de laatste maanden vaak naar een live stream van al jazeera gekeken.

Iedere zender is objectief.

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Op zaterdag 16 april 2011 17:09 schreef Ugjerke het volgende:

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Bedoel je niet subjectief?

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:29 schreef naatje_1 het volgende:

Moet al-Jazeera misschien in de standaardpakketten in Nederland worden opgenomen?

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:44 schreef naatje_1 het volgende:

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Geen enkele media is objectief, maar des te meer media je bij elkaar verzamelt van verschillende landen, des te meer objectievere informatie je krijgt. Wellicht een idee om een programma te maken gebaseerd op internationale media.

Als ik me goed herinner is er recentelijk een programma gestart met van Nieuwkerk laat in de avond met een soort overzicht van belangrijke mediamomenten. Dit gaat dan enkel over Nederlandse media. Maak zo'n programma ergens rond half 9 over de internationale media en het wereldbeeld van mensen wordt iets meer aangescherpt.

Tegenwoordig hebben we enkel een programma als Tegenlicht die een beetje research doen en de mensen zoals Hans_van_Baalen die zichzelf verdiepen in internationale media.

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Op woensdag 23 maart 2011 20:38 schreef Hans_van_Baalen het volgende:
Het is een taak van de burger zelf, om zich goed te informeren. De overheid mag mij best eens met rust laten.

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Op zondag 29 mei 2011 13:38 schreef galtfactory het volgende:

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En wat als jij als burger de hulp van diezelfde overheid op die momenten die er voor jou toe doen nodig heeft en men dan niet thuis geeft? M.a.w je kan niet enerzijds verwachten dat de overheid wel klaarstaat voor als jij het nodig vindt,en anderzijds willen dat die overheid niet met jouw zaken bemoeit als zij het nodig vinden.

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Bin Jeddo resigns from al-Jazeera TV

Apr 23, 2011



"Bin Jeddo tendered his resignation several days ago," the sources said, adding that the reason behind this step was because al-Jazeera has abandoned profession and objectively and turned into "a room for instigation and mobilization.

" The sources underlined that one of the reasons that pushed Bin Jeddo to resign is the provocative policy of al-Jazeera which is unacceptable, particularly in light of the historical juncture the region is passing through.

Bin Jeddo Confirms Resignation to Al Manar Website

Head of Al Jazeera TV Station Office in Beirut Ghassan Bin Jeddo resigned from his post a few days ago, as “Al Jazeera has abandoned professionalism and objectivity, turning from a media source into an operation room that incites and mobilizes,” Lebanese As-Safir newspaper reported on Saturday.

Bin Jeddo confirmed this step in an interview with Al Manar website. He pointed out that “the reasons published in As-Safir behind the resignation are true, however they are not the full reasons”, adding that various other issues urged him to take this step that he will talk about its details later.

The Lebanese daily has quoted reliable sources saying that the unprofessional inciting attitude that Al jazeera is adopting at this historic phase in the region is unacceptable.

The sources indicated to As-Safir the ethical base of Bin Jeddo’s resignation, as he cannot accept the station’s full coverage to the situation in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, while completely blacking out the crisis in Bahrain.

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Al-Jazeera in the Crosshairs: Balanced Reporting or Sectarian Bias?



In early March, the leadership at Al Jazeera, the most popular Arab language satellite news station, sat down with National Public Radio to discuss the difficulties of independent, investigative journalism in the Middle East, in light of the Dubai based organization’s successful coverage of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.

Al Jazeera’s Director of Communications, Satnam Matharu, told NPR, “So, the reason that we get cut off on a regular basis, our signal gets hijacked, disrupted, blocked, you know, turned off, shifted on the same satellite so people can't find us, [is because] governments are not happy to see what's actually happening on the streets.”

For years, Arab media consisted of state-run television channels rolling out Western movies, Arabic soap operas, and “news” highlighting the government’s one-dimensional “good deeds” for the country and region. Then came Al Jazeera, which provided a high-quality alternative for the average Arab viewer. In Egypt, Al Jazeera broadcast “the Arab street” to the Middle East and the world, including policymakers in the White House. The harrowing coverage, particularly that of media sensation Ayman Mohyeldin (one of TIME’s most influential people in 2011), showed the world an inspiring democratic revolution.

But as Al Jazeera gains more popularity in the West, a disturbing trend in its coverage is coming to light: the media outlet is conspicuously failing to cover the Shiite protests in Bahrain and the subsequent government-inflicted violence against peaceful protesters. Federally funded but independent media outlets like the British Broadcasting Company have produced valuable, independent journalism. But signs are emerging that Al Jazeera is not able to operate with the journalistic freedom that we expect from similarly operated outlets like the BBC.

These omissions are linked to Al Jazeera’s leadership and history. Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari government, whose leader Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the news network, including the provision of an almost $130 million loan to launch the news network in the late 1990s. The Sheikh told the New York Times in 2005 that the government provides Al Jazeera with a yearly subsidy totaling nearly $50 million. Al-Thani has repeatedly extolled the need for more independent media voices in the Middle East, but the government is not funding Al Jazeera purely out of philanthropic goodwill.

In 2010, a Wikileaks document revealed that the Qatari government utilized Al Jazeera “as a bargaining tool to repair relationships with other countries, particularly those soured by Al Jazeera's broadcasts, including the United States.” Another Wikileaks document indicated that Al Jazeera “has proved itself a useful tool for the station's political masters.” Yet another Wikileaks document said, “Relations [between Qatar and Saudi Arabia] are generally improving after Qatar toned down criticism of the Saudi royal family on Al Jazeera.” The BBC it is not.

Over the last two months, the casual news consumer did not need to scan the Wikileaks documents to recognize that Al Jazeera’s coverage is highly-influenced by the Qatari government and its relations with its neighbors, most notably Saudi Arabia. Al Jazeera has provided limited coverage of the unrest in Bahrain, which began in March, where hundreds have been killed, thousands arrested, and a Shiite population lives in fear. Why?

For starters, Bahrain’s mass protests were the first of their kind in the Gulf Cooperative Council. Making matters worse, the Sunni minority has long feared the possibility of the Shiite majority becoming a pawn of the Iranian government (Saudi’s hated rival). Saudi Arabia is a fellow member of the powerful GCC and a key ally of Qatar. As Qatar attempts to play a more influential role in the Middle East (it just announced that Hamas would set up offices in the country), it needs Saudi support to become a regional leader. For this to work, Qatar needed to keep Al Jazeera away from Bahrain.

Two weeks ago, David Pollack, scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noted the Al Jazeera phenomenon in an essay. His research found that, “Aljazeera Arabic did not report on the hardening of the Bahraini opposition on March 8, when the Coalition for a Bahraini Republic called for an end to the monarchy, nor did it cover protests held there on March 9, 10, and 13, the critical days leading to Saudi Arabia's decision to send troops into Bahrain.” He added that, “while Aljazeera [sic] English showed pictures of Saudi troops headed across the causeway connecting the two kingdoms, Aljazeera Arabic's headline read "Bahrain's Government Rejects Foreign Intervention" — alluding to Iran!”

Al Jazeera’s leadership told Reuters in mid-April that it faced a “challenging terrain” in Bahrain and that “Editorial priorities are weighed on a number of factors at any given moment.” An analyst based in London didn’t buy that excuse saying, “There has been fantastic pressure from Saudi Arabia on Qatar to join in (the Gulf military operation) in Bahrain, and at least to rein in Al Jazeera.”

Statements from Al Jazeera staff on the topic have varied significantly. Ghassan bin Jeddo, a news presenter for Al Jazeera, resigned in April 2011 for what Israeli newspaper Ynet describes as, “morally motivated [reason] as Al Jazeera highlighted the developments in Libya, Yemen, and Syria- but not Bahrain.” Another reporter for Al Jazeera, Hafez al-Mirazi, had his show cancelled due to his insistence on discussing Gulf politics. He told Reuters, "I said there was no excuse for anyone at Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya to discuss Egypt while not being able to talk about the Emir of Qatar or Qatari politics or King Abdullah and Saudi politics.”

As the situation for Shiites in Bahrain deteriorates by the day, increased media coverage could do a lot to improve the oppression facing protesters. With Al Jazeera all but silent on the issues, the prospects for increased coverage seems bleak. Besides Al Jazeera, Bahrain kicked other several news outlets and reporters, including New York Times writer Nick Kristof, who was harassed for his reporting.

For Al Jazeera to earn a reputation as a true, independent news network, with its priorities on the story and not the political agenda of its host country, the network must cover all issues, not just those that are convenient to regional politics.

By Kianpars, Aslan Media Columnist