The Media Jihad: Aljazeera and Islamic Terrorism
by Mumin Salih

14 May, 2006

Aljazeera started broadcasting in 1996 in the Gulf state of Qatar. In spite of its popularity it was almost unknown outside the Arab world until the terrorist attack of 9/11. Nowadays, Aljazeera has a rating that competes with the BBC and CNN. It is expanding fast and recently it started an English language service.  This Television Station was established on the order of Sheikh Hamad Al Thani soon after he seized power in 1995. It is interesting to know that this Emir came to power by ousting his own father Sheikh Khalifa Al Thani while the latter was on a trip abroad. As a result, Sheikh Khalifa was prevented from returning to his country, and since then he lived in exile, while his son appointed himself as the ruler of the country.  

Until the introduction of this satellite television broadcasting, the Arabs relied on the state owned media for information. The government controlled local radio stations were used extensively to indoctrinate the gullible listeners. Ordinary Arabs were aware that the information they receive from their local radios may not be accurate, but their options were very limited. The alternative was to listen to the Israeli radio or the BBC, which although more accurate, were seen as enemy propaganda that should be treated with caution. Television broadcasting slowly replaced the radio broadcasting as the most influential media tool, but again it was owned by the state. Because of high illiteracy, coupled with the lack of reading habit among the Arabs, the newspapers, subjected to government censorship have far less influence on ordinary Arabs. They would rather prefer the passive and doleful way to watch the news by spending the evenings in front of their television sets.  

Satellite television broadcasting in the Arabic countries started in the early 1990s, again by state-owned and state-controlled television channels. Not surprisingly, such channels followed the usual style adopted by the terrestrial ones. To the viewers, that only meant more variety of boring channels. Few privately owned channels such as the MBC and ART, both London based Saudi owned channels, dominated the market but they focused more on drama and music.

Aljazeera came on air in 1996 as all-news Arabic language channel. Many of its staff came from the BBC with which it has a strong tie. From the outset, Aljazeera aimed, by portraying itself as different from the others, to draw the attention of the Arab audience. This meant presenting controversial views and hosting controversial personalities. They discussed internal Arab politics that were seen to be too sensitive to many Arab states. Such broadcasting style was more than welcome by the Arab audience who are not used to seeing on television internal and intra-Arab politics being discussed in the open. This frequently led to condemnation by various Arab states and strained their diplomatic ties with the government of Qatar, which added even more to the joy of the audience who thought that at last the age of free and professional journalism has arrived in the Arab world.

However, it was not always good news for Aljazeera. The audience soon realized that while the Qatari government defends Aljazeera in the name of freedom of speech and professional journalism, the fact remains that Al jazeera has never been critical of anything to do with Qatar itself. And it just happened that this tiny Gulf state is filled with controversies and intersting news stories. Examples are: the way Sheikh Hamad came to power by turning against his own father; the total absence of democratic life and the fact that Qatar hosts the largest American military base ouside America are all interesting stories to the Arab audience but were never mentioned.

However, Qatar was not the only state that was beyond the reach of Al jazeera's critical discussions. There was an even more controversial regime that was not allowed to be touched. It was the erstwhile Iraqi regime.

The truth is: Aljazeera was infiltrated by the Iraqi faction of the Baath party who controlled the channel. The issue of sanctions on Iraq became the most important and the most frequently discussed subject in Aljazeera broadcasting, displacing even the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The death of Iraqi children was an exaggerated non-stop talk. The fact that from the outset the sanctions on Iraq excluded food and medicines was completely ignored as well as the fact that under the sanctions Saddam was busy building the most lavish palaces Iraq has known.

During the mid 1990s, Saddam's regime was suffering from many significant humiliations. The regime lost the support it enjoyed earlier from King Hussein of Jordan who distanced himself from the Iraqi dictator. Soon Saddam's two sons-in -law, accompanied by their wives, defected to Jordan and were briefed by the Americans as they both held key positions in the army. Saddam later killed the two men but that did not help the image of his regime. That incident was preceded and followed by many other defections of Iraqi officials. In the midst of these events the introduction of Aljazeera couldn't be at a better time.  

pt 1

The3 Al Jazeera effect...

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If they knew anyhting about the Arabic language, they'd know it's diglossic. This means that pretty much anyone who can understand al-Jazeera should be able to read/write also. That point displays a clear ignorance of the writer of this article. He appears to be just making it up as he goes along.

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And the evidence for this??? Because it covered the Iraqi war fairly? 

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If we compare the number of people who died as a result of the sanctions with the amount of air time it received on al-Jazeera, then compare the number of people who died in 9/11 with the amount of airtime it got on every single Western media station, you'll see al-Jazeera is far more balanced than any Western media.

Do you think they should just report Western tragedies, as Western media does? 

It always amazes me how earthquakes that kill hundreds or thousands of people, often don't even make the front page of Western newspaper, often because they happen in countries like Kazakhstan or Iran. After all what's a few hundred dead Iranians compared to Kylie Minogues latest raunchy stage show in London??

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This just proves it's NOT a mouthpiece of Islamists. Since Islamists would never take the side of such a mass murderer.

This article is riddled with such inconsistencies.

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Why not throw Iran in there for good measure... worked for Bush 

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Yeh and they pit him against Wafa Sultan (isn't she a favourite of yours??), so how does that make them a mouthpiece for Islamists?? Qaradawi is one of the most influential Muslim scholars alive today, why wouldn't he be part of media in the Arabic world?? Kinda goes without saying doesn't it?

All this article really does establish is that al-Jazeera is a media outlet that deals with issues primarily effecting the Arab world... Hello!!

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He also worked for the Spanish media outlet EFE, does that mean they're a mouthpiece for terrorism as well?

The guy was wrongly charged, simply because he interviewed OBL. And he's now in home detention, which indicates he can't be too dangerous. He's more likely the victim of a witchhunt after the Madrid bombings.

Serves him right for interviewing OBL right??

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All conjecture. As I already pointed out, they give plenty of airtime to people like Wafa Sultan (who really does not deserve it), as well as Israelis and other Zionist academics.

You should try watching it sometime, it's actually fairly balanced... unlike most Western media.

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When half your family has been killed by Americans, I doubt you need a TV channel to charge you up against them...

Think about that a little.

As Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Bin Laden unit wrote about Islamic media, most likely referring to al-Jazeera:

"On balance, the Islamic media's taste for what the West terms sensationalizing and conspiracy mongering is less than meets the eye. Based on my research, it is apparent that the Islamic media's correspondents and editors work harder, dig deeper, and think more than most of their Western counterparts. This is not to say that the Islamic media do not suffer from sensationalized conspiracy theories, but they probably are no more prone to those faults than their Western colleagues." (Through Our Enemies' Eyes, p. 280)

Well Abu, those who think of Islam as negative, need only read that post from you, it could have been written by LeStupid, and yet you are not a stupid man, yet your obsession leads you to make such illogical statements, in your frustrated attempt to portray everything Islamic as perfect.

abu_rashid wrote on Feb 6^th, 2009 at 4:24am:



I agree too. Islam is substandard ideology. It needs to be reformed or disappear.

Lestat wrote on Feb 6^th, 2009 at 8:46am:


Actually mozzaok responded to you and abu many times so it is incorrect to say that he fall miserably short 

ROTFLMAO

you should have just admitted you were wrong Abu... 

Oh and BTW I have seen reports from Al J and yes they were biased and wrong and yes they were just the mouth piece for terrorists of the Islamic persuasion.  A fact you have failed miserably to refute.

tallowood wrote on Feb 6^th, 2009 at 8:57am:


Its no surprise that you find is pathetic ramblings so impressive. Simple minds are impressed by simple posts.