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Last year the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) introduced unprecedented legislation to tackle the threat of Al-Jazeera being broadcast in Canada. It could not bar the controversial Arabic language satellite news station outright—technically, since Al-Jazeera had not yet actually been broadcast in Canada, it could not yet have committed a crime and banning it would contravene a basic right to freedom of expression—but in order to protect viewers from anti-Semitic material, the Commission said that the channel's distributors would be held responsible for its content.
This stringent and exceptional legislation meant distributors would be obliged to monitor Al-Jazeera's output, its news and programs, twenty-four hours a day and keep records for a specific amount of time. What this meant in practice was that it was highly unlikely anyone would want to distribute the Al-Jazeera signal, as the responsibility and associated financial burden of complying with these rules would be too great. The result of these conditions, said Michael Hennessy, president of the Canadian Cable Television Association, would be to "guarantee Al-Jazeera would lose money in Canada." Al-Jazeera has effectively been censored.
Although this saga stirred up a storm of controversy in liberal Canada, this kind of treatment was nothing new for the channel itself. In fact, Al-Jazeera's staff more or less expect problems these days. The channel has been banned from operating in several countries altogether, including Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, and Kuwait. It has been bombed by the Americans on several occasions, has had its correspondents tortured in Abu Ghraib, and one of its cameramen is still languishing in Guantanamo Bay. Although the network seems to rub everybody up the wrong way, its biggest enemies are undoubtedly the governments of Syria, Saudi Arabia, and America. Why, you might wonder, is Al-Jazeera such a big deal?
Al Jazeera is important because it is phenomenally popular, and because it is a major factor in influencing Arab public opinion. A lot of surveys and analysis has shown that public opinion in the Arab world right now is shaped to a large extent—about 75 to 80 percent—by TV news, and Al-Jazeera is the most popular news station in the Middle East by far. That is a huge responsibility to have, particularly in a time of war, and especially at a time when very fundamental issues are being decided upon in Iraq, where public opinion could make the difference between civil war or a more moderate approach to that conflict.
To understand how Al-Jazeera could have become such a big deal, you need to bear two things in mind: Firstly, you have to understand just how dire television news in Arabic was before Al-Jazeera existed. Secondly, you must remember that in many Arab countries, including Egypt (the biggest by far) and Iraq, most adults are illiterate and consequently television news is an incredibly important medium for receiving the news.
Before Al-Jazeera there were plenty of other channels offering the news in Arabic, but the wealthy princes or Arab governments who backed them were not interested in providing a quality news service. They had other agendas, usually serving the government, which in practice meant much buffing of the ruler's ego. Television broadcasts would typically dwell chiefly on what the Sheikh, Emir, or President was supposed to be doing that day. Tedious national occasions would be celebrated at length and much airtime was given over to the shaking of hands, kissing of babies, and cutting of ribbons.
When Al-Jazeera started in 1996, it changed all this. It was the first Western-style news channel in Arabic, and although the CRTC suspects the network of being anti-Semitic, Al-Jazeera was in fact the first Arabic news channel to interview Israelis, prompting a mix of shock, horror, and admiration from within the Middle East. Many Arabs had never seen an Israeli speak before. Now all the Arab TV networks do it.
In November 2005, Al-Jazeera will start broadcasting an English-language version of its regular Arabic news channel. The new channel will be based in Doha, London, New York, and Kuala Lumpur. The fact that one of its headquarters is in Kuala Lumpur clearly underlines the importance of the non-Arab Muslim audience in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. The idea is to reposition Al-Jazeera as a global channel, rather than just as a pan-Arab channel, and it is setting out deliberately to challenge other world news services like the BBC and CNN for viewers. Al-Jazeera desperately hopes to graduate from enfant terrible status to become a truly international news organization, on par with the BBC or Voice of America. Only time will tell if that is going to be possible.
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