Arab countries consider changing ways they offer news
By freedomforum.org staff
10.29.01
Several changes in the way some Arab countries offer the news have been proposed or are being planned, including:
The Palestinian Journalists Association has urged Arab and Muslim journalists to make better use of the Internet "in order to communicate the truth about the Muslim world to non-Muslims," according to the Palestine Information Center.
The association contends that the Internet is the perfect medium because big money and political lobbies can't easily control it; hence Muslims should utilize it to the fullest.
"The Jews can and do control the American media from The Washington Post to CNN, but they can't control the flow of the Internet," the association said in an Oct. 25 statement. "We saw how the American media covered the intifada, and we see now how it is covering the war in Afghanistan. The western media can't be trusted, it is subservient to big money and Zionist circles."
The association added: "We need powerful television networks in English, French, Russian, and Spanish, that can serve as alternative channels for news and views. We simply can't rely upon American TV networks which call murdered Palestinian children 'terrorists' and fortified settlements built on stolen Arab land 'Jewish neighborhoods.'"
The same day, Variety — the U.S. broadcast and show business publication — reported that six Persian Gulf states had proposed launching a new English-language satellite television channel "that would tune in Americans to the fact that not all Muslims support terrorism," as described by Variety.
Information ministers from Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had gathered for an all-day meeting in Manama, Bahrain, to discuss a post-Sept. 11 media strategy.
In developing such a strategy, the ministers said in a statement that they would urge press outlets in their respective countries to "rectify the image of Islam that has been damaged by some (foreign) media institutions."
At the same time, the group proposed setting up the English-speaking satellite channel.
Variety reported that "the meeting of the Persian Gulf states underscored the growing attention being paid to the propaganda battle — especially by the United States as it continues its attack on Afghanistan" adding that "in the last two weeks, top White House officials have appeared on the Arab-language satellite news channel Al-Jazeera hoping to appeal directly to citizens in the Middle East."
Variety also reported that "the State Department is considering buying ad time on the channel to promote America's position in the Middle East."
As for Al-Jazeera, the highly popular channel was the subject of a lengthy interview on The Wall Street Journal's tech center Web site. The interview offered insights into Al-Jazeera's Internet activities.
The article noted that "Mahmood Abdulhadi, the site's general manager, spoke with The Wall Street Journal Online recently by telephone and e-mail about the site's mission, its content and recent controversy about some of Al-Jazeera's television coverage."
"Aljazeera.net is the electronic version of Al-Jazeera satellite channel," Abdulhadi said. "We can't take the news from the TV and republish on the Web site because the script of this news has been edited for the TV, where the pictures complete the story. We take only the script of Al-Jazeera exclusive TV programs and publish it as it is, without any editing."
He said the Web site receives news services plus reports from Al-Jazeera correspondents, all of which are edited for use.
The Web site has a staff of 60, 36 of them editors and researchers, independent of the television operation, and is an around-the-clock operation, Abdulhadi said.
As to the effect of the Sept. 11 events, he said that Web site traffic "jumped after the terror attack in the U.S. from about 700,000 page views a day to about 1.2 million page views. Then it jumped to about 2 million page views a day in the first week after the U.S. strike on Afghanistan; and it reached about 3 million page views a day in the second week. More than 40 percent of [our visitors] are from the U.S."
In response to a question about where the traffic comes from, he said, "No. 1: America, the U.S. No. 2: Europe as a whole. No. 3: Arabic countries."
Abdulhadi said he didn't think it unusual that U.S. is the source of so much traffic "because Internet technology started in the U.S."
Since the site currently is entirely in Arabic, Abdulhadi was asked about the possibility of an English-language site.
"Yes, we are thinking about it," he replied. "Recently we have received many requests from our users all over the world asking for an English version of the Web site. We are studying this request now, and we will be able to launch it within one year from now."