It seemed a mere coincidence that only two days after the airing of the CBS 60 Minutes on Abu Gharaib prison torture April 26, 2004, Margaret Tutweiler, the US undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, resigned to take a position in the New York Stock Exchange. Ms. Tutweiler's resignation was as low-key …
Read More »What the World Thinks of Al Jazeera
Between November 2003 and May 2004, while I was writing my book about Al Jazeera, I spent time interviewing a multitude of miscellaneous individuals and organizations about their feelings towards the network. I heard a diverse range of opinions about the channel, stretching from the overwhelmingly positive to the vehemently …
Read More »Alhurra on the Cairo Street
A heated debate rages within public diplomacy circles over who is watching Alhurra and how the channel is perceived by Arab audiences. Polls commissioned by Alhurra indicate much higher viewership numbers and credibility ratings than those reported in independent surveys conducted by academics and Arab research organizations. In an effort …
Read More »A Second Look at Alhurra: US-Funded Channel Comes of Age on the Front Lines of the ‘Battle for Hearts and Minds’
The nondescript redbrick building housing Alhurra's state-of-the-art television studios lies tucked between offices for Lockheed Martin and Boeing just outside Washington, DC. Although it boasts an arsenal far different from that of its neighbors, the location of the US-funded Arabic satellite channel, at the heart of the military industrial complex, …
Read More »The Day Moroccans Gave Up Couscous for Satellites: Global TV, Structures of Feeling, and Mental Emigration
Couscoussière is French for Cass-Cass, symbol of Moroccan cuisine and, perhaps more, the pride and of joy of millions of Maghribis throughout the Great Maghrib. The Cass-Cass is necessary to cook the "authentic" thrice-steamed Moroccan couscous. It is made of two parts: the lower an oval-shaped pot where meat, sauce and vegetables are …
Read More »Al Jazeera: Once More into the Fray
DOHA -- There is no getting away from it. Al Jazeera continues to dominate the discourse, despite significantly improved competition (reflected in growing market share) from Al Arabiya and a step back over the past year from its past tendency to overly emotionalize, Fox TV-style, when framing the news. Nowhere …
Read More »Al Jazeera: In Pursuit of ‘Contextual Objectivity’
Miles, Hugh. Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West. New York: Grove Press, 2005. Hard cover. 438 pages. ISBN: 0802117899. $16.32. El-Nawawy, Mohammed and Iskandar, Adel. Al-Jazeera: The Story of the Network that is Rattling Governments and Redefining Modern Journalism. Cambridge, MA: Westview, 2003. Paperback. …
Read More »To Show or Not to Show? Graphic Images in TV Media
The recent profusion of graphic televised footage of dead bodies, sometimes charred or disfigured, has raised difficult ethical and journalistic decisions for news editors, whether at CNN or the Hizbullah-backed Lebanese channel Al-Manar. In a series of interviews, news editors talk about their decision-making policies on screening disturbing images. The …
Read More »A New Look to Arab News
There is something very important to be said about competition, especially within the media. With the onslaught of cable and satellite networks in the United States, Americans can easily watch a news story on four or five different channels, to ensure they get a balanced and accurate idea of what …
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