News reporting is a craft that requires deep understanding in order to be sensible and relevant to the target audience. With satellites and international news networks, news reporting has been conducted through various sources and been addressed through different lenses. One may argues that international news reporting sometimes addresses news from a prospective that belongs to the origin of the news resource, which does not necessary tackle the news objectively. For example, prior to the US attack in Iraq in 2003, the majority of Arab news sources were excluding the potential war on Iraq; whereas international news sources were expecting and encouraging it to happen. As an Arab viewer I felt that the American/Western media was promoting war as if it portrays war in Hollywood. Although Saddam was not a popular dictator, and was known with all his faults, the US occupation in Iraq was never justified. Not forgetting the recent US attack in Afghanistan as a response to 9/11. In addition to the fact that Bin Ladin has not been found, all make me feel how dramatic is politics in media and news reporting.
To an individual watching local news being addressed by international reporters, one can feel that these reporters echo what complement their home communities, and not actually presenting the reality as a local sees it. I remember when we were following the Israeli attacks on HizboAllah, we were extensively watching Almanar that reported the HizboAllah’s side of the battle news. Some people thought that Almanar was exaggerating with the performance of commanders of HizboAllah. Knowing the military competence of Israel backed by western support, to many it seemed like a failing equation. On the other hand, other news sources including international ones were reporting the Israeli’s news feeds that claimed that Israel won the war and defeated HizboAllah. Eventually, Almanar gained tremendous credibility among viewers and became the source of news that reflected the reality of the war .The continuous Israeli fake claims proved that Almanar was the source of battle news during the 2006 war. Ironically, watching both news sources at the same time reporting the same war seemed like they were reporting two different wars. And to many of news watchers, the 2006 war was based on media manipulation. And at the end, everything was revealed and audiences were able to identify the outlet that was reporting the truth.
Aljazeerah is one of the strongest news outlets in Middle East, yet it is very controversial. It is true that it is seen as an independent entity, yet it is still a Qatari corporation that favors the government. I remember in early 2000 when the Qatari government was naturalizing the relations with Israel, Aljazeerah played role in soothing the boiling situation in the region. And because the Qatari-Saudi relationship was not very stable at that time, Aljazeera was accused to address topics that offended the Saudi Government. In fact, Aljazeerah is a pioneer in addressing hot political and social topics in an open context. Then with the openness of Satellite and networks privatization in the region, many TV outlets were established to only address hot topics such as, Almustakilah, that is owned by Dr. Mohammed Alhashimy. It is not a commercial channel. It only hosts and broadcasts live debates and discussions of guests who argue over controversial political, religious and social issues in the Middle East. It is sometimes accused to be bias to the Dr. Alhashimy’s opinion. He usually moderates the held discussions. And I personally believe if such topics are discussed in international outlets they would have not been as deep and rich as they are when discussed among the concerned people and delivered to the involved audience. Yes it I true that International news reporting increase the international public sphere, but still some issues are just rooted in some communities that are difficult to be comprehensively tackled by others.
I wonder, has Al Jazeera not transcended its label as a Qatari state-sponsored media outlet into something more along the lines of what Powers calls a 'pan-Arab' identity? Certainly, they strive for such an association, to have an audience willing to look beyond their own borders would seemingly only strengthen their standing. When it is 'controversial' is it so with mostly governments? Or with a more conservative part of the population?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your point that some issues are more suited for domestic discussions. It seems encouraging that more of these local channels are forming to discuss dialogue, debate, and discussions over controversial issues. Maybe this is a result of a media environment partially created by the participatory standards set by Al Jazeera. It would be interesting to look at who decides the prompts for these discussions-the local or Al Jazeera...
It’s important to remember that news organizations are under the constraint of being profit-driven, and as such, have to tailor their stories to their audience. International news differs from national news, which differs from local news, not only in its content but the way in which it is reported. News org’s must find the “hook” to keep their viewers, their audiences, interested. And reporting generally reflects a broad range of issues going on within the each country socio-politically and on a cultural level—whatever values of the audience, so they shall be the values of the news outlet. With that said, the invasion of Iraq took on a force of its own all over the world, with government officials manipulating news outlets not just nationally but internationally, and using fear and propaganda techniques to dispel a message and draw a line in the sand, so to speak, of who was on whose side.
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