Arab TV network plays key, disputed role in Afghan war
Three of the most defining images of America's "war on terrorism" haven't come from CNN, the BBC, or any other Western network.
A defiant Osama bin Laden flanked by his chief aides in an Afghan mountain hideout.
A bin Laden spokesman delivering a chilling threat that the "storm of airplanes will not be calmed."
Young children bruised and bandaged in Kabul hospital beds after US military bombing raids in Afghanistan.
All are the work of Al Jazeera, a pan-Arab satellite television news station based here in this tiny oil sheikdom. With 35 million viewers in the coffee shops and living rooms of the Middle East, in five years it has emerged as the most credible and lively source of news in the region. Now it is playing a pivotal role in shaping public perceptions of the US-led campaign in Afghanistan.
It is a role that had already prompted Washington to lean on
the emir of Qatar, even before the world-wide broadcast of calls for jihad by Mr. bin Laden and his supporters. Some analysts say the broadcast of such rhetoric in a volatile region should give journalists pause.
"This isn't playing with fire, this is using a flamethrower in terms of the potential impact on the governments in the Islamic world," says James Morris of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, in Britain. "This is Osama bin Laden's loudspeaker."
Others say it should be left to editors to decide how to handle bin Laden's prerecorded statements. They cite free press principles, noting that in dangerous times the public deserves to have full access to information about future threats.
Caught in the middle of this debate is Al Jazeera, the only television news station permitted to remain in Taliban-controlled areas in recent weeks. (In a shift of policy, the Taliban yesterday escorted a busload of Western journalists to Khorum, a village in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban maintains that a US air raid last week killed as many as 200 people there.)
In addition, Al Jazeera appears to enjoy the confidence of bin Laden, who has faxed statements exclusively to Al Jazeera, including one he apparently signed himself.
The situation is similar to the exclusive status granted to CNN in Baghdad during the Gulf War. At that time, CNN came under fire for allegedly being used by Saddam Hussein for propaganda purposes in some of its reports from Iraq.
Now, similar allegations are being leveled at Al Jazeera. These allegations are completely unfounded, says Al Jazeera chairman Hamad Bin Thamer Al Thani. "We think at Al Jazeera that this is a news event, and we have to cover it from a media point of view, not from a political point of view," he says. The chairman adds that the current situation is a test of the liberty of all journalists. "What's the use of freedom if you only use it in comfort and not in crisis?" he asks.
The station has been funded by the emir as part of a democracy-building effort. Subsidies are supposed to end shortly. But during its first five years, Al Jazeera ("The Island" in Arabic) has earned a reputation as an oasis of free speech in a region dominated by government censors. Its intrepid reporting, candid talk, and vivid documentaries are unlike anything most Arab viewers have seen. But it has also attracted the ire of many Arab governments - including Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia - unaccustomed to open criticism.
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