The violence network (About Al-Jazeera)

[ProgressiveProfessor]

DAMASCUS - This morning, while I made my coffee and eggs, I tuned in to the best show on television. When I went next door to buy my milk, the owner of the Rawda Grocery Store was already watching it, and down in the Sha'alan neighborhood, at the restaurant where I ate breakfast yesterday, customers are sitting over their bowls of fava bean soup, eyes glued to the screen. Millions across the region are following it along with us.

The show is the conflict in Gaza. On Al-Jazeera. Israel has restricted international reporters and camera crews from Gaza, so the Qatari network is one of the few international media outlets to have a full, working bureau inside Gaza City.

Even if CNN could sneak a camera crew through the checkpoints, it's hard to imagine they would produce anything like what's on Al-Jazeera - an all-day, ever-shifting drama that throws war in your face with all its gruesome cruelty. It is openly partisan, almost never showing Israeli deaths or injuries. It is also provocative and upsetting in a way that looks nothing like news in the West. Their broadcasts routinely feature mutilated corpses being pulled from the scene of an explosion, or hospital interviews with maimed children, who bemoan the loss of their siblings or their parents - often killed in front of their eyes. Al-Jazeera splices archival footage into the live shots, weaving interviews and expertly produced montages into a devastating narrative you can follow from the comfort of your own home.

This is news without even the pretense of impartiality. After several days of following the Al-Jazeera coverage of Gaza, I've never seen a live interview with an Israeli, neither a politician nor a civilian. In the Al-Jazeera version, the Gaza conflict has only two participants: the Israeli army - an impersonal force represented as tanks and planes on the map - and the Palestinian civilians, often shown entering the hospital on makeshift stretchers. There are few Hamas rockets and no Israeli families. It's not hard to see why Al-Jazeera is accused of deliberately inflaming regional enmity and instability.
===================================================================================
From Boston.com: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/01/18/the_violence_network/?page=full

Interesting read, contrasts with the way other organizations are covering Gaza.

[sam sarrha]

1. well, is it informative, knowing it's limited context ..

[shaayecanaan]

2. Quite a silly article...

al-Jazeera frequently shows interviews with Israeli spokespersons and politicians - it is notable as the only Arab media outlet that regularly does so.

I've only been watching it for an hour or so after work each day these last two weeks and even so I've caught at least two such interviews. I can only presume that the author of this piece didnt watch it for very long.

[shira]

3. so al-Jazeera in arabic

reports just the same as in english?

[ProgressiveMuslim]

4. I only get it in Arabic. I'm sure Al Jazeera was the bane of Israel's existence.

Every Israeli citizen should have been required to watch for an hour. There might have been fewer than 85% of Israelis supporting the war.

[Recursion]

5. Depends on what you mean

Al Jazeera does translate some reports into English. My Arabic isn't great but I've never noticed any glaring differences. So if you meant that, the answer is "yes".

Al Jazeera English has an entirely different news department, though it shares Al Jazeera's newswires. It also has a different audience; their editorial decisions are different and more geared towards European audiences. So if you meant AJE, the answer is "no".

[shaayecanaan]

7. Recently, its been similar...

Usually the English version has a lot more talking-heads crap on it - for instance, David Frost (of Frost/Nixon fame) has a shoot-the-shit program where he interviews topical personalities like the guy from Simply Red. Remember him? Its pretty painful stuff. Recently with the Gaza war there's been more news coverage and so the English version has more closely resembled the Arabic version.

As far as I can tell, usually the English dispatch people interview the Israelis (as obviously most of them don't speak Arabic) and then it gets subbed and played on the Arabic broadcast.

[wellst0nev0ter]

9. It Doesn't Help That The Israeli Officials Are Boycotting That Network Now

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/963582.html

[EFerrari]

6. LOL

[Idealism]

8. There needs to be coverage of how gruesome war is

Perhaps it will turn people off to killing others if they can see what violence can do to a human.