Al Jazeera

[frogwoman]

Al Jazeera often have quite good programmes on unreported parts of the world, especially African countries that aren't covered so well and their reporting on Ukraine etc has been pretty good. They've also done some great reporting on Israel and Palestine.

However they're owned by the Qatari government and I wondered how much of a propaganda tool it is actively used as by Qatar, obviously not as bad or explicit as RT but the Qatar world cup in a few weeks is making me wonder, especially since I watched their news coverage on the world cup which seemed incredibly uncritical? Is there much information on this out there?

 

[yield]

Mixed bag. Good on international politics & current affairs but dodgy on domestic issues.

 

[Pickman's model]

The best propaganda is true to a great extent to safely smuggle the intended understanding past critical defences

 

[Serge Forward]

Yes, some of it is very good but it is a propaganda tool. The English language version is made to appear more "liberal" while I hear the Arabic language stuff isn't anything like that.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Good question.

Mixed bag. Good on international politics & current affairs but dodgy on domestic issues.

Fair comment. Although I'd argue that some of its international politics and news coverage is excellent, rather than just good. They have, and have had, quite a few award-winning journalists, and some of their news coverage has won industry awards.

NB: I worked for Al Jazeera English in Qatar more than a decade ago, not long before it was announced they'd won their bid. I vaguely recall there might've been some coverage about poor working conditions in the construction industry, poor quality accommodation, dodgy agents*, etc., but more could've been done.

*Many of the dodgy agents were in, or from, the migrant labourers home countries, charging relatively huge sums for the opportunity to work in the Gulf, then retaining passports and failing to pay wages. Seemed to be the Qatari authorities were turning a blind eye to those kinds of labour abuses.

The working conditions must've been brutal on those construction sites, heavy manual labour in 40 degree plus heat.

It was always going to be impractical, playing the World Cup there, hence having to change it to later in the year.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Yes, some of it is very good but it is a propaganda tool. The English language version is made to appear more "liberal" while I hear the Arabic language stuff isn't anything like that.

Yes, Al Jazeera (original Arabic language channel) and Al Jazeera English are separate channels, with separate management.

They do do a bit of 'reversioning', ie sharing some content and programmes, but it's definitely not like France24, which used to (maybe still does?) broadcast the same content in different languages, effectively mirrored channels (or at least that's my vague recollection/understanding of how they used to operate a decade or so ago).

 

[CNT36]

Yes, some of it is very good but it is a propaganda tool. The English language version is made to appear more "liberal" while I hear the Arabic language stuff isn't anything like that.

I seem to remember having this conversation before and frogwoman making that point. The Arabic channel is still a long way from the propaganda wing of Al Qaeda that it was presented as twenty years ago. A lot of the journalists came from a closed BBC Arabic service. I watch it (the English version) less than I used to but it is still very good and seems to have a greater range of international stories than the BBC channel and often in greater depth.

 

[trabuquera]

It's definitely more global in emphasis, more interested in Africa and South Asia and S America/Caribbean than the norm for UK-based media. Some of its journalists are excellent and some of its long-form documentaries are terrific. I get a bit unnerved by all the hypey between-bulletin videos selling "Indonesia, a safe and stable country with good leadership for your investments" or "Qatar, beacon of democracy" etc - there's an aura of state-sponsored hype in these corporate-styled rather lavish inserts. Journalistically, AJ English is very much not on board with being soft on jihadis - no matter what the UK/US gov'ts say about it - but I still wouldn't go there for balanced coverage of Israel, any Gulf country or LGBTQ+ issues. It's a very valuable part of a mixed media diet : it's not as blatantly skewed as Russia Today or the late Press TV of Iran - but it's not a straightforward 'state broadcaster with loads of impartiality checks' like BBC, France 24 or Deutsche Welle either.

 

[AmateurAgitator]

Its one of those news channels that a certain type of person, usually on the left, claims is 'independent' or 'not a state broadcaster'/'an alternative to state broadcasters' when none of those claims are true. But that doesn't mean its incapable of putting out some informative programming/reporting.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Good question.

It's definitely more global in emphasis, more interested in Africa and South Asia and S America/Caribbean than the norm for UK-based media. Some of its journalists are excellent and some of its long-form documentaries are terrific. I get a bit unnerved by all the hypey between-bulletin videos selling "Indonesia, a safe and stable country with good leadership for your investments" or "Qatar, beacon of democracy" etc - there's an aura of state-sponsored hype in these corporate-styled rather lavish inserts. Journalistically, AJ English is very much not on board with being soft on jihadis - no matter what the UK/US gov'ts say about it - but I still wouldn't go there for balanced coverage of Israel, any Gulf country or LGBTQ+ issues. It's a very valuable part of a mixed media diet : it's not as blatantly skewed as Russia Today or the late Press TV of Iran - but it's not a straightforward 'state broadcaster with loads of impartiality checks' like BBC, France 24 or Deutsche Welle either.

The BBC isn't impartial, it's the State broadcaster and generally toes the line, not least because the government can cut it's funding.

It's a propaganda service. They all are.