On 1 July 2009, media relations between the Arab world and the United States took a fascinating turn. For the first time, the Doha-based TV station Al Jazeera brought its English-language news service to a large cable television audience in America, beginning in Washington, DC and then moving to other US cities.

As the company’s director general, Wadah Khanfar, recently explained, the station is now expected to reach 2.3 million American viewers through MHZ Networks, a DC area cable TV provider, and has the potential to effect significant change in US-Arab relations. Though Al Jazeera launched English-language programming in November 2006, it was not picked up by major US cable providers because of the widespread view that its coverage went against American objectives. This new decision marks a cultural shift.

During the George W. Bush administration, Al Jazeera frequently featured critical coverage of US foreign policy. Routinely, US government and military officials have criticised it for what they—and many Americans—perceived as biased coverage and an inflammatory tone.

While many Americans and Arabs hold widely divergent views of the TV station, President Obama sent a clear message to Al Jazeera by granting his first interview upon entering the White House to Al Jazeera’s more nuanced competitor Al Arabiya: you should be objective when covering American stories.

As the President said, he seeks a fresh relationship, one "based upon mutual interest and mutual respect" and " upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition." The new American administration has taken the lead towards cooperation and understanding. In order to promote constructive dialogue, Al Jazeera must follow suit.

Al Jazeera's coverage of the United States has yet to offer viewers a complete picture of American society. Since 11 September 2001, interest in America has risen noticeably in the Arab world. Few Arab media outlets, however, have satisfied this demand. Everyone reports on America the “superpower”, but few report on America the complex, diverse and democratic society. Al Jazeera’s coverage of the United States and its policies reflects limited understanding of the country’s inner workings or its history. This has created a skewed image of America in the Arab world - one which must be adjusted.

Of course, Al Jazeera’s enormous success in the Middle East has come about in an environment with little real competition. The United States, on the other hand, has a plethora of diverse media outlets. For Al Jazeera to keep up with CNN or NBC, the new cable station will have to make serious improvements. This means providing real insight into domestic US politics - not oversimplification.

Issues such as the role of religion within the United States and the decision-making process behind foreign policy decisions are of real interest to the Arab community. Al Jazeera should extend its coverage beyond the immediate concerns of Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict to provide more nuanced, quality journalism.

Biased or not, Al Jazeera has secured a front-row seat in the international media arena, right next to CNN and BBC. More importantly, Al Jazeera has a huge influence in shaping the opinions and perspectives of Arab audiences. In order to compete in a larger new market, this influence must be used to foster understanding and build bridges, not to further miscommunication.

Arabs are used to foreign media penetrating their living rooms: from BBC’s Arabic service to Russia Today, France 24, the State Department funded Al-Hurra and Iranian Al Alam. Yet today, Al Jazeera controls much of the news that the Arab community receives, capturing a large Arab audience.

Yet with such success comes responsibility. Cable access in America is a big opportunity for Al Jazeera: let us hope that its leadership takes up the challenge of providing more probing, more multifaceted analysis that provides a more accurate and comprehensive picture of what is happening on both sides.

(Photo: Enda Nasution)

What concerns me about the media engagement of all sorts in cross-cultural dialogues is the very rules of engagement that get laid down by those, in this case the US, who are calling the shots and defining what is indeed "unbiased." I have yet to encounter a single news media outlet in the US that is unbiased, if fior no other reasont han it reflects the political beliefs and social agendas of its owners and stockholders.
Two additional points that have been bothering me of late and which touch upon this kind of media exchange. Two years ago on the campus of Sarah Lawrence College where I was attending classes, a professor of Middle Eastern studies on that campus, an Arab gentleman and frequent commentator for CNN and other news media in the US, stated openly that he was openly and verbally prohibited in any of his commentaries or discussions on Middle Eastern affairs from mentioning Zionism, colonialism, imperialism, or any veiled references to them. The removal of these phenomena from the media discourse leaves the obvious one-sided and absurdist vision for the American public: the madened froth of rabid violent Muslims who are scaling the walls for no reason and want to hurt "us" because they either have nothing better to do on a sunny day or just hate our freedom and apple pie.
The second thing, which is extremely interesting and from this same phenomena, is the large number of major university lectures by top Middle Eastern affairs and Islamic studies programs whgich are avaiable on You Tube including a brilliant and rousing lecture by the late Edward Said on the Berkeley site. Two things were startling. Their veiled and almost frustrated attempts to reference the above mentioned colonialism, Zionism, imperialism and propping up repressive local regimes, without ever mentioning any of these words. They all were clearly against these policies, but were clearly constrained from mentioning them on campuses where large dollars fund thsoe campuses from adherents of the aforementioned policies. sheepish pleas to "read my book" in which they outline what they REALLY think (as I have read myself) only make the matter more pathetic.
So al-Jazeera is on US soil. Swell, but if all they can talk about is how glorious the US is and how unprovoked and evil all efforts to expunge US hegemony are, then why bother, unless they are getting some funding from the Obama administration to tow a party line that's handed to them from the state department. I'd be shocked if they weren't filtered and briefed and told what to say and how to present the pictures we're all supposed to swallow, I mean, live by, in our understanding of the world.

"Issues such as the role of religion within the United States and the decision-making process behind foreign policy decisions are of real interest to the Arab community. Al Jazeera should extend its coverage beyond the immediate concerns of Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict to provide more nuanced, quality journalism."

Its like saying that CNN & Fox should extend its coverage beyond the immediate concerns of terrorism and how effective the war on terror is going. Personally, from what I've seen of al Jazeera english - its quality is similar to the BBC, therefore, its already miles ahead of CNN & Fox.

“I wish all Arab media were like Al-Jazeera,” – Gideon Ezra, former deputy head of Israeli General Security Service, quoted in ‘Foreign Policy (FP)’, July/August 2006 issue.

Kathy Shaidle’s article Al-Jazeera’s Newest (Jewish) Star was published in the anti-Islam Jewish FrontPage Magazine on March 26, 2008 – in which she blasted Avi Lewis 40, former host with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) – for joining Al-Jazeera, the Middle Eastern broadcaster that serves as “the leading purveyor of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism”. However, her outburst was nothing but to create Al-Jazeera’s image as ‘anti-Israel’ and ‘Jew-hating’ Arab-Muslim propaganda outlet.

Avi Lewis comes from a very powerful Canadian political family, known for it sympathy for anti-Muslim movements in Nigeria, Sudan, Indonesia, Islamic Iran, and occupied Palestine. Both his father, Stephen Lewis (former Canadian ambassador in Washington), and grandfather, David Lewis, were leaders of Canada’s opposition New Democratic Party (NDP).......

http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2008/12/11/al-jazeera-pro-israel-arab-network/