Al Jaz blues

I identify myself as a "democratic" journo of the capitalist west. I have the natural right to look down upon any news or views expressed in third world country media. Especially Arabic.
I consider myself slightly more informed and in synch with what it takes to be a true scribe, reporting the truth and nothing but the truth. I call that unbiased Pentagon reporting. This is as good as it gets.
Pentagon, the mecca of classified reports and the hub of American military intelligence of a country, which was the birth place of human rights and the very idea of freedom of speech. So in a country which has 200 years of establishment behind them, free press is a given.

Cut to Doha, Qatar.

A new voice is born. Al Jazeera shocks the world with its coverage of the Afghan war and 9/11. the Gulf war seals its fate and image in the eyes of the politically correct western media and audiences. By showing images of dead soldiers of the allied forces, Iraqi civilians and guerillas and messages from Al Qaeda, Al Jazeera managed to stir up enough controversy and curiosity to ensure audiences' attention the world over. The world wanted to know. It wanted to know how a middle eastern, Arabic news channel could claim to be the unadulterated voice of the Arabic public? How could a region with a tradition of suppression possibly foster a phenomenon like Al Jazeera?

The Bush administration blamed the channel for being Osama's mouthpiece. Middle Eastern countries like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Algeria and Iran banned it for being anti-establishment. Al Jazeera continued its operations, just like before. It roused the interests of Governments and media establishments. The channel was raising new questions, albeit quite unconsciously, for journalists, media analysts, intelligence agencies, democrats, republicans and audiences.

The buck does not stop there. Al Jazeera is now opening up to global skies. The launch of Al Jazeera International (AJI) in June 2006 is an even more interesting case study. It is set to start operating from Doha, Washington DC, London and Kuala Lumpur, the anticipation is unbearable. However one of the biggest problems AJI has been running into is that of finding distributors in the US. Not very surprising considering the sentiment it arouses in the American public and establishment alike. Josh Rushing, an ex- US marine and now the poster boy for AJI's US operations claims that its not Al Jaz's parentage that is solely responsible for the phobia. According to him, cable operators do not see a market for international news in the US. The Americans are not quite interested in international news according to them.

Al Jazeera has by every measure a long way to go. AJI's reception is open to speculation, but it is evident that Al Jaz will not go down without a fight.