Having never heard of Al Jazeera before my tutorial I
clearly am pretty inexperienced in knowing their type of broadcasting; the Fox
News style of propaganda I am much more familiar with.
At first I thought that Al Jazeera is a counter to the
western media of Fox News for simply believing that they publish the other side
of the news. However at a second glance I see that it is far more similar to
Fox News than first thought.
Just as Fox News has been accused of biased news coverage in
the western world, so too has Al Jazeera in their coverage of the Syrian
uprise.
Early in 2011, Al Jazeera were reporting on the conflict
occurring in Syria, during that time they were criticised in their broadcast
for supporting the rebels and foul mouthing the Syrian government.
Furthermore, they were similarly accused of fabricating many
stories to agree the Emir of Qatar who is believed to have influence in the
broadcasting.
Something that sounds far too familiar within the Fox News
Network and Rupert Murdoch’s control.
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| http://thinkpress.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/media-bias.jpg |
“There is a fine line between a real reporting biased and
presenting the news from an Arab point of view to Arab viewers throughout the
world” (El-Narawy & Iskander, 2003:54)
So is Al Jazeera just reporting Arab news consistently to the
Arab world? Or being biased through the potential bribery from the Emir of
Qatar?
In my opinion, while Al Jazeera attempts to report ‘the
other side of the news’ they continue to be selective in the stories that they
report, ultimately mirroring the propaganda used by Fox News.
References:
Al Jazeera 2012, 'Al Jazeera', retrieved 30 August <http://www.aljazeera.com/>
El-Nawawy, M. 2003, ‘The battle for the Arab mind’, Al-Jazeera, the story of the network that is rattling governments and redefining modern journalism 2003, Westview Press, Boulder CO, pp. 45-69, 217-218
This was a good discussion on Al-Jazeera and their somewhat overlooked similarities with Fox News. I agree that too often it is seen as this source of news that is un-biased and un-controlled. But it is still seen that certain government forces and the Taliban have the ability to influence its content. I like how you compared this to Rupert Murdoch, and how he controls information in his media. That was a real challenge in the News of the World scandal.
ReplyDeleteI like your use of a range of sources, and tying these in with your own opinions. It shows good research and also understanding of the issue. Nice work.