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The images of dead U.S. servicemen were more graphic than much of what Hollywood has ever shown. But that didn't stop Arab satellite news channel Al Jazeera. After apologizing for the "horrific" nature of what was about to be broadcast, an Al Jazeera anchor explained: "In the interest of objectivity, we felt we had to share them with you."
The grisly footage, which the channel said followed "bloody battles" near Al Nasariya, Iraq, quickly drew the ire of U.S. officials. Lieutenant General John Abizaid, the smooth-talking No. 2 at Central Command who is of Lebanese descent, was so upset that he chastised an Al Jazeera reporter at a press briefing the day the footage aired, saying: "I'm very disappointed that you would portray those pictures of our servicemen. I saw that, and I would ask others not to."
ANGERING EVERYBODY. So it goes for Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language channel founded in 1996 by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. After commanding worldwide attention by airing a tape of Osama Bin Laden following the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S., Al Jazeera has become impossible to ignore.
While it has yet to turn a profit, the independent channel has managed to anger just about every nation in the Arab world with its critical coverage of ruling families in such places as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. And though the U.S. military offers harsh criticism of Al Jazeera from time to time, officials consider it so important that they monitor it in the secretive nerve center at Central Command headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The only other channel shown there is CNN, which ruled the airwaves in the first Gulf War.
This war will be Al Jazeera's crucial test. With 30 staffers in Baghdad, plus others in Mosul, Basra, and embedded with the U.S. military, Al Jazeera has more reporters in Iraq than just about any other TV operation. "The educated people in the Arab world usually switch between CNN and Al Jazeera, but with this war, people say Al Jazeera is more true than CNN because it shows us the two sides," says Talaat Mousa, a freelance TV presenter in Doha with no affiliation to Al Jazeera, which has 35 million viewers in the Arab world. CNN no longer has anyone in Baghdad covering the war, at the insistence of Saddam Hussein.
"PLEASED AUDIENCE." So far, the Arab world seems pleased with Al Jazeera's coverage. Although the channel has angered nations like Kuwait so much that its reporters are no longer welcome there, Al Jazeera's Arab viewers apparently like that it shows "the opinion" and "the other opinion." Indeed, according to an academic paper to be presented next month at a Broadcasting Education Assn. conference, 71% of Arab speakers surveyed feel that Al Jazeera is fair.
Mohamed Mira, a 35-year-old computer engineer in Cairo, says the recent grisly footage helps viewers understand the war. "I wasn't happy to see the [American POW] hostages in such a bad situation, but I was happy about the reaction -- a stronger opposition to the war," he says. "I don't see the footage as offensive. It is informative and telling." Sara Galal, 21, a business student at the American University in Cairo, agrees, but for a political reason: "I'm happy the footage was broadcast because it showed the Americans the pain that Palestinians are going through every day."
As Al Jazeera looks to expand its scope, however, it's finding more obstacles. On Mar. 24, it launched an English-language Web site that almost immediately fell victim to hackers. The cyberattack followed a decision by the New York Stock Exchange to boot Al Jazeera reporters out of the exchange. While the official NYSE line was that it suddenly had space limitations, the move was viewed as retaliation for Al Jazeera airing the graphic footage of dead U.S. servicemen.
BRANCHING OUT. "It's really unfortunate," says Jihad Ballout, a senior executive at Al Jazeera. "This goes against the grain of everything we believe America stands for."
Despite these setbacks, Al Jazeera is moving ahead. Next year, it plans to launch two new channels: one in English and one for documentaries. It's likely to continue airing its controversial broadcasts -- in both the Arab world and elsewhere -- as it moves into the future.
"We've been called the mouthpiece of bin Laden, the channel of Saddam Hussein, the channel of Israel," Ballout notes. "We've been under a lot of pressure to change our editorial line. People who are open-minded can see we're trying to be fair." With a war on, Al Jazeera's view seems to be any footage is fair to air.
By Laura Cohn in Doha, Qatar, and Susan Postlewaite in Cairo Edited by Rose Brady
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