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The Public Diplomacy Blog is intended to stimulate dialog among scholars, researchers, practitioners and professionals from around the world in the public diplomacy sphere. The opinions represented here are the authors' own and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy at the Annenberg School.
OP-ED: AL-JAZEERA FINALLY COMING TO TOWN, BUT HURDLES REMAIN
NOV 8, 2006 - 11:15AM PDT
Posted by Alvin Snyder
All posts by this author
In what can only be described as anti-climactic, Al Jazeera International is starting its English channel broadcasts to North America November 15 with a whimper, rather than the desired flourish. After failing to meet several self-appointed inaugural air dates over the past year, the controversial Arabic TV channel kicked off its service to the U.S. via bottom-tier, off-the-beaten-track delivery services on which Al Jazeera International's audience in America will be miniscule to start.
The satellite service Globecast, owned by France Telecom, has added Al Jazeera English to its menu of some 150 overseas channels on its program menu, watched mainly by ex-patriots living in the U.S. who want to view programs from their native lands. For those not already subscribing to Globecast who wish to watch Al Jazeera English and other channels, the one-time cost for the program package is about $200., plus the cost of the receiver dish and installation, about an additional $200-$300. Other carriers also offering their own Al Jazeera English packages include relatively unknown and smaller program providers such as Fision, the on-line service Jump TV, and VDC, a Houston, Texas company.
In what can only be described as anti-climactic, Al Jazeera International announced it will begin its broadcasts to North America November 15. After failing to meet several self-appointed inaugural air dates over the past year, the controversial Arabic TV channel is scheduled to kick off its service by showcasing an exclusive interview with British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Sir David Frost's new breakfast show.
Major carriers like a Cox Cable, or a satellite-delivered DirecTV, did not wish to deliver Al Jazeera International into America's TV households. But when or if the channel is given the opportunity to reach and touch Americans in their living rooms, can Al Jazeera eventually make a go of it in the world's most competitive commercial marketplace?
One likely scenario is that Al Jazeera will start out to show prospective U.S. carriers, which obviously have been reluctant to do business with the network, that it has a different face for North America than it does for the Middle East, and does not intend to damage any provider's integrity. It would not, for example, be the go-to channel for the terrorist video pronouncements and news releases which helped the parent Arabic regional channel gain considerable notoriety.
Executives at Al Jazeera's home base in the Persian Gulf country of Qatar contend that the network's hard-earned brand will be maintained for its English off-spring. But those in front-line management positions for the international channel -- top-heavy with British and American electronic journalists -- envision an Al Jazeera that offers something closer to a BBC, but certainly not an "Al Jazeera light," as some critics have suggested it is likely to become.
Nonetheless, broadcast journalists, both domestic and international, these days do find themselves compromising what they report to gain the maximum number of viewers.
In the highly competitive U.S. marketplace, for example, there is more emphasis than ever on showcasing an anchor with star power and charisma, and arguably less emphasis on field reportage. Might the model of the new Al Jazeera emerge likewise, with the old Middle East brand taking a back seat to an attractive, glib anchor, who shows up well in focus groups?
Will TV viewers in America really want to follow the news as broadcast from the other side of the world, as the Al Jazeera International business plan would have it, from its home-based newsroom in Doha, Qatar in the Persian Gulf, to one of the four anchor locations in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and to London and across the pond to Washington and beyond? Or would viewers rather hear about the latest on the U.S. congressman who carried his tutorial of male interns to the extreme, or gauge for themselves whether Michael J. Fox over-acted on the issue of stem cell research, or get the latest about the "M" word (macaca) that emerged in the Virginia senatorial race?
Competition for audience share will most likely alter the heady pre-conceived visions in Al Jazeera International's business plan, resulting in a new service that won't resemble either Al Jazeera's flagship or the BBC.
The make-or-break imperative in Al Jazeera International's vision is to make a profit through the sale of commercials. Therefore it will need to focus on the kind of news coverage mentioned above, leaving the sun to streak alone across the globe from Kuala Lumpur to Washington.
Read Comments (2) | Add Your Own
 Read Comments:
Alan Simpson on November 9, 2006 @ 10:20 am:
Alvin highlights the duplicity of the US when it comes to any alternative view of world events. Washington demands the rest of the world watch their propaganda channels, and criticizes the fact that they are not made available to the average citizen, yet gloats at the inability of AJ to get carriage on US cable systems, even in heavily Arab and Muslim areas. Certainly in DC the AJ people are far more moderate than the rabid religious right whose extreme views are ramrodded down every cable network. A choice of views on world affairs would be a very healthy addition to the US viewers diet. But as Alvin says they will probably choose to continue with gossip, football and celebrity trash. Maybe that is the formula for the retooled US PD network, have Britney Spears, Brad Pitt and Pamela Anderson instead of DC talking heads.
Michael Sakbani on November 26, 2006 @ 6:56 am:
Aljazeera aired today, 26th of November, a very problematic program featuring a nationalist kurd expounding his chauvinist views through a visit to Kirkuk ,Iraq.
I have no objection to any body expousing their views on any thing they hold. However, to give the podiume of Al Jazira to un scrutinized and unverified set of views on a topic hottly disputed in Iraq, does not do honour to either Mr. R. Omer or Aljazeera. The minimum that Mr. Omer should have done is to air other balancing views or at least to verify the truth of what was said. For example, it was asserted that Kirkuk is a Kurdish town with a Kurdish majority. This is not true, for the Turkmans and Arabs are a majority in the town.It is also quite preposturous to say that Arabs have used Islam to subjugate and render the Kurds second class Muslims; some of the most revered names in Arab history are Kurds. Mr. Omer has no excuse for neglecting the elementary duty of a reporter: to verify and sift what was said..
I trust that Al Jazira will make sure that such half- cooked reports will not be on the menu in the future.
Dr. Michael Sakbani, Geneva, Switzerland.
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