Al-Jazeera Satellite Channel Chief Editor to YT “Independent Media Can Never Work Without a Democratic Infrastructure” [Archives:1999/48/Interview]
November 29 1999
Q: Would you please give us some ideas about Al-Jazeera, how it was established, and what difficulties you are facing?
A: Al-Jazeera was established on November, 1996. It is the first specialist Arab news channel, and the idea was that there was no Arab news channel available in the market. There were only the BBC and the CNN which are in English so we found that there is a need in the market for the Arabic news channel. Al-Jazeera was established as such to provide the audience all around Arab world with accurate and fast objective items, and at the same time to provide them with different points of views about the debatable issues in the Arab arena. Sometimes we are local, sometimes we are pan-Arab, and sometimes we are international, but we provide our audience with different points of view.
We allow the audience to share their own opinions according to what they are seeing. Of course, as with other television stations which are operating in different parts of the world we face difficulties in covering news. If you go to a place like Chechnya, you might get several points of views, but how can they get the Chechen points of view if you are not allowed to enter Chechnya because it is inside Russia? What we are trying to do is to get over these difficulties by trying to interview Chechen officials by telephone or trying to send one of our reporters to find a way of entering Chechnya and getting pictures. This does not happen only in Chechnya, but in different parts of the world such as Kosovo. For example, for about 25 days we were unable to enter and get news, so we only went to Macedonia and to Albania to find out about the refugees’ problems, but we did not get Yugoslavian points of view. There are many examples, but these difficulties face us as well as the BBC and CNN. There are always ways to get over them and we are trying our best. Sometimes we succeed and sometimes we fail totally, as in our efforts to cover Afghanistan, for example. By the way, you can not photograph anybody, or interview an official on camera, but you can interview that official by telephone.
Q: Are you satisfied with your work, or have you some other ambitions to achieve?
A: Of course, the word satisfied is difficult to answer, but in any media you need to continue developing without stopping. That is the best formula. This means that you have to develop it all the time. Our future plan is to put new programs and new services on the air. By doing that we are establishing different bureaus around the world in different capitals. We are producing programs from different Arab capitals, and we are spreading our network of correspondents to cover areas which we did not cover before. And we keep searching for good news to cover. This is the future plan for us.
Q: Al-Jazeera has been able to catch the impression of a lot of people around the Arab world, why?
A: You have to look to the media all around the Arab world. It is usually government media, and government media reflects only the official points of view, be it about local issues or about oriental issues. For us, as an independent television station, we do not need to reflect the official points of view. We present the official point of view as one point of view, but there is usually somebody who questions it or opposes it, and we also give a platform to all these officials and opposition officials to express their points of view. Some officials or governments might not like to have an opposition figure criticize it. This was difficult for us to accept, but when they find the opportunity to explain their points of view in detail, and they realize that they have the same right as other parties do I think that they are starting to accept the whole pattern of practice since it is beginning to become easier for us.
Q: Have you received protests from ranking politicians in the Arab world against any report?
A: Sometimes we have received protests or criticism which is even harsher than protests. Protests are sent to official government agencies, so we don’t receive any protests, but we receive criticism. When we receive criticism, it is easier for us to accept it if we are doing wrong. Usually we answer by stating our point of view.
Q: As an expert in journalism, what do you believe are the problems facing journalists in the Arab world? How can we establish an independent media?
A: Independent media can never work without a democratic infrastructure. The basic problem which faces all the Arab media and journalists is the lack of democratic infrastructure. This means that there should be freedom of the press, and there should not be a loose press. You should have a public opinion which defends journalists, because if you have a strong public opinion it will defend the right to know, and the only way by which the public can know about events is through the media. So, the people protect the media and the infrastructures of free press and democracy which are lacking in the Arab media.
Q: Any last comment?
A: What I want to say is that during the past year what you saw was that Arab media and journalists are moving forward. There are new ideas, new plans and new media being established every day. If there is competition, there is a commercial aspect of the media and of the press, and that will change things very quickly in the coming years. I expect that you will see different voices covering news, topics and political issues than what you have seen in the past few years. We are now on the verge of a great transition in the media.
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