Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape This book analyzes how and why Al Jazeera English (AJE) became the chan- nel of choice to understand the massive protests across the Arab world in 2011. Aiming to explain the ‘Al Jazeera moment,’ it tracks the channel’s bumpy road towards international recognition in a longitudinal, in-depth analysis of the channel’s editorial profi le and strategies. Studying AJE from its launch in mid-November 2006 to the ‘Arab Spring,’ it explains and problematizes the channel’s ambitious editorial agenda and strategies and examines the internal confl icts, practical challenges, and minor break- throughs in its formative years. The Al Jazeera phenomenon has received massive attention, but it remains under-researched. The growth of transnational satellite television has trans- formed the global media landscape into a complex web of multi-vocal, multimedia, and multidirectional fl ows. Based on a combination of policy-, production- and content-analysis of comprehensive empirical data, the book offers an innovative perspective on the theorization of global news contra- fl ows. By problematizing the distinctive characteristics of AJE, it examines the strategic motivation behind the channel and the ways in which its production processes and news profi le are meant to be different from its Anglo-American competitors. These questions underscore a central nexus of the book: the changing relationship between transnational satellite news and power. Tine Ustad Figenschou is a Postdoctoral fellow at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo, Norway. Routledge Advances in Internationalizing Media Studies Edited by Daya Thussu, University of Westminster 1 Media Consumption and 8 Media Power and Everyday Life in Asia Democratization in Brazil Edited by Youna Kim TV Globo and the Dilemmas of Political Accountability 2 Internationalizing Internet Mauro P. 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Mjøs Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape The South Is Talking Back Tine Ustad Figenschou First published 2014 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Simultaneously published in the UK by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Taylor & Francis The right of Tine Ustad Figenschou to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Figenschou, Tine Ustad. Al Jazeera and the global media landscape : the south is talking back / by Tine Ustad Figenschou. pages cm. — (Routledge advances in internationalizing media studies ; 11) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Al Jazeera English (Television network) 2. Television broadcasting of news—Political aspects—Qatar. I. Title. PN1992.92.A393F55 2013 079.17’4927—dc23 2013018905 ISBN: 978-0-415-81443-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-203-06732-1 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by Apex CoVantage, LLC Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgements ix 1 Introduction: The Al Jazeera Moment 1 2 A Strategic Contra-Flow? Al Jazeera–Qatari Relations 26 3 Editorial Strategies: The Challenges of ‘Reporting Back’ 49 4 Reversing the News Flow? News Geography on Al Jazeera English 74 5 A Voice of the Voiceless: Al Jazeera English’s Source Hierarchies 98 6 Challenging the Spin: The Gaza War 2008–2009 118 7 Suffering Up-Close: Al Jazeera English’s Dramatic Visualizations 139 8 Beyond the Arab Spring: The Structural Contradictions of the Al Jazeera Project 160 Appendix 173 Notes 175 References 185 Index 205 This page intentionally left blank Figures 4.1 Presence on the ground 93 4.2 Al Jazeera English’s Southern perspective 94 5.1 External or internal (AJE) sources 114 5.2 External news sources on Al Jazeera English 115 5.3 Source gender 116 6.1 Priority given to the Gaza war (2009) 128 6.2 Topical emphasis on Al Jazeera English 131 6.3 Source nationality: Al Jazeera English’s Gaza war coverage 132 7.1 News items showing casualties: AJE, CNN and BBC 149 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank the informants at Al Jazeera English for sharing their professional insights, honest opinions and pre- cious time. A special thanks goes to the Al Jazeera Network’s Ezzeddine Abdelmoula, Lana Khachan and Sebastian Ford for arranging the inter- views and facilitating access to the network’s headquarters in Doha and London, and to Christina Aivaliotis for helping out with the fi nal fact check. I am very grateful for the support from series editor Dr. Daya K. Thussu and the editors at Routledge/Taylor & Francis Books, Felisa Salvago-Keyes and Nancy Chen. My partner in crime, Nina Bigalke, has read the manuscript thoroughly and given invaluable feedback. Thank you. The point of departure for this book is my PhD research (2006–2010) at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo. My two excellent supervisors, Professor Espen Ytreberg (University of Oslo) and Dr. Naomi Sakr (University of Westminster); all the hardworking assis- tants involved in various parts of the project: Sarah Chiumbu, Elin Strand Hornnes, Turid Edvardsen, Marthe Ødegaard and Alix Dunn; and my dear colleagues in Oslo have all been crucial in completing this analysis. I have also benefited from pep talks and discussions with Kjersti Thorbjørnsrud, Audun Beyer, Unn Haukvik, Ole Johan Mjøs and Alexa Robertson at differ- ent stages of the writing process. Thank you all. Researching this book has taken me on a long journey, to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, the UK, the US, Germany, Finland and Sweden. It would not have been possible to conduct extensive fieldwork, to present my work internationally or to complete the manuscript without the financial support from the Faculty of Humanities (University of Oslo), The Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund, The Leiv Eiriksson Mobility Programme (The Norwegian Research Council), The Norwegian Non-Fiction Writers and Translators Organisation (NFF) and The Freedom of Expression Foundation (Fritt Ord). Thank you. x Acknowledgements Most of all, I thank my family—Simen, Sylvia and Olivia—for coming with me to the dry Doha desert, for the lovely time in London and New York and for providing a home wherever we are. Oslo, June 2013 Tine Ustad Figenschou 1 Introduction The Al Jazeera Moment “Al Jazeera is not a tool of revolution. We do not create revolutions. How- ever, when something of that magnitude happens, we are at the center of the coverage,” said Wadah Khanfar, Al Jazeera Network’s Director General from 2003–11, in his TED talk from March 2011. Interviewed after the talk, he described the enormity and the importance of the Arab uprisings in almost poetic terms: Actually, this may be the biggest story that we have ever covered. We have covered many wars. We have covered a lot of tragedies, a lot of problems, a lot of conflict zones, a lot of hot spots in the region, because we were centered at the middle of it. But this is a story—it is a great story; it is beautiful. It is not something that you only cover because you have to cover a great incident. You are witnessing change in history. You are witnessing the birth of a new era. And this is what the story’s all about. (Khanfar, 2 March 2011) For the network’s English news channel, Al Jazeera English (AJE), the upris- ings represented a ‘perfect media storm’ as the channel capitalized on a set of comparative advantages making them the international news chan- nel to go to. This book analyzes how and why AJE became the channel of choice to understand the massive protests across the Arab world. Aiming to provide a comprehensive understanding of the ‘Al Jazeera moment,’ it tracks the channel’s bumpy road towards international recognition in a lon- gitudinal, in-depth analysis of the channel’s editorial profi le and strategies. Studying AJE from its launch in mid-November 2006 to the ‘Arab Spring’ and beyond, it explains and problematizes the channel’s ambitious editorial agenda and strategies as well as examines the internal confl icts, practical challenges, and interim successes in its formative years. To understand the role of the new and old media during the Arab Spring, it is important to recognize the complex and contradictory characteristics of the wider Arab public sphere. The present chapter first maps recent localization trends in the global media landscape. Second, it discusses the strengths, weaknesses, and democratic potential of the Arab public sphere, 2 Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape with particular emphasis on satellite news channels, expectations of a ‘sat- ellite democracy,’ and popular participation and mobilization.