GUY MARTIN/PANOS PICTURE

Transcription

1 GUY MARTIN/PANOS PICTURE 30 NEW STATESMAN 5 DECEMBER 2011

2 FEATURE Voice of he Arab spring Al Jazeera is an enigma alhough owned by an absolue monarch, i s hailed as an independen voice in a region scarred by yranny. Mehdi Hasan visis is headquarers in Doha o see if he praise is deserved We are he news: a joyful proeser in Tahrir Square, Cairo, on 11 February, holds up a lapop showing Al Jazeera s coverage of Mubarak s resignaion On Friday 11 February, housands of Arabs spilled on o he srees of he Middle Eas s capials, from Raba o Amman, o celebrae he downfall of he Egypian dicaor Hosni Mu barak. Doha, in he sleepy Gulf emirae of Qaar, was no differen: hundreds of youhs brough raffic o a sandsill on he coasal Corniche Road. Shorly before midnigh, some of hem recognised one of he drivers suck in he jam: he hen Al Jazeera direcor general, Wadah Khanfar, who was on his way home from he nework s headquarers o grab a few hours sleep. Afer pulling him ou of his car, dozens of Qaaris queued up o hug and kiss him and hank him for his channel s unrelening, round-he-clock coverage of he uprisings in Cairo and Tunis. I wep, recalls Khanfar, seven monhs laer, when I mee him in he café of a cenral- London hoel. I was very emoional. He pauses. In he Arab world, journalism really is an issue of life and deah. He isn exaggeraing. So far his year, Al Jazeera s correspondens and producers across he Middle Eas have been harassed, arresed, beaen and, in he case of he cameraman Ali Hassan al-jaber, killed (by pro-gaddafi fighers in Libya). As Arab governmens oppled from Tunisia o Egyp o Libya and, las monh, Yemen Al Jazeera has been on hand o beam he picures of ecsaic proesers, revoluionaries and rebels ino he living rooms of ordinary Arabs across he region and beyond. In Tunisia, he nework picked up cameraphone fooage from Facebook and oher socialneworking sies of he rios and proess ha ook place in he wake of he frui-seller Mohamed Bouazizi s self-immolaion in December 2010, and gave hem a regional prominence hey oherwise would no have achieved. In Egyp, for 18 days sraigh, Al Jazeera s cameras broadcas live from Cairo s Tahrir Square, giving a plaform o he demonsraors, while documening he violence of he Mu ba - rak regime and is supporers. The proess rocking he Arab world his week have one hread uniing hem: Al Jazeera, he New York Times observed on 27 January, as i repored on how he channel s coverage had helped propel insurgen emoions from one capial o he nex. They did no cause hese evens, argued Marc Lynch, a professor of Middle Eas sudies a George Washingon Universiy, bu i s almos impossible o imagine all his happening wihou Al Jazeera. Or, as a spokesman for WikiLeaks weeed: Yes, we may have helped Tunisia, Egyp. Bu le us no forge he elephan in he room: Al Jazeera + sa dishes. A 45, Khanfar, a all, bearded, eleganly 5 DECEMBER 2011 NEW STATESMAN 31

3 FEATURE dressed Palesinian, oozes charisma. A former reporer and analys a he nework, who rose rapidly hrough he ranks o become direcor general in 2004 a he age of 37, he has since feaured in Time s annual lis of he 100 mos influenial people in he world and Forbes s annual lis of he world s mos powerful people. Khanfar describes Al Jazeera which means he island as a phenomenon. When i was esablished, in 1996, i was an excepion wihin he Arab media landscape, he says. By 2001, Al Jazeera was a well-esablished voice in he region and even inernaionally, because of he war in Afghanisan and he fac Al Jazeera was he only broadcaser covering he sory from inside Afghanisan. However, i has been he evens of 2011, more han 2001, ha have come o define he broadcaser and which have made poliicians, journaliss, and above all viewers, si up and ake noice of Al Jazeera and is oupu. So does Khanfar believe ha Al Jazeera was a driving force behind he Arab spring? He won describe he nework as a cause of he proess bu he admis ha i magnified [proesers ] voices and made hem mainsream. For example, Mubarak, he says, used o ell he parens, Go down o Tahrir Square, collec your kids. Bu when he parens saw wha heir kids were doing on Al Jazeera, i became mainsream and hey joined hem. Yes, bu would he revols have happened wihou Al Jazeera? Khanfar hesiaes. I would have happened, yes, bu i would have maybe been much more expensive [in erms of lives los] and would have aken much longer o accomplish. In Sepember, however, despie having presided over he mos high-profile, highimpac year in he nework s hisory, Khanfar resigned, suddenly and wihou warning. Rumours coninue o swirl as o wheher he jumped or was pushed bu he fac ha his replacemen, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al- Thani, is a member of he Qaari royal family, wih no background in journalism, has lef some supporers fearing wha he fuure holds. Al Jazeera, i seems, is a a crossroads. Iarrive in Doha, on a visi organised by Al Jazeera, and am greeed wih a wall of ho air as I disembark from he plane. Qaar occupies a small peninsula on he norh-easern coas of he Arabian Peninsula so small ha mos foreign maps drawn up prior o he 19h cenury didn show i. Fla as a pancake, he counry s sole land border is wih Saudi Arabia o he souh, while he res of is erriory is surrounded by he Persian Gulf. Like Saudi Arabia, Qaar adheres o he purianical Wahhabi school of Islam, alhough Qa - aris end o no pracise i as sricly as heir Saudi cousins. There is, for example, no legal requiremen for women o wear a face veil or even a headscarf. Wihin minues of leaving Doha Inernaional Airpor, I can help bu noice The Lebanese newsreader Ghida Fakhry on air for Al Jazeera English; he channel employs 40 naionaliies a semi-naked Rosie Huningon-Whieley saring ou from a Burberry billboard ad. Disances are shor in Doha. Driving from he airpor o my hoel and hen on o he Al Jazeera headquarers, you see how iny he humb-shaped emirae is. Boh in erms of people (1.7 million) and size (11,500 square kilomeres), Qaar is smaller han Norhern Ireland. And, of hose 1.7 million residens, Qaar has been dubbed a pygmy wih he punch of a gian Qaari ciizens make up jus one in seven, or 250,000 a populaion ha would sruggle o fill one of Cairo or Baghdad s larger neighbourhoods. The majoriy are migran workers, predominanly from he Indian subconinen. Bu wha Qaar lacks in size, i makes up for in money. I sis on he hird-larges naural gas reserves in he world and, in 2010, according o figures compiled by he IMF, i surpassed Luxembourg o become he world s riches naion, wih a per capia income of $88,000 almos wice ha of he US. The Qaari economy is booming: growh sands a an asounding 19 per cen and cranes do Doha s skyline; every building I pass even he mosques looks brand new. I is ironic ha a elevision news nework famed for democraising and opening up a region scarred by yranny and despoism is based here in Doha. Qaar, afer all, has long been an absolue monarchy. Is emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-thani, seized power from his faher in a peaceful palace coup in 1995; he al-thani family has been ruling Qaar since Bu he emir, a all, corpulen man whose girh was once mocked by Colonel Gaddafi, has ransformed Qaar s image and level of influence on he inernaional sage. In recen years, Qaar has donaed hundreds of millions of dollars o he US vicims of Hurricane Karina; bolsered he peace process in Darfur; brokered a deal beween rival Lebanese miliias; and helped reduce ribal ensions in Yemen. Mos recenly, Qaar hrew is weigh behind he Egypian proesers agains Mubarak and hen pushed for miliary acion agains Gaddafi s Libya, providing funding for he rebels and even miliary aircraf for he Nao-led bombing campaign he only Arab sae o do so. I has been a he forefron of he Arab League s effors o sancion and isolae Syria and has ried, in he words of Khaled Hroub of Cambridge Universiy s Gulf Research Cenre, o wres conrol from regional hird paries, such as he Saudis and fill a regional leadership vacuum. Is i any wonder hen ha a recen headline in he Economis dubbed he banam-sized emirae a pygmy wih he punch of a gian? I is Al Jazeera he nework founded by al- Thani in November 1996 and bankrolled by him ever since more han any oher single facor, ha has empowered Qaar and boosed is repuaion. According o he Qaari media consulan Hassan Rasheed, he broadcaser is Qaar s passpor o he world. A a seminar o celebrae Al Jazeera a Fifeen Years ha I aend a Doha s Sheraon hoel, Philip Seib of he Universiy of Souhern California and auhor of he forhcoming book The Al Jazeera Effec and Real-Time Diplomacy, says he nework helped Qaaris pu heir counry on he map. Members of he audience nod furiously. TOM PILSTON/ PANOS PICTURES 32 NEW STATESMAN 5 DECEMBER 2011

4 Seib hen poins ou how Al Jazeera was a public diplomacy creaion... probably one of he mos successful in hisory. The Al Jazeera represenaive on he panel suddenly looks disincly uncomforable. Al Jazeera is plagued by accusaions of bias. Bu, o he nework s credi, hey come from all sides: Islamiss, seculariss, dicaors, democras, Sunnis, Shias, Israelis, Americans none can decide for sure wheher he nework is friend or foe. Take Israel. Al Jazeera is ofen accused of being hosile o he Jewish sae and one-sided in is coverage of issues such as he Gaza blockade; ye i was Al Jazeera ha became he firs Arab broadcaser o offer a voice o Israeli officials (ofen speaking in Hebrew!). In his 2005 book, Al Jazeera: The Inside Sory of he Arab News Channel Tha Is Challenging he Wes, he Bri - ish journalis Hugh Miles wroe abou how he inerviews wih Israeli army officers and miliary spokesmen were ruly shocking for he Arab public, especially because many Arabs had never seen an Israeli speak before. (Khanfar ells me viewers used o phone in regularly o complain abou he presence of lying Israeli officials on he channel.) Wheher you are for or agains Al Jazeera, is power, influence and reach canno be dispued. From he very beginning of he proess in Egyp, he Mubarak regime recognised i as a hrea, revoking is licence o broadcas, ransacking is Cairo bureau and rying o ake i off air. The nework had o sop naming is correspondens and producers on he ground in Egyp for heir own safey. Meanwhile, demonsraors in Tahrir Square could be heard chaning: Long live Al Jazeera! All his noise from such a small machbox, a sarled Hosni Mubarak is said o have remarked on a visi o he Al Jazeera headquarers in Doha a few years ago. Lile did he ageing yran realise how much damage his machbox would do o his regime. The headquarers consis of wo nondescrip buildings adjacen o one anoher: on he righ, Al Jazeera Arabic, on he lef, Al Jazeera English, which has been broadcasing since The securiy is inense: I have o navigae wo checkpoins, providing ID and leers of inviaion a each, as suspicious guards look me up and down. Inside, i is a differen sory. I worked a Sky News as a producer and programme edior beween 2005 and 2007, and I remember is Oserley sudio in wes London being a hive of freneic aciviy: producers running across he newsroom, news ediors barking orders o reporers on he phone, breaking news sraps ready o go. By comparison, he sky-blue Al Jazeera English newsroom in Doha is sedae. There is no running and he saff represening more han 40 naionaliies (bu wih Bris and FEATURE Americans perhaps over-represened) seem o be a calm and deliberaive bunch. Al Jazeera English broadcass o around 250 million households in 130 counries, no far off he global reach of is main rivals, CNN and BBC World. Al Jazeera Arabic, by conras, reaches 70 million households, mosly in he Middle Eas and Norh Africa. Beween hem, he wo news neworks employ more han a housand saff and have 70 foreign bureaux. I mee Al Ansey, a 45-year-old former ITN journalis who was appoined managing direcor of he English channel in Ocober 2010, in his vas corner office. Siing on a cream leaher couch, his arms spread ou, Ansey exudes confidence. Tall and well-buil, he is wearing a dark-blue sui, his crisp whie shir open a he neck. Above his head hang four flascreen TVs, each airing a differen inernaional news channel. If you look a our compeiors, hey see he world hrough he prism of where hey are cenered, argues Ansey, nodding a he screens above him. So CNN, wih is headquarers in Alana, will see he world hrough a more American prism; he BBC sees i hrough a more European prism. He says Al Jazeera is differen: I covers he developing world as well as he developed world; i gives voice o disenfranchised and negleced peoples. So i s a pan-arab channel? No, we see ourselves as a global channel, says Ansey, who has been wih Al Jazeera English since i launched five years ago. We have been exremely srong covering he Arab spring. Bu we were also exremely srong on he Japanese earhquake. Ohers a he channel seem less defensive. I hink i s criical ha we keep ha sensibiliy, ha we are a Middle Easern channel, says Mike Hannah, a Souh-African-born corresponden who worked for CNN as is Jerusalem bureau chief before he moved o Doha. I hink ha if we lose ha, we lose our specific ideniy. I ask Ansey wha I asked Khanfar: did Al Jazeera help cause he Arab spring? He is adaman ha his channel was no behind he recen revoluions and upheavals in he region. In he pas he has said Al Jazeera is caegorically ani-nohing and pro-nohing. Now he says: The simple answer is we covered he Arab spring; we didn creae i. Again, Hannah goes furher: having acknowledged he role ha Facebook and Twier played in spurring on he proess in Tunisia and Egyp, he reminds me ha i was Al Jazeera ha provided he glue visually and ediorially o hold i all ogeher: The Arabic and English channels provided he bridges ha allowed people o connec wih each oher. Afer my meeings wih Ansey and Hannah, I walk over o he nex-door building o see Musafa Souag, managing direcor of he Arab channel, who says he has 15 minues only o speak o me in his iny, cramped, windowless office. Dressed in a crumpled khaki sui, his Algerian inellecual is a former professor of lierary heory, who once lived in London and worked for he BBC. He says his proudes momen a he nework was when he was old by his reporers in Cairo ha governmen sources credied he presence of Al Jazeera cameras wih prevening a massacre of proesers by Mubarak s camel-riding hugs in Tahrir Square. Souag s ake on he Arab spring is disincive: he argues ha he real impac of he nework was on Arab opinion in he years running up o 2011: We provided Arab ciizens wih knowledge and informaion, [poliical] posiions and ideas... when you give people 5 DECEMBER 2011 NEW STATESMAN 33

5 FEATURE TOM PILSTON/ PANOS PICTURES he righ informaion you empower hem. Bu empower hem in which direcion? Al Jazeera s secular criics, for example, see i as a plaform for Islamis paries, whom hey claim are over-represened on he channel s oupu. Souag, afer denying ha he channel acs as a showcase for exremiss, reminds me ha 90 per cen of our audience are Muslims and hey need o hear from hese people ha is, he Islamiss. Bu he rejecs he charge of being biased in favour of groups such as Hamas in Gaza or he Muslim Broherhood in Egyp: I have asked our qualiy conrol o go hrough our oupu for he whole week and give me specific examples of imbalances, and each ime I do so hey come back and show me ha we haven been biased and, ofen, he Islamiss have been given even less ime han he non- Islamiss. (Back in London, Khanfar is more willing o engage wih he criique: There are oo many Islamiss on he screen no because of an ediorial decision or an ediorial bias bu because Islamiss righ now are he mos influenial [movemen] in Arab sociey. ) Then here is he nework s relaionship wih is hos naion. I is rare o see Al Jazeera eiher he Arabic or he English channel criically covering he Qaari regime or human-righs abuses inside he emirae. As a US sae deparmen cable released by Wiki Leaks poined ou, Qaari officials view AJ, boh English and Arabic, as imporan ools of Qaari foreign policy. Anoher cable adds: Al Jazeera has resoluely seered away from... reporing on anyhing poliically conroversial in Qaar. I ask Ansey how ofen he is rung up by members of he ruling family: never. He doesn budge: We are no a mouhpiece [for Qaar]; we are no a ool of public diplomacy. We have come here as journaliss o carry ou he profession of journalism. He won, however, ell me how much money he emir provides he nework wih bu Abderrahim Foukara, Washingon bureau chief for he Arabic channel, revealed in an inerview wih Time in February ha i was hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Indeed, i is difficul o imagine how he nework would survive, le alone hrive, if he Qaari auhoriies were o urn agains i. Simply pu, he Al Jazeera success sory would no have been possible wihou Qaar s backing, wroe Cambridge s Hroub las monh. So far, Qaar and is emir have aced as a proecive shield for boh he Arabic and English channels. Al Jazeera has come under immense pressure from regional governmens, says An - sey; he nework has, a one ime or anoher, been kicked ou of virually every counry in he Middle Eas. Bu, claims Ansey, he has never been subjeced o any pressure from Qaar iself. I is a view echoed by Souag, Khanfar, Hannah and every oher Al Jazeera journalis I speak o Spring ension: a morning conference a Al Jazeera English, in February his year in Doha on and off he record. For example, Jon Blair, he Oscar-winning documenary direcor, who joined Al Jazeera English a he sar of he year, says: There is a oal absence of inerference from above. Self-censorship, however, is a differen maer. I hink you would be hard-pushed o do a film on homosexualiy in he Middle Eas, There is an elemen of self-censorship, bu i s he same a he BBC says one senior Al Jazeera execuive. I flies in he face of Wahhabi Islam. And so here is an elemen of self-censorship. Bu, he adds defensively, The same hing goes on a he BBC. The channel s foreign criics, especially in he US, don agree. Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media, an American conservaive media wachdog group, refers o Al Jazeera as a governmen-funded propaganda channel. In a blog pos on 6 March 2010, Kincaid quoed from an Amnesy Inernaional repor calling for urgen acion on he arres and deenion of a Qaari human-righs acivis, Sulan al- Khalaifi. Ye he sory on he websie of Al Jazeera English ended wih he line, The Qaari governmen could no be conaced for commen. How is i possible ha a channel based in Qaar and funded by he regime could no obain a commen from hose who pay is bills and pick is personnel? he asked in his pos. Al Jazeera s coverage or lack hereof of he proess in Bahrain has also come under heavy criicism in recen monhs. Perhaps, say he criics, i is because of he hisorically close relaionship beween he royal families of Qaar and Bahrain; he wo iny naions belong o he Gulf Co-operaion Council (GCC). Ansey rejecs he charge of bias and says he English channel has done 50-plus sories on Bahrain. He cies he documenary Shouing in he Dark, produced by Al Jazeera English and aired on he channel in May. Filmed by an undercover crew, i meiculously documens he ruhless and violen suppression of prodemocracy proesers by Bahraini and Saudi securiy forces. I is imporan here o disinguish beween he English and Arab channels. When wesern poliicians or journaliss speak of Al Jazeera especially when hey do so in negaive or criical erms o which are hey referring? The award-winning (and bilingual) Palesinian journalis Daoud Kuab is a close wacher of boh. He finds a disincion beween he louder, more hosile feel of he Arabic news bulleins, and he quieer, mellower, more considered one of he English channel. [Al Jazeera Arabic] keeps you on he edge, Kuab old he American Journalism Review in April. Is reporers are pushing issues raher han jus reporing on hem. They become more like aciviss a imes, very in your face. The English channel uses more neural erminology. Coverage of Bahrain is a classic example of he divide. I s rue ha he Arabic channel hasn done enough on Bahrain, says a senior producer on he English channel. Ghassan Ben Jeddo, a Beiru bureau chief for he Arabic channel, qui in April in proes a is neglec of he sae-sponsored violence in Bahrain. Meanwhile, Sheikh Yusuf al-qara - dawi, an Egypian Sunni cleric who lives in 5 DECEMBER 2011 NEW STATESMAN 35

6 Qaar, and whose show, Sharia and Life, is broadcas by Al Jazeera Arabic, claimed on air ha here is no people s revoluion in Bahrain bu a secarian one implying ha i was an aemped Shia akeover of he Gulf kingdom, somehow disinc from he wider Arab spring. I poin his ou o Souag, who shakes his head. The coverage is compleely even, he says wih a dismissive wave of his hand. He says he Arabic channel had o weigh up each counry and each proes movemen and, in Bahrain, we did so in spie of he fac our office was closed and our corresponden was no allowed o work [by he Bahrainis]. We were allowed o send one person here for a very shor ime and hen he was hen hrown ou. So we didn have he resources o cover i in he same way bu we did ry o do i. He becomes animaed: When people ask us why we have no been covering Bahrain, I ask: Have you been waching Al Jazeera or living on anoher plane? Khanfar, however, is much more blun when I ask him wheher Al Jazeera gave equal coverage o Bahrain. No equal, no, he says. Each revoluion, each uprising, had is own weigh based on is sraegic imporance, based on is impac across he region. You canno compare he revoluion in Egyp wih he uprising in Bahrain. Khanfar is also adaman ha he Sunni/Shia divide had nohing o do wih i : If i was [abou] Sunni and Shia, why did we cover he war in souh Lebanon, which was all abou Hezbollah, a Shia pary? Why did we cover all he sories in Iraq, wihou differeniaing beween Sunni and Shia? Then here is he US, which, despie being an imporan sraegic ally of Qaar, has had a rocky relaionship wih Al Jazeera. The nework provoked ourage in he Saes by airing video messages from Osama Bin Laden in he wake of 9/11 and by highlighing arociies carried ou by he US miliary in Afghanisan and Iraq. In 2005, i was alleged ha George W Bush had discussed bombing he Al Jazeera headquarers in a meeing wih Tony Blair; he Briish premier is said o have persuaded he US presiden ha i was, o pu i mildly, a bad idea. The US did, however, bomb he Al Jazeera bureaux in Kabul (in November 2001) and Baghdad (in April 2003). The laer aack ook place despie he nework having provided he Penagon wih he sree name and map coordinaes of he office, and resuled in he deah of Tareq Ayoub, a reporer. (Ouside he newsroom of he Arabic channel is he Al Jazeera museum a raher macabre, dimly li, highceilinged room. Wihin is he ves worn by Ayoub on he day he died, along wih his press pass, a handwrien draf of his final repor and bis of rubble from he Baghdad bureau.) These days, relaions beween he US and Al Jazeera are beginning o haw, wih he US Secreary of Sae, Hillary Clinon, exolling i in March as really effecive and real news. The sarling conversion of Donald Rumsfeld FEATURE perhaps bes sums up he exen of he ransformaion of is image in he wes and, in paricular, in he US. I can definiively say ha wha Al Jazeera is doing [in Iraq] is vicious, inaccurae and inexcusable, he hen US defence secreary remarked in Ye, in a candid inerview wih David Fros on his Al Jazeera English show in Sepember his year, Rumsfeld heaped praise on he channel, declaring ha he was delighed you are doing wha you are doing. In Doha, Ansey beams wih pride when I menion hese commens. We were very pleased o be recognised, he says. The nex sage of our evoluion is o be seen by more people, o push ou and build our repuaion. Ge ou ino he American operaors. Al Jazeera s campaign o ge access o he major US cable providers from which i has been all bu banned since Sepember 2001 was boosed by he fac ha US viewership of Al Jazeera English s live web sream mushroomed during he Egypian uprising is websie now receives more han 22 million visiors a monh. Bu one source a he channel ells me ha Al Jazeera s desire o be aken seriously as a February 2006 US sae deparmen cable released by WikiLeaks pu i migh undermine is independence and inegriy. And some of he more conspiraorially minded observers of he nework have claimed ha Khanfar was removed for being oo close o he Americans; hey poin o a WikiLeaks cable ha suggess he may have bowed, in 2005, o US diplomaic pressure and oned down he Al Jazeera websie s coverage of civilian casualies in Iraq. Inriguingly, ohers say ha Khanfar may no have been pro-american enough for he Americans or he Qaaris! The WikiLeaks suff is a red herring, says a senior source a he English channel. There was always a concern among he Qaari royals ha Wadah was a bi oo much of a voice-of-hepeople, oo pro-revoluion, oo progressive. The US bombed he Al Jazeera bureaux in Kabul and Baghdad The new direcor general, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-thani, is, by all accouns (he urned down my reques for an inerview), brigh, ulra-compeen and, by Gulf Arab sandards, progressive. And one reason he may have been chosen o replace Khanfar a hack, no an adminisraor, in he words of one execuive is o provide some order and sabiliy o he everexpanding bu deeply urbulen media empire. Employees a he English channel, in paricular, have long complained abou he managemen syle and srucure. I is sill a bureaucraic nighmare says one senior producer, while anoher ells me ha morale and goodwill is being eroded by bureaucracy, poor managemen and a lack of clear leadership. Ansey admis ha here were challenges from pre-launch o he firs couple of years on air where we were evolving exremely fas and where he basic challenge was of saring up a channel of his size, wih saff from 40 differen naions, differen backgrounds and neworks, and assimilaing hem ino one company, one vision. Bu, he adds, i has hugely seled in he pas wo or hree years. Shorly afer aking over, he new direcor general is said o have called ogeher his mos senior managers and execuives for a meeing. Wha do you hink abou breahing? he asked hem. They looked, undersandably, perplexed. He coninued: And wha do you hink abou your hear beaing? Anoher pause. Silence from he saff. Wha I wan, he sheikh old hem, is for employees of his organisaion o hink as lile abou adminisraion as hey do abou heir breahing and heir hearbeas. Noneheless, does i make sense o have one of he world s mos successful and influenial media operaions led by a echnocra, no a journalis? One ex-employee has his worries. The message is clearly ha he sae will be exering more direc conrol over one of is mos prized asses, wroe Will Sebbins, he former Washingon DC bureau chief of Al Jazeera English, in he Columbia Journalism Review. The DG s surname is no he issue, couners Khanfar: he issue is o wha exen he will be guaraneeing ediorial policy. For he former direcor general, Al Jazeera s 15-year record, is independen-minded and experienced ediorial saff across he world and is army of loyal bu informed viewers will coninue o ensure he independen spiri of he nework. Our Khanfar sill uses he possessive viewers are so clever and poliicised ha hey ll be able o sense any change. And once people realise you have become a ool for a poliical pary or governmen, hey will drop you. Whaever you achieved in years can be dropped in a few days. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera s hisoric achievemens could be under hrea from anoher, more unexpeced, direcion. Wriing in he journal Foreign Affairs in Sepember, Seib wroe of how he revoluions ha he nework helped drive have unleashed a cascade of largely local news oules, which provide more direc compeiion o Al Jazeera. The nework will be o a cerain exen, a vicim of is impressive success and is unlikely o reain he dominance i once enjoyed. I would be a misake o underesimae Al Jazeera and, in paricular, is durabiliy. Is energy and dynamism his year have lef is wesern rivals looking slow-fooed and lacklusre. The Doha-based broadcaser will coninue o be a horn in he side of oering dicaors and despos across he Middle Eas. l Mehdi Hasan is he NS s senior edior (poliics) newsaesman.com/wriers/mehdi_hasan 5 DECEMBER 2011 NEW STATESMAN 37

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