Al-Jazeera’s Online Presence Still Disgusts Me by Sara jarringAdvertising at The American Interest Count me as one of the close-the-border types who dont see the world as a melting pot, harmoniously holding hands in a Coke commercial. (Example: Malaysian airliners disappearing with 200+ people on board.) So when I see Al-Jazeera ads at places delving into American policy matters (particularly military & foreign policy) -- like this one at the bottom of a story pertaining to government sale of public land to private interests -- I cant help but stop for a moment and think how far weve come. And how far were willing to go. A decade ago Al-Jazeera was behind some of the worst anti-American propaganda imaginable. Do we not remember anything at all? Founded in 1996, Al Jazeera became well known after 9/11. In a November 2001 New York Times Magazine article, Middle East scholar Fouad Ajami wrote that the networks staffers are either pan-Arabists—nationalists of a leftist bent committed to the idea of a single nation across the many frontiers of the Arab world—or Islamists. In 2007, the liberal Nation magazine said that field reports are overwhelmingly negative with violent footage played over and over. . . . Theres a clear underlying message: that the way out of this spiral is political Islam. Dave Marash, formerly of ABCs Nightline, quit Al Jazeeras English-language station in 2008 when producers in Qatar ordered up anti-American programming. In 2008, Al Jazeera threw an on-air party for Samir Kuntar when he was released from an Israeli prison. Kuntar led a Palestine Liberation Front terrorist team that kidnapped an Israeli family in 1979. He shot the father and killed the 4-year-old daughter by smashing her head against rocks along the beach. In footage available on YouTube, Al Jazeeras Beirut bureau chief hands Kuntar a scimitar to cut the celebratory cake and says: This is the sword of the Arabs, Samir. In 2009, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, host of the networks most popular Arabic-language show, Shariah and Life, said on air (also available on YouTube): Oh, Allah, take this oppressive Jewish, Zionist band of people. Oh Allah, do not spare a single one of them. Oh Allah, count their numbers and kill them, down to the very last one. Is it that a majority of Americans do recall these offenses ---- but the global elitists make the decisions and disregard our voice in the matter? Or is it that our newfound role as a country that judges no one, tolerates all and accepts everything -- means we just dont care? For those who are somewhat bothered by Al-Jazeeras presence on American websites, there is somewhat good news. The network is still pretty much a vanity project - or anti-Israel, pro-Muslim brotherhood propaganda project -- of Qatar: Since its 2013 debut, Al Jazeera America has struggled to attract US viewers. Its ratings, averaging just 13,000 viewers per day, according to the New York Post, are far lower than the mainstream U.S. media. AJA has also been challenged to find advertising sponsors in the U.S. While the impact of this may be offset by its Qatari backing, it clearly is not motivated by profits alone. Some of its early advertising sponsors included Hershey, Gillette, and the phone service provider Vonage; all have since pulled their sponsorships. Many other companies, which had advertised on Current TV, dropped these relationships after the acquisition by AJA.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 13:19:48 +0000
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