Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West [Paperback]

Hugh Miles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2006

With more than fifty million viewers, Al-Jazeera is one of the most widely watched news channels in the world. It’s also one of the most controversial. Now, journalist Hugh Miles uncovers the true story behind the Arab world’s most influential outlet. Financed by one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Al-Jazeera quickly established itself as the premier news channel in the Islamic world by covering events Arabs cared about in ways they had never seen before. However, accusations of ties to Al-Qaeda continue to plague the news channel. Its journalists have been accused of spying for everyone from Mossad to Saddam Hussein, sometimes simultaneously, and a star Al-Jazeera reporter is still awaiting trial in Spain for being an active member and recruiter for a Spanish-based Al-Qaeda cell. With unprecedented access to the news channel’s key players, reporters, producers, and financiers, journalist Hugh Miles uncovers the full, behind-the-scenes story of Al-Jazeera’s meteoric rise and how its influence is shaping the course of the Arab world. Al-Jazeera us an eye-opening look at a television network that not only covers the news but also makes the news.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The Al-Jazeera television network has been called many things, usually not very complimentary. The Israeli government says it is anti-Israeli, the Syrians call it a Zionist front. Some Arabs say it is a CIA plot, while U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has accused it of "working in concert with terrorists" and "consistently lying." The upstart Qatar network's remarkable story is now finally told in journalist Hugh Miles's book Al-Jazeera. Miles, an Arabic-speaking British journalist born in Saudi Arabia, tells how Qatar's liberal young emir, Sheikh Hamad, created Al-Jazeera in 1996, a year after coming to power in a coup against his own father. Shekh Hamad stunned the Arab world by liberalizing the country, giving women the vote, introducing limited democracy, and ending press censorship. Other Arab media outlets slavishly kowtowed to their governments and were distrusted by the public, but the emir gave Al-Jazeera complete editorial freedom. Its motto was: "The opinion and the other opinion." Arabs were amazed to see TV news that finally broadcast interviews with dissidents and held their governments accountable for policies. Some Arab states retaliated by closing Al-Jazeera bureaus, disrupting potential ad revenues, and breaking off relations with Qatar.

Al-Jazeera was already enormously popular in the Arab world when 9-11 occurred. After the terrorist attack, it became notorious for airing the communiqués and videos of Osama bin Laden and filing reports critical of the U.S. from its Iraq bureau. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell described Al-Jazeera as "horrible" and "slanted." One American newspaper called on the U.S. military to shut it down. Miles tells of how a U.S. bomb flattened the network's bureau in Kabul, while U.S. soldiers and aircraft killed and injured several of its journalists during the war in Iraq--although U.S. officials deny targeting the network. As Al-Jazeera gears up to open an English-language channel, Miles writes, its story will only get more interesting. No doubt! --Alex Roslin --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

After monitoring the Arab news station Al-Jazeera for the Australian news service Sky News during the American invasion of Iraq, journalist Miles decided to delve deeper into its workings. The result is a detailed, absorbing look at the organization, the world it covers and the international media. Since its inception in 1996, Al-Jazeera has been broadcast from Qatar, the tiny yet incredibly wealthy emirate situated on the Saudi Arabian coast and across the Gulf from Iran, "like a mouse sharing a cage with two rattlesnakes." In describing Al-Jazeera's rise, Miles illuminates the shaky balance the channel has attempted to strike between Arab thought and Western influences, and shows how it has become embroiled in internal conflicts and global scrutiny about what's appropriate for a news broadcast (e.g., American media outlets fumed over its initial airing of bin Laden's videotapes, but then followed suit). Miles contrasts these struggles with those of other influential TV news outlets, showing how Al-Jazeera is similar to CNN and the BBC (with its news scrolls, dramatic music and global coverage), yet still unique.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (January 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802142354
• ISBN-13: 978-0802142351
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #867,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Al Jazeera versus corporate news, January 3, 2006

By 

Gregory Warrick (UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West (Hardcover)

Having been born in Qatar where my father worked for 25 years I am astonished by the emergence of Al-Jazeera and Hugh Miles' account of it. I do not feel that he is a cheer leader for Al Jazeera but objective. CNN's success is not through it's quality of news, personnel, or perspective, but due to its ability to market itself and garner huge advertisers into its fold and to make strategic business alliances. Al-jazzera's success is the opposite. It is financially disasterous, yet it's news is trusted by more viewers in the middle east than any other news organization.

Miles correctly points out that almost every country in the region has had its dirty laundry examined by Al-jazeera and in return has put pressure on Hamid Al -Thani to close down the organization or modify it. As has the US and Britain. Both nations have tried to dismiss Al-Jazeera as a mouth piece for Bin Laden. But I would argue that without Al Jazeera the other side of the coin would never see the light of day. CNN dutifully acts as a Washington sternographer and the BBC in its quest for ratings has also dumbed its news down and been very conservative, yet to its credit it has challenged the government on the legitimacy of the war and became embroiled in a battle with the government over it's "sexing" up of the weapons of mass destruction.

But both organizations have been left looking like "also ran's" by Al Jazeera which has shown the realities of war, the impact upon the civilians and the propoganda and misconduct propogated by the allies. So powerful was their news that the Bush administration arrogantly decided that the truth had to be obliterated and for the second time an Al-Jazeera bureau was struck by a US missile and a journalist was murdered.

Miles sense of outrage is quite tepid and with the benefit of hindsight and the recently disclosed knowledge that Bush was openly discussing attacking Al-Jazeera with Blair, his tameness on this issue is understood.

He examines the issue of tainted reporters and naively gives them the benefit of the doubt. There is often very little difference between a reporter and a spy. Reporters are ardently recruited by governments and the CIA has boasted of its highly successful recruitment of thousands of journalists and even editors. It is likely that Al-Jazeera has been penetrated by factions that have an agenda or even governments, but as a youthful organization they are far less tainted than their Western counterparts.

It was good to see Miles demonstrating the hypocricy of CNN and other news organizations whereby they demonize the network and then use its news pictures on their own network.

Miles doesn't really look at the long term future of Al-Jazeera. Which is probably wise. The West and Middle East governments have tried to create competitive news services in the area with very limited success. The survival of the organization is probably dovetailed to the longevity or whims of hamid Al-Thani, it's benefactor.

One thing for certain it offers as Miles says a far better diet than it's predecessors which showed endless coverage of the drollest minutiae in the local leaders affairs of state, usually greeting another local head of state, kissing him on both cheeks and then another stream of film of the the pair seated in a majlis sipping tea, followed by the signing of some obscure bipartisan treaty or trade agreement. This was usually followed by an enebriated ex-patriate reading the English news and then the drama of the days weather report. I would recommend this book to anyone who is intrested in fairness and accuracy in reporting or the media. I would not recommend it to anyone who watches CNN as their attention span may be too compromised to absorb waht lies between the covers.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Six hours ahead, April 25, 2005

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West (Hardcover)

A TV channel that offends EVERYBODY must be doing something right. Since its quiet appearance in 1996, Al-Jazeera has continuously added viewers. It wasn't long before TVs in Europe and North America were tuning in to the one station that seemed to speak with a plausible Arab voice. What immediately distinguished this from other Arabic news and discussion programmes was its willingness to broadcast everybody's views. Although funded by the Emir of Qatar, Al-Jazerra was not a voice of its host government. It kept its news strictly factual and offered air time to voices dissenting from government policies. Anything going on the Arab world was discussed. Consequently, many contrasting views were aired, some of which criticised various governments in the region. But opinions and news were, and are, kept separate.

Discovering the phenomenon of Al-Jazeera had been discussed but had never been given an overview, Hugh Miles set out to rectify that lack. This son of a diplomat had solid credentials for researching the history of the new news channel. Fluent in Arabic, Miles was able to talk to station management, reporters and viewers in various places. His summation is an excellent example of investigative reporting, well presented. By the time Miles began his project, the subject had already undergone both amazing growth and intemperate vilification. He explains how Arab governments find Al-Jazeera a fomenter of sedition and rebellion. Some see it as a tool of the Isreali government seeking to destabilise Arab rulers, while others are certain it's an arm of the CIA. Americans, especially the Bush regime, view it as a mouthpiece for terrorist societies and probably anti-Isreal. Viewers, Miles finds, all have their own opinions about Al-Jazeera's political orientation, but still make it their first choice for Middle East news.

The key event in Al-Jazeera's progress was, of course, the 9/11 attacks on the WTC and Pentagon. Any news from the Arab world suddenly became of great importance and Al-Jazeera was clearly the leading voice. That situation probably led Al-Queda to use it as a conveyance for pronouncements to the world. Al-Queda tapes broadcast on Al-Jazeera immediately led to the branding of the station as a "voice of terrorism". Station management laughs at that, particularly when the western news channels are breaking down the doors to use Al-Jazeera news clips they cannot obtain elsewhere. The competition at one point was stiff enough to lead CNN to write a contract giving it Al-Jazeera video clips six hours ahead of the other broadcasters. The invasion of Afghanistan intensified the situation, since Al-Jazeera was the only news source on the ground when attacks began.

There's a risk being at the forefront of a battle to report events. Americans, certain that Al-Jazeera was "the mouthpiece of Al-Queda", "accidently" destroyed the Kabul office. Later, in Baghdad, more "accidents" occurred, this time killing one reporter. Al-Jazeera was the sole occupier of the Palestine Hotel, which was also attacked. No "accidents" happened to other news agencies. And the attacks occurred after Al-Jazeera had informed the Defence Department of their locations in the city. Correspondents are supposed to be immune from assault by military forces. Iraqis themselves avoided being interviewed because the station was presumed to be a target of American military forces.

It says much that the United States has demanded the Emir "tone down" the station's material. He has rejected these admonishments, both because they're self-defeating and because he funds the station without managing it. Meanwhile, the viewers increase daily and the addition of an English-language channel will broaden it further. Viewers now look for the "golden plum" logo on one corner of the screen to ensure they're watching an authentic news source. Subscription to Al-Jazeera is a minimal cost, considering you'll see news unavailable elsewhere. The Opposite Direction, a talk show airing a multitude of outlooks, may not be as valuable for facts, but it will likely give you information you wouldn't find elsewhere. Read Hugh Miles and learn why this new station is so important and so admired. And vilified. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good start on the subject, May 22, 2006

By 

TGordon "Japanese proverb: If you believe all... (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Al-Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That is Challenging the West (Paperback)

Parts of the book definitely have a "puff piece" quality, but it's probably the closest thing to a neutral look at the subject that we have so far.