The coverage of the recent fights between the Lebanese army and Fateh Al Islam has resulted in a mass exodus of Lebanese audiences away from Aljazeera.
The latest wave of Lebanese to shun Aljazeera didn’t do so because of distaste of free media. They have simply had it with their biases.
“I used to be upset with Aljazeera for giving as much air-time to Syrian regime apologists as to pro-independence Lebanese law-makers”, said Mr. Azzam, a Lebanese Sunni trader in this African country. “I was okay with it and thought it’s a good source of information about the other side’s point of view. But the way it covered the Nahr el bared fighting is simply outrageous. I don’t want to watch it anymore”
What Mr. Azzam -and many like him in my non-scientific sample of around 50 people- was referring to is Aljazeera’s portrayal of the Lebanese army as a ruthless aggressor, and its insinuation that it’s acting like the Americans and Israelis. Aljazeera gave high exposure to civilian casualties, and minimized coverage of the cause of the fighting, namely, the unprovoked and deliberate attack by the terrorists on the Lebanese army.
To add insult to injury, Aljazeera refers to the shelling targets as “what the Lebanese Army says are militant hideouts,” casting doubt on our military’s judgment the same way it does when it says “Israel bombed what is says are hamas weapon factories”
Their coverage was obviously very far from the mood of the country, and some watchers might tune back in when things get calm again. But for many, the move is permanent.
“Al-Arabiya was way more balanced, I even preferred watching (the American funded) Al-Hurra” Mr. Azzam concluded. And so far, they all seem to agree.
PS: After reading the comments below and responding if you want, don’t forget to watch the video of Walid Jumblat castigating Aljazeera or read Elie ferzli’s piece and Diana Mukalled’s piece
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The beirut spring is a blog that is interested in Lebanese society and its politics. It started in February 2005 after the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:17 pm
You are right. Al Jazeera has lost all sense of rightness in coverage. They have, to use the phrase, lost the plot! Their coverage in almost all stories has become weird now, although the English programming is nowhere near the Arabic coverage of the same stories.
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Al Jazeerah,
Another so-called Arab success story ushering in the a bright new future blah blah…
It’s really an abject failure digging the Arabs into a deeper hole by peddling the old wrong ideas with hi-tech gloss and to a wider audience.
May 23rd, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Al Jazeerah english was absolutely horrendous. The propaganda and bias during the Nahr el Baled made me shiver. They even said at one point that this is comparable to Sabra and Chatila. The news anchor, even said that maybe there should be an international tribunal to try Lebanon for its crime.
It was frankly vomiting. I am since boycotting Al Jazeera.
May 23rd, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Why is it ok when they are one-sided about Israel but not OK when they are one-sided about Lebanon?
Either you want your media to strive to be balanced or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways, balanced on Lebanon and completely biased on Israel.
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Jim, they are biased on everything. They are anti-establishment in the middle east, which is what makes them so popular. I guess they are trying to copy the western media, which is also anti-establishment. The problem with that is that in Arab countries, the “opposition” to the establishment is the Islamists. Not the left. So, that’s their editorial stance - pro-Islamist. That’s the way I see it, anyway. I think a lot of people are unaware of the crap Al Jazeera pulls until it starts effecting them. Their stories sound reasonable, from a distance, but the closer you are to the source the more you see how they don’t match what’s really happening.
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
The whole exodus happened long time ago when they were covering Hizb Vs Israel last summer! God I hate Jazeera !!!
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Interesting to hear from the article and from the comments. I used to always watch al Jazeera, but currently I don’t watch TV.
May 23rd, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Again, you (general “You”, not only directed at Mustapha) can’t have it both ways.
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:28 pm
“Aljazeera’s portrayal of the Lebanese army as a ruthless aggressor, and its insinuation that it’s acting like the Americans and Israelis.”
This made me chuckle. The presumption, it seems, is that Americans & Israelis are “ruthless aggressors” by default. This is simple fact, you see. But trying to paint Lebanese in that light? DEAR GOD MAN!
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Both ways, both ways.
I, for one, thought Al Jazeerah sucked before the July war, during the war, and after the war.
It just sucks period, as do all Arab news outfits, and most of the western news outfits.
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Al Jazzeera, obviously tries to take a part in any conflict and I truelly believe they have strong ties to Al Quaeda and similar jihadist groups! Maybe Bin Laden have some shares in Al-Jazeera :)
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
HMMM -
HEZB’BALLAH HAS BEEN VERY QUIET ON THE SUBJECT - WHAT DO THEY HAVE TO SAY ABOUT IT ???
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Troubling. There are too many “M”’s on these blogs :)
JW, of course, not everyone saw the summer war in the same light, and thus not everyone is being hypocritical when it comes to this battle. I still remember a comment you made in your post last summer - something to the effect of [paraphrasing] “this [summer] war will continue until they are placed in a strategic position to negotiate,” which was a point I had found interesting at the time.
However, what is the strategy that you see in this fight?
(this is Laz btw)
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:00 pm
Hi M/Laz
Good to hear from you. I am not sure I made the attributed comment. Must be someone else (I’ll think about you question though).
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
Even though I think AlJazeera’s coverage is biased, whether it is the June war or today, I believe it is a moral duty for a reporter to focus on the plight of innocent civilians caught up in the middle of this.
Innocent civilians are dying and if reading such reports disturbs some Lebanese readers, then they need to do some serious revamping of their ethical principles.
It seems to me pretty hypocritical for some to expect the world citizens to identify with innocent Lebanese civilians during the summer war, but are now far removed and unable to relate to people whom they regard as “different”.
We are humans first and foremost. All tags of nationality/race/ethnicity/faith/…. which we never choose but always seem to define who we are, are a mere collective illusion we maintain because our simplistic lazy minds are incapable of reaching a more sophisticated outlook to the world around us.
Peace.
A Free Autonomous Individual
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Hussein,
I believe it is a moral duty for a reporter to focus on the plight of innocent civilians caught up in the middle of this.
The Palestinians who have been killed or injured in that camp are not the only innocents. The soldiers who weer ambushed and murdered were also innocents. If you really want to look at what that word means, then I’d ask you if somebody who willingly serves as a human shield for a group that commits murders is truly innocent? How about somebody who knowingly supports and shelters a group whose intent is (clearly) to victimize their innocent neighbors? An innocent? It would be so easy for groups like this to be dealt with, if they couldn’t find any civilian populations willing to give them refuge. That is the real issue, in my opinion.
May 23rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Walid Jumblat just shit all over al-Jazeera, live, on al-Jazeera!
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:37 pm
Now you understand why Americans hate Al Jazeera. They are doing to you what they have been doing to us all along.
You have my sincere sympathies.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:02 am
Wlak, kellon ertit Awmieh “en fin de course”…
Whenever I hear their coverage, it feels like they are channeling Saadeh with a touch of “salafism”…
May 24th, 2007 at 10:59 am
When I was in Israel I watched Al Jazeera for the first time (the English version as I do not understand Arabic). And I watched a report in which they were focusing themselves on the international media(read: American media). They concluded that they were biased/partial/one-sided and often not telling the truth at all (or only part of the truth). Fine. The irony however was that later on there was a report on Iraq and wherein they went onto the streets to interview American civilians asking them about their opinion on Iraq. A good journalist would try to get all kinds of opinions into their report. Not the Al Jazeera journalist. Only Americans who disapproved with the war were in the picture and the harsher they were on their own government the better.
Now who should criticise who, I wonder?
I was also shocked to see how much was stressed on “the bad guys are America and Israel and the rest are good” (Sudan is good? Iran is good? Afghanistan is good? Cuba is good? Zimbabwe is good?). That they refer - again - to these countries when talking about the Lebanese government does not surprise me.
Al Jazeera is nothing more then a piece of shitty journalism. Any journalist connected to this channel should be ashamed for calling him/herself a journalist.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I stopped watching or reading aljazeera since the july war and how they covered the entailing events and later on the obvious, consistent and blatant bias against pro march 14 leaders. This is mock journalism at its best. Yesterday’s coverage of the nahr el bared camp was outrageous and shameful when we know that the Lebanense army or any lebanese dont have any intention in hurting the palestinian refugees. In addition they showed the fighters in an “exclusive” footage yet once again, scanting religious slogans and preparing to fight… all it lacked was that presenter al qassem cheering them on!
May 24th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
al-Jazeera has been biased since its conception! Not only are they sensationalists but they twist the truth to suit their point of view. I’m so glad people are FINALLY coming to realize that.
May 24th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
[…] The PSP leader, like the rest of the Lebanese, is not happy at all with Aljazeera. He accuses it of being complicit in the crimes happening in Lebanon. He also addresses directly the ruler of Qatar and asks him not to take sides (here’s why the Lebanese are fuming from Aljazeera’s coverage) […]
May 25th, 2007 at 9:01 am
50 people sampled and of curse Mustafa has to post what a sunni says: typical biased Mustapha!
I hope mustapha is happy that the murderers: fatah al islam, that HARIRI and co. aid to come to lebanon to create tensions with shia, and now the fanatics of Hezbollah are laughing as sunnis kill eachother.
Admit that Mustapha: Hairiri and his Saudi backers are F***HEADS!!!!
May 25th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
Hurts when it happens to you doesn’t it? Get used to it if you want to take back your nation from outsiders and keep it that way. the reality is that it can’t be done any other way and as soon as you do what has to be done, post-modern fringe socialists and their useful idiots will label you cruel and ruthless like Israel and the US.
May 26th, 2007 at 12:26 am
This is another ray of hope, maybe now a few more people will begin to understand what Israeli’s deal with in the media on a constant basis.
December 31st, 2007 at 5:20 pm
[…] • Nassrallah warns the Army not to interfere in Nahr el Bared• The Lebanese are turning Aljazeera off •Mr. Jumblat explains why.• Opinion: The Army should be tough in Naher el baled.• Early skepticism. Does the Army have a plan?• Meanwhile, the bombs go on: Verdun , Aley […]