Qatar's Propaganda Machine

The Opinion and the Other Opinion. Al Jazeera's motto rings true today more than ever. The Qatar-backed media corporation means many things to different people and is both reviled and respected. More reviled and feared, is our opinion in the current scenario. That fear has now turned to disgust among many people in the Middle East as it goes on air.

Doha's DNA is clearly written all over it. A lamb at home with an activist streak abroad makes it hard to pin down but it's important to read between the coverage to get to the bottom of the truth.

Like other media networks, Al Jazeera has come under a cloud. It has taken a beating. In fact, it was always under a cloud from inception as Qatar wrote the script that infringed on fairness in its quest for regional power and influence.

Al Jazeera is indeed creative. We'll hand them that. However, impending danger lay in its looming influence that spread beyond its country of origin. Its method of dissemination of information has unleashed chaos in the Middle East which is already riven by many conflicts that are increasingly turning sectarian. We're talking of the 'other opinion', or the alt-truth, a term coined and favoured by the Trump administration when they figured they would be caught with 'footinthemouthitis'. Now, don't take that seriously. We made that up for some comic relief before we spell out the serious trouble the Qatari channel is stoking in the region of 366 million Arabic speakers 21 years after its birth.

Back in 1996, when it was launched, Al Jazeera made no bones about the fact that it was ambitious - it set out to be the biggest and the best pan-Arabic news channel. It almost got there, and also got away with it for two decades before Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and others decided to muffle it for the larger good of the region two weeks ago.

When it came into being, the conditions favoured it, the satellite boom was peaking in the region, and no channel was airing the Arab view globally, or the view of international Arabic speakers who too had dreams and wanted to be heard at home, in the West and beyond. The Qatari channel aimed to change all that, and it did to some extent in its early phase of going live thanks to its competitors who were seen as mere government mouthpieces that lacked credibility and parroted lines spouted by strongmen and dictators.

Qatar was a dashing player in the boring media landscape, an upstart which wanted to make a difference on how the game was being played in the region. Its global ambitions and Doha's backing set Al Jazeera apart. Cash was never in short supply as it set up studios in major world capitals and hired the best journalists and techinicians. It was refreshing for those times as it presented the street-side view and gave the common man and woman a voice, helped them project their dreams while playing to its strengths as a newbie that was willing to push the boundaries of expression, but outside the confines of its own country, Qatar.

Nothing like this was tried out before and, suddenly, this television channel was talking back to military dictators by airing the grievances and hopes of ordinary folk who felt left out and marginalised by the elite. They looked back in anger at the injustices done to them. Media watchers called Al Jazeera the CNN of the Middle East in the late nineties and early 2000s for its 'unbiased' coverage that had opened the eyes of the Arab world to the people outside and at home. In just five years, Al Jazeera became the most watched channel in the Middle East. No one covered the US-led 2003 Iraq conflict like it did. This was an invasion and the US had blood on its hands, and the channel turned Arab hearts away from the United States and the West. Meanwhile, a strain of Arabism had returned and Al Jazeera acted as the conscience-keeper of the peoples of the Middle East, all the way from Morocco to Oman. Keep off our lands, was the message to the West. Many Muslim panelists called them the modern Crusaders. Clash of civilisations, they proclaimed as anguish and anger reared its head on the Arab street.

Meanwhile, Osama bin Laden appeared on the channel in 2004, called on people to fight the Americans to the bitter end, which gave new life to dormant political movements like the Muslim Brotherhood. Activism turned to extremism and hate of the West. The seeds for modern terror were sown even as Qatar hosted a US airbase to bomb the very people it had supported and funded to fight the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.

With its extensive coverage of the 2006 Lebanon war, Al Jazeera helped Qatar cement ties with friends like Hezbollah. Israel was already an old friend, and the channel even had access to proceedings in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Then came the Gaza war and Al Jazeera was again in its element. No one got this close to the conflict. Soon, Qatar was funding Hamas in a major way and helping Gaza rebuild after the devastation caused by Israeli warplanes.

The tide turned against Al Jazeera in 2011 when Qatar decided to back political movements and street protests in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia. The 'other extreme opinion' always got bigger play on the channel. On Libya, it was muted and went with the GCC. In Egypt, it gave more airtime to Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi after President Hosni Mubarak was ousted after street protests. Al Jazeera got down and dirty in Tahreer Square, spreading lies and fabricating stories of military excesses. Morsi short reign ended when President Al Sissi ousted him to restore order after a wave of extremist policies took the country on the path to ruin.

In Syria, Qatar's covert support to the Al Nusra terror movement and Syrian National Council political movement failed with President Bashar Al Assad hanging on with Iranian and Russian support.

What was unpardonable was its support of political groups during unrest in Bahrain - the last straw. Al Jazeera's coverage of protests in Bahrain could be termed a breach of security which helped players like Iran find a voice. Qatar had turned its media beast against even its Gulf allies.

Fear and loathing replaced trust and respect for the channel. It's 'other opinion' did not matter anymore.

Source: .khaleej Times