Al-Jazeera Link Archive - 2003

'Bin Laden Tape' Warns U.S.
BBC/October 18, 2003

A message attributed to Osama Bin Laden has called on the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq and warned of more suicide attacks in and outside the U.S. The audio tape message, broadcast by Al-Jazeera, praises the continuing violence against U.S. forces in Iraq. Full text of the message and more articles.

The war on al-Jazeera: The US is determined to suppress the independent Arab media
Dima Tareq Tahboub / Saturday October 4, 2003 / The Guardian

When my husband decided to go to Baghdad, he knew that I would protest. He told me that I was exaggerating the risks; that there was nothing to be afraid of because he was a reporter, an objective witness, neither on this nor that side, and because of that was protected by world protocol. He bid us farewell, apologising for having been so busy. He promised to make it up to me and our daughter, Fatimah, when he returned.

Al-Jazeera Airs Scoops Despite Criticism
September 11, 2003 / SARAH EL DEEB, AP

Al-Jazeera has come under criticism and even military attack, and now one of its star reporters is charged with being an al-Qaida member.

But instead of taking a low profile, the Arab television station aired another controversial scoop: what appears to be new footage of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden

Adnan al-Sharif, the station's manager, said in an interview Thursday that criticism - from Arab governments unused to having their points of view challenged, as well as from U.S. officials who accuse the station of giving terrorists a platform - will not force Al-Jazeera to change. Al-Jazeera is willing to pay "the price of success," he said.

Spanish judge orders Al-Jazeera reporter to jail
September 11, 2003 / Madrid, Spain / AP

A Spanish judge on Thursday formally charged a top reporter for Al-Jazeera of being a member of al-Qaida, saying he carried out "support, financing and coordination" for the terrorist network.

Investigating judge Baltasar Garzon charged Tayssir Alouni, 48, with membership in an armed group and ordered him held in the high-security Soto del Real prison near Madrid after a 72- hour extension of his arrest expired, the National Court said. Alouni was not present during the hearing.

...Alouni's wife, Fatima Zohra Hamed Layesi, burst into tears upon learning the news.

...Al-Jazeera sent a letter this week to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar calling on him to release Alouni.

"On several occasions Western journalists met secretly with secret organizations and they were not subjected to any legal action because they were doing their job, so why is Alouni being excluded?," the letter said.

Protests at arrest of al- Jazeera reporter
Giles Tremlett in Madrid / Monday September 8, 2003 / The Guardian (UK)

Arab human rights groups expressed concern yesterday about Spain's detention of a former al- Jazeera correspondent in Kabul as a suspected al-Qaida member...He is due to appear in court in Madrid today before Judge Baltasar Garzon, who ordered his arrest...She [the reporter's wife] said Alouni had treated as a joke claims in the Spanish newspapers that he was being watched by the anti-terrorist police. "He said it did not matter if he was being watched, because if he had had something to hide he would never have come to Spain," she said.

Reporter Who Interviewed Bin Laden Held
JULIANE von REPPERT-BISMARCK / AP / September 6, 2003

An Al-Jazeera journalist who interviewed Osama bin Laden shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks has been detained for questioning about links to al-Qaida members, the Interior Ministry said...Alouni, who has a Spanish passport, was in Spain with his wife to look into opening an office for the Arabic satellite television network, a friend and former colleague of Alouni's at Efe, Spain's national news service, told The Associated Press...

...Ibrahim Hilal, Al-Jazeera's editor in chief, condemned the detention and said the station was trying to gain his release.

"Anyone can have acquaintances who are linked to al-Qaida, and this is not a crime," Hilal told The Associated Press. "It is only a crime when these relations are used in an illegal way and not when they are used for journalistic purposes."

Also see: Eric Margolis suggests that the U.S. may be behind Spain's detention of an Al-Jazeera correspondent, from CNN, September 5, 2003.

Al Jazeera English Edition's Disappointing Launch
Muslim WakeUp! / September 1, 2003

After a temporary appearance during the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq that was marred by several hacking attacks, Qatar-based Al Jazeera's long-awaited English website made its official full launch today.

Al-Jazeera airs new 'Saddam' tape
Guardian / Observer / August 1, 2003

The second tape in a week purported to be a message from Saddam Hussein to the Iraqi people was broadcast by al-Jazeera today.

In the previous tape, broadcast on Tuesday, the speaker, who claimed to be Saddam, acknowledged his sons' deaths, but said he was glad because they had become martyrs.

The CIA said that the tape was probably a genuine recording of Saddam.

Wolfowitz Sparks Fury From Al-Jazeera
Dominic Timms/Guardian/July 29, 2003

A fresh row has erupted between Al-Jazeera and the U.S. government after the deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, effectively accused the Arabic satellite news channel of inciting violence against U.S. troops in Iraq. Read the transcript of Wolfowitz's remarks.

New Alleged Saddam Tape Aired
MSNBC/July 8, 2003

Two Middle Eastern television channels broadcast Tuesday what they said was a new audiotape by ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. "Your main mission, Iraqis, is to evict the invaders from Iraqi territory," the tape aired by Al-Jazeera said.

'Saddam,' on Audio Tape, Comes Out Fighting
Miral Fahmy/Reuters/July 4, 2003

An audio tape purporting to be from ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and aired by Al-Jazeera Friday said he was alive and living in Iraq. The poor-quality recording, which sounded very much like Saddam, urged Iraqis to support resistance against the "infidel" U.S. presence and not to aid the occupiers. Transcript.

Al-Jazeera's English Web Site Launch Soon
Shadiah Abdullah/Gulf News/June 30, 2003

Abdulaziz Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, Chief Editor, AlJazeera.net, refused to give an exact date of the launch preferring to say "end of summer this year." As to why they did not launch as was reported in the media, he said that somebody must have mistakenly suggested the launch as the beginning of this year.

Al-Jazeera Hacker Pleads Guilty
Paul Roberts/IDG News Service/June 12, 2003

A 24-year-old California man has pleaded guilty to charges that he hijacked the Internet domain of Al-Jazeera in March. The U.S. Attorney's office filed the deal with John William Racine II, a Web designer in Norco, California. The charges stem from an attack that left Al-Jazeera without control of its own Web site. Visitors to that site instead were forwarded to site displaying words and images in support of U.S. troops.

Landlord Snubs Al-Jazeera
Neil Irwin/Washington Post/June 9, 2003

Al-Jazeera may be watched in millions of homes in the Arab world, but finding a home in Washington hasn't been easy. The network wants to sublease 17,000 square feet of studio space from a television production company, but landlord Cafritz Co. denied permission for the sublease, describing Al-Jazeera and its television production arm in a letter as "potentially being a target for people who do not understand or do not agree with its business principles and philosophies of those of its ownership."

Al-Jazeera returns to NY stock exchange
The Guardian / UK / May 1, 2003

Al-Jazeera is to be readmitted to the New York stock exchange more than a month after reporters from the Arabic TV station were banned.

An NYSE spokesman confirmed today that two of its reporters would return to the trading floor on Monday.

Al-Jazeera rocks, rolls and reports
Workingforchange.com / Bill Berkowitz / April 23, 2003

Qatar-based satellite network stays the course despite U.S. bombs, Pentagon attacks and Wall Street eviction

If you're looking for complete coverage of the "regime change" phase of President Bush's Invasion of Iraq, you will find drips and drabs on American- operated television. The major news networks, however, are not likely to bump any of their regularly scheduled programs (especially with May sweeps just around the corner) for a report on anti-U.S. demonstrations in Baghdad, an in-depth profile of Jay Garner, the Bush-appointed overseer of the corporate looting of Iraq's resources - er.reconstruction of the country - or a story about how U.S. corporations merited a guaranteed stranglehold over the allocation of rebuilding contracts.

Al Jazeera's Edge
New York Magazine / Michael Wolff / This Media Life / April 21, 2003

The American media has an almost fetishistic interest in Al Jazeera and its correspondents-not least of all because the Arabic broadcaster learned its best tricks from American TV.

Everybody loves Al Jazeera.

Even though we've bombed them (in Baghdad and before that in Kabul), we love them. There were three Al Jaz guys in the satellite channel's little office at the CENTCOM media center in Doha-a brooding Moroccan, a suave Sudanese, a smoldering Lebanese-handing out Sprites one afternoon following the three-o'clock briefing. Other reporters shyly hovered at the door.

Bush admin to fund Al- Jazeera rival
The Inquirer (UK), April 20, 2003

Satellite to broadcast across Middle East
A REPORT SAID that the Bush administration was so maddened by broadcasts and webcasts delivered by Al-Jazeera, that it is has put aside $30.5 million to finance an alternative aimed at the Middle East.

The report, on europemedia.net, said that the $30.5 million will be the initial cash endowment for a service called the Middle East Television Network.

Who Covered The War Best? Try al-Jazeera
Frances S. Hasso / New York Newsday / April 17, 2003

Throughout the war in Iraq, al-Jazeera has been accused, both by U.S. and Mideast officials, of being a propaganda tool. But continued attacks on the Arab satellite network, most dramatically exemplified by the recent U.S. bombing of a newsroom in Baghdad that killed a correspondent, shows that al-Jazeera's approach to covering the war - both critical and multidimensional, with an ideological commitment to democracy, openness and pluralism - has seriously threatened the political projects of the world's most powerful.

Al-Jazeera's extended, uncensored, on-the-ground coverage of the invasion has demonstrated, contrary to U.S. and British claims, that this has not been a bloodless, costless and clean war. The coverage has reflected the Arab recognition that the Saddam Hussein dictatorship was a tragedy, but it has also questioned the claim that the war has been motivated by interest in regional democracy and liberation.

Al-Jazeera's cash crisis
Brian Wheeler / BBC / UK / April 7, 2003

By any conventional measure, Arab news service Al-Jazeera should be a runaway commercial success. The station has provoked fury in London, Washington and Baghdad with its no-holds-barred coverage of the war in Iraq. But it remains the news source of choice in 35 million Arabic-speaking homes around the world. In Europe, Al-Jazeera subscriptions have doubled since the start of hostilities. And its English language website was among the most searched-for items on the web last week. Yet Al-Jazeera remains perilously short of cash.

Al-Jazeera crew attacked in Detroit
Guardian, UK / April 10, 2003

An al-Jazeera reporter had to be rescued from a crowd of Iraqi Americans celebrating the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime after they turned on him and his cameraman.

Nezam Mahdawi, Washington correspondent for the Arabic-language broadcaster, was set upon by angry demonstrators in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, where he had travelled to cover the spontaneous demonstration.

Al-Jazeera broadcasts to US
BBC, April 9, 2003

Independent Arab television station Al- Jazeera has reached a deal to transmit its news reports on cable in the US. The station, one of the most-watched channels in the Arab world, has come in for fierce criticism for some of its coverage of the war on Iraq. Critics hit out at its use of images of dead coalition soldiers and prisoners of war. But others view it as one of the only news channels which gives a Arab perspective on the fighting.

Arab fury over al-Jazeera death
London Times / April 9, 2003

ARABS reacted with rage and bitterness to the killing yesterday of an al-Jazeera correspondent in an American airstrike, accusing Washington of deliberately attempting to silence the Qatar-based news channel.

The death of Tariq Ayoub, a familiar face to millions of Arabs who watch al-Jazeera's coverage of the war in Iraq, struck a raw nerve and added to the anger already felt across the Arab world at the US-led invasion of Iraq. His death brought the total of media personnel killed in the war to 12.

Al-Jazeera reporter killed
CNN / April 8, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Al- Jazeera TV says one of its journalists was killed Tuesday when a U.S. airstrike hit a building housing Arab media, the Arab network said.

The reporter, identified as Tariq Ayoub, was carried along the street in a blanket before being placed in the back of an Abu Dhabi TV vehicle and being rushed off for medical treatment.

An Al-Jazeera reporter on-air said he felt, as did his colleagues, the U.S. strike was a deliberate attack against the network, since two missiles hit the building, not one, and that the raid happened at about the same time Abu Dhabi TV offices were hit.

Read the Al Jazeera report on the attack.

Al Jazeera and the Net - free speech, but don't say that
John Lettice / The Register / UK / 07/04/2003

Al Jazeera protests, in fairly mild terms, that it is "increasingly appearing to be subject to a campaign designed at limiting its access to Western audiences," and this does look awfully like the truth.

Al-Jazeera's approach favored by many Arab-Americans
Haitham Haddadin, Reuters, April 3, 2003

NEW YORK, April 3 (Reuters) - Perched atop a hillside road, the Khourys' red brick house in a New York suburb blends into a neighborhood that's picture-perfect Americana: green lawns, kids playing baseball and Old Glory fluttering in the wind. But inside, something is different. The family's 36-inch (90-cm) television beams images that bring tears to Ray Khoury's eyes. Khoury gets what he calls an "unfiltered" view of the Iraq war -- with vivid images of death, destruction and gore - - beamed by the controversial al-Jazeera network and other Arabic satellite stations. The picture he and thousands of other Arab-Americans are getting is a world away from the version most Americans see, they say.

In the Line of Fire
Peter Carlson/Washington Post/April 3, 2003

Hafez Mirazi looks a little haggard, but that's not surprising. He's the Washington bureau chief of Al-Jazeera and he's had a tough couple of weeks. First, American and British military brass denounced al-Jazeera for showing video of coalition casualties and POWs. Then the New York Stock Exchange ejected Al-Jazeera's financial reporters. Then the network's English-language Web site debuted, only to be hit by computer hackers.

Al-Jazeera: It's Just as Fair as CNN
Chris Suellentrop/Slate/April 2, 2003

If you doubt that Al Jazeera is the clear winner of the Iraq war so far (other than U.S. forces), check out the most recent Lycos 50, a tally of the most-searched-for words and phrases on the Lycos search engine.

Al Jazeera's English Website, 25 March 2003
The Memory Hole

The "CNN of the Arab world" has been knocked offline, but this mirror presents Al Jazeera's English-language Website as it was the day before it went down.

Al-Jazeera: view from the inside
March 30 2003, Steve Dow, The Age, Melbourne, Australia

On al-Jazeera television, a reputed audience of 45 million in the Arab world are being fed a daily diet of bloodied Iraqi corpses, civilians crying and unfettered live speeches by officials, Al-Jazeera's reporter in Australia, Sydney-based journalist Salef Saqqaf, 45, says that is the way the viewers like it. He says many Arabs can balance this picture by also watching CNN, which ignores the bloody bodies and instead has reporters embedded with United States troops on the battlefront.

Why Al Jazeera Matters
New York Times, Editorial, March 30, 2003

In August 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, precipitating the first Persian Gulf war, state-run media in the Arab world suppressed the news for three days. Today, word of such an attack would be out within minutes because of a television station called Al Jazeera. Financed by the iconoclastic emir of Qatar, the gulf state where our war operations are based, Al Jazeera is the only independent broadcasting voice in the Arab world, watched by 35 million people. That is why the decision by the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq to bar the station's reporters is so repugnant.

Al-Jazeera defends images,won't censor war horror
Jim Wolf (Reuters); DOHA, Qatar, March 30, 2003

Blasted by Washington and London for beaming distressing pictures from Iraq, al-Jazeera television said on Sunday it would not censor the horrors of war. "I think the audience has the right to see all aspects of the battle," said Jihad Ballout, spokesman for the Qatar- based Jazeera, seen by many as being a major influence in shaping Arab opinion over the U.S.-led war. The 24-hour, Arabic-language, broadcaster deliberated carefully before beaming pictures that could be especially troublesome to viewers, he said, and denied any political bias.

Al-Jazeera tells the truth about war
Comment, Faisal Bodi, Friday March 28, 2003, The Guardian

My station is a threat to American media control - and they know it

Last month, when it became clear that the US-led drive to war was irreversible, I - like many other British journalists - relocated to Qatar for a ringside seat. But I am an Islamist journalist, so while the others bedded down at the £1m media centre at US central command in As-Sayliyah, I found a more humble berth in the capital Doha, working for the internet arm of al-Jazeera.

Hack Attack Hits Al-Jazeera Site for Showing U.S. Dead
Bob Mims, The Salt Lake Tribune, March 28, 2003

'DNS Poisoning' method of attack

The Iraqi war raged into cyberspace Thursday, and a Salt Lake City-based Internet service provider became the battleground as hackers pro- and anti-American launched digital salvos.

Because it showed the graphic, bloody images of American prisoners of war executed by Iraqi forces earlier this week, the English-language Web site of Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera (english.aljazeera.net) has been intermittently taken down by hackers.

Spam keeps Al-Jazeera website down
27/03/2003 18:28 - (SA)

Launch of English website delayed until mid-April

Doha - Waves of spam kept Al-Jazeera's website down for a third day on Thursday and officials at the satellite channel said it was coming from US e- mailers apparently angry over its coverage of the Iraqi war.

The Qatar-based network, which has broadcast graphic footage of dead US and British soldiers, also said it would now have to delay the introduction of an English-language site for several weeks due to the barrage of spam, or junk electronic mail.

"English.aljazeera.net will not be launched until mid-April," online editor-in-chief Abdel Aziz Al-Mahmud told AFP.

Al Jazeera says it has duty to show world casualties from both sides
SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press Writer,Thursday, March 27, 2003

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Responding to criticism for airing footage of dead U.S. and British soldiers, the Arab satellite television network Al-Jazeera said Thursday it had a duty to show the world casualties on all sides in the Iraq war.

"War has victims from both sides," said Al-Jazeera's editor in chief, Ibrahim Hilal. "If you don't show both sides, you are not covering" the war.

Al-Jazeera critics accused of double standards
Jason Deans, The Guardian, Thursday March 27, 2003

Critics of Arabic news channel al-Jazeera's decision to broadcast footage of dead British and US soldiers were today accused of double standards by a former BBC senior journalist in the Gulf region.

Al-Jazeera suffers DoS attack
Thursday 27th March 2003, Patrick Gray, ZDNet Australia and Ian Fried, CNET News.com

Within hours of an English version of Al-Jazeera's Web site coming online, it was blown away by a denial of service attack

The Web sites of Al-Jazeera have been taken offline, in what has been confirmed by the Qatar- based media organisation as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against the company's Domain Name Servers (DNS).

Al-Jazeera Calls on U.S. to Ensure Free Press
Reuters / Merissa Marr, European Media Correspondent /Wed March 26, 2003

Banned on Wall Street and wiped off the Internet, Arab news channel al-Jazeera defended its controversial coverage of the Iraq war on Wednesday and demanded the United States come to its aid in the name of a free press.

Al-Jazeera, which angered Washington by showing footage of dead and captured American soldiers, voiced concern after two of its reporters were banned from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and its Web sites were hacked.

Images of POWs and the Dead Pose a Dilemma for the Media
Josh Getlin and Elizabeth Jensen,/Los Angeles Times/March 24, 2003

As an Iraqi television videotape showing captured and slain American soldiers was broadcast throughout the world Sunday, U.S. networks wrestling with the propriety of airing the often-grisly sequence showed only snippets or still photos.

U.S. Blasts Al-Jazeera's Decision to Air Tape
Donna Leinwand/USA Today/March 24, 2003

The airing of a gruesome Iraqi government video of American prisoners of war on the Al-Jazeera TV network provoked a steady stream of sharp condemnations from U.S. leaders, who said the Arabic-language news network has gone too far.

Press Torn Over Whether to Use Graphic Video Footage
Mark Jurkowitz/Boston Globe/March 24, 2003

Responding to an Al-Jazeera reporter in a tense moment at a press briefing, US Lieutenant General John Abizaid said, "I regard the showing of these pictures as absolutely unacceptable." An Al-Jazeera staff member reached in Washington yesterday declined to comment, saying, "We're just trying to cover the news."

CNN Gets a Dose of Itself
Kieran Healy/March 23, 2003

CNN's Aaron Brown interviews Hafez Al-Miraz, the chief Washington correspondent for Al Jazeera. "Brown gets wrapped up in his own outrage, adopts a holier-than-thou attitude, and is disbelieving when Al-Miraz cites examples of his own network doing the same thing."

Al-Jazeera Adds New Front to War for Hearts and Minds
Vinay Menon/Toronto Star/March 24, 2003

After a day of ferocious fighting and heavy casualties, the war in Iraq took on a grim, almost ominous tone. Yesterday's television coverage was dominated by disjointed images, contradicting reports and unrelenting confusion.

Arab TV Shows Captured American Soldiers

Al-Jazeera on Sunday aired Iraqi footage of purported dead Americans, some sprawled in a room, and interviews with five seemingly tense U.S. prisoners. U.S. officials confirmed that up to 10 soldiers and perhaps one aircraft were missing in southern Iraq, and that some may have been lured into a trap by Iraqi soldiers pretending to surrender.

U.S. Media Covers Up Reports on American POWs and Casualties
Muslim WakeUp!/March 23, 2003

All major U.S. news networks are refusing to air footage of captured and killed U.S. troops. The U.S. Defense Department had intially denied the capture or killing of U.S. troops but later confirmed the reports after Al-Jazeera aired Iraqi television interviews with Americans POWs as well as images of dead American soldiers near the Iraqi city of Al Nasiriyya. More screen captures here.

Bush Administration Cozies Up With Al-Jazeera
Jane Perlez and Jim Rutenberg/New York Times/March 20, 2003

Bush administration officials once referred to Al-Jazeera as "Osama Television" for its regular showings of al-Qaeda videotapes and frequent appearances by anti-American commentators. But last week, several U.S. Central Command media officials accepted an invitation to a barbecue in this desert city at the home of its news director.

Al-Jazeera Offices in Jordan to Reopen
AFP/March 20, 2003

The offices of Al-Jazeera in the Jordanian capital Amman are to reopen. The news came after Jordanian journalist Firas Majali, facing death in Doha for spying, flew back home with King Abdullah II after being pardoned by Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Al-Jazeera Web Site to Launch in Late March
The Peninsula/March 16, 2003

Internet users worldwide will be able to get news from an Arab perspective in English on the Al -Jazeera Net shortly. The English version of the Al-Jazeera Net website is expected to be launched by the end of this month, Abdulaziz Al Mahmoud, its chief editor, said.

The Arab World Tunes In
Tom Brokaw/New York Times/March 7, 2003

One of the most important changes in the Middle East since the last war against Iraq has been the proliferation of satellite news services. The small satellite dish is now a familiar fixture at apartment buildings, cafes and other public gathering places, distributing news through four Arabic-language channels.

The Other Air War Over Iraq
Ian Urbina/Asia Times/March 1, 2003

The war in Iraq will surely not only be a contest for oil, it will also be a competition for television viewers as Al-Jazeera's corner on this market could be up for grabs. A number of upstart stations have their hopes set on claiming a piece of Al-Jazeera's 35 million audience. But in truth, there is only one competitor who has any chance of pulling it off

Interview with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld
Jamil Azer/Al-Jazeera/February 26, 2003

Al Jazeera: I would like to put it to you straight away the issue between you, the Bush Administration, and Iraq is not weapons of mass destruction. It is for you -- how to get rid of Saddam Hussein and his regime.

U.S. Presence Puts Qatar in a Delicate Spot
Kevin Diaz/Star Tribune/Feburary 26, 2003

Oil-rich Qatar, with its decidedly pro-Western Muslim monarch, has managed to remain a small bastion of tranquillity in a turbulent Middle East. Some consider Qatar a model of success -- the very image of what an open and relatively free Arab society could be. But the country has also been viewed with suspicion by some of its neighbors. It harbors an Israeli trade mission and the controversial Al-Jazeera television network.

Al-Jazeera Pushing Arab World Forward
Muhammed El-Hasan/Daily Breeze/February 24, 2003

I want my Al-Jazeera! I subscribed to the 24-hour Arabic-language news network a few months ago. Now I¹m hooked. So are millions of other Arabic-speakers in the Middle East and around the world.

Maverick Cleric Is a Hit on Arab TV
Anthony Shadid/Washington Post/February 14, 2003

The views espoused by Sheik Yusuf Qaradawi -- part religious scholar, part television star and part enigma -- have made him one of the most celebrated figures in the Arab world. His teachings are carried on what many contend is the most popular weekly show on Al-Jazeera. In translation, his tapes and videos are available as far away as Indonesia and Malaysia.

US Already Knew of Bin Laden Tape
Julian Borger and Brian Whitaker/The Guardian/February 13, 2003

The US knew about the latest Osama bin Laden tape five days before it was broadcast by the Qatar-based TV station Al-Jazeera, according to a US intelligence source. The Qatari government had been provided with a copy of the tape by the channel's management and passed it on to Washington, the source told the Guardian.

Bin Laden Tape Urges Iraqi Suicide Bombs
Associated Press/February 11, 2003

An audio tape purported to carry the voice of Osama bin Laden called on Iraqis to carry out suicide attacks against Americans and defend themselves against a U.S. attack. The speaker in the tape, broadcast Tuesday on the Al-Jazeera Arab satellite station, described al-Qaida fighters in Afghanistan withstanding heavy U.S. bombardment by hiding in trenches. "With all the might of the enemy, they were unable to defeat us and take over that position. ... We hope that our brothers in Iraq will do the same as we did," said the voice, purported to be bin Laden's.

More bin Laden on Al-Jazeera

Powell Ties "bin Laden" Message to Iraq
Barry Schweid/Associated Press/February 11, 2003

Secretary of State Colin Powell said he read a transcript of "what bin Laden--or who we believe to be bin Laden'' will be saying on Al-Jazeera, "where once again he speaks to the people of Iraq and talks about their struggle and how he is in partnership with Iraq.'' But Al-Jazeera chief editor Ibrahim Hilal said that his station has no such tape.

Rivalry for Eyes of Arab World
Anthony Shadid/Washington Post/February 11, 2003

From London to the Persian Gulf, Arab journalists and investors are gearing up to challenge the primacy of Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite TV channel whose professional if sometimes sensational 24-hour broadcasts have shattered taboos and created an appetite for unfettered news across the Arab world.

Battle Station
Brian Whitaker/The Guardian/February 7, 2003

With its broadcast of bin Laden's videos and exclusive footage of the Afghan war, the tiny satellite TV channel made a huge name for itself. But not everyone approves of Al-Jazeera's controversial output -- and it struggles to survive.

Arabic-Language U.S. TV Takes Aim at Al-Jazeera
Patrick Anidjar/Middle East Online/February 5, 2003

The United States is preparing to launch an Arabic-language television station in the Middle East, as part of a media counterattack aimed at boosting the US image in the region and reducing the influence of Al-Jazeera, the "CNN of the Arab world."

Second Arabic Satellite News Channel to Launch
Susan Postlewaite/Advertising Age/February 3, 2003

Satellite broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Centre launches in mid-February an estimated $200 million, 24-hour news channel in Arabic to compete with Al-Jazeera. MBC officials claim their channel, Al Arabiya, slated to go live between Feb. 15 and 20, will have a non-sensationalist approach and should be perceived by the Western world as more balanced than Al-Jazeera.

Al-Jazeera Can Change American Perspective
Ray Hanania/Gulf News/January 19, 2003

When Al-Jazeera expands its Arabic-language programming to offer an English-language website and eventually a full satellite broadcast, it could dramatically influence the way Americans perceive many Mideast issues.

BBC Signs Deal with Al-Jazeera
Louise Jury/Independent/January 17,2003

The BBC has signed a news-gathering deal with Al-Jazeera that includes cooperation on the ground, such as sharing facilities. One example of this could include the BBC using Al-Jazeera's satellite connections in Kabul. In return, the BBC is in talks to provide online advice for Al-Jazeera's English language website, which is due to launch next month, and advice on training and safety.

Al-Jazeera: For Western Eyes Only
Bob Garfield/On the Media/January 17, 2003

Al-Jazeera will be launching an English-language Web site within the next couple of months. Joanne Tucker, the managing editor of the new Web site, talks about what to expect.

Propaganda in the Middle East: Truth Suffers on Both SidesBill Greer/Tri-Valley Dispatch/January 15, 2003

Propaganda undermines credibility and relationships with the people when a government lies to or manipulates the news media. Government efforts to promote propaganda popped up again recently on both sides. It's the same story: The public's desire to know the truth versus government attempts to hide, bend or deny the facts.

Go to the Cursor homepage