AljazeeraMarkLynch-2

8/12/2019 AljazeeraMarkLynch-2

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hatchingal Jazieeraby Marc Lynch

Arab atellite elevision tational-Jazeeras theenemy,or so we aretold: jihadTV, killerswithcameras, themostpowerful llyof ter-ror n the world. Shortlyafter9/11 FouadAjami,distinguishedpro-fessorofNear Eastern tudiesatJohnsHopkinsUniversity,uridlydescribed hestation n an influentialNew YorkTimesMagazineessayas a cesspoolof anti-Americanhate that deliberatelyans the flames of Muslimoutrage. nJune,Secretary f Defense Donald Rumsfeld oldattendeesatanAsiandefense con-ference thatif theywereto watchal-Jazeera ayafterday, even fyou were anAmericanyou wouldbegin to believethatAmericawas bad. EvenNewsweekInternational's ormally emperateFareedZakaria oses his composurewhenfacedwithal-Jazeera, hich fills ts airwaveswith crudeappeals o Arabnation-alism, anti-Americanism,anti-Semitism, and religious fundamentalism.Denunciationofal-Jazeerasimpressivelyipartisannd astarting ointformanyof the post-9/11 debatesover public diplomacyand the war of ideas in theMiddleEast.

This consensus s all the moreremarkablegivenhow few of the criticsspeakArabic r haveeveractuallywatchedal-Jazeera.ftheyhad,theymightwell arriveata more nuancedjudgment.Theywouldcertainly ind somesupport ortheirdisgust.Al-Jazeeramay have never broadcasta beheading video, but it hasshownmanyclipsof terrifiedhostagesbegging ortheir ives.It airslengthy tate-mentsbyOsamabin Laden and invitesextremists n its talkshows.Watchingthe Egyptian adicalTala'atRamihrhapsodizeoverthe beheadingofWesternhostageson one popular alkshow,or AmericansandIraqiciviliansdie bloodydeaths,as shownon rawvideofootage,orex-NaziDavidDuke discussAmericanpoliticsat the station'snvitation, t'seasyto see whyal-Jazeerassuch a tempt-ing target.But these incendiarysegmentstell only half the story.Al-Jazeeras at theforefront f a revolution nArabpoliticalculture,one whose effectshave bare-lybegunto be appreciated.Even as the stationcomplicates he postwar econ-struction of Iraqand offersa platformfor anti-Americanvoices, it is provid-ing an unprecedentedforum fordebatein the Arabworldthat is evisceratingthe legitimacy of the Arabstatusquo and helping to build a radicallynewpluralistpolitical culture.The neoconservativeWeekly tandards all forAmerica o findaway o over-come the al-Jazeeraffect getsthingsexactlywrong.The United Statesneedsto findways o workconstructivelywith the al-Jazeeraffect. The station s as

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With an audience in the tens of millions, al-Jazeerais the largestof the new Arabbroad-cast media, mixing the familiar, such as YasserArafat in 2002, with the radically new.

witheringly riticalof Arabregimesas it isopposed o certainpillarsof Americanforeignpolicy.In itsurgentdesireto promotedemocracyand other reformsnthe Arabworld,*al-Jazeeraharesimportantaspirationswith America.Thoughno friend of U.S. foreignpolicy, it is perhapsthe single most powerfulallyAmerica an have npursuit f the broadgoalof democraticchange n the MiddleEast. nthe wordsofEgyptian issidentSaadal-DinIbrahim, l-Jazeeraas doneprobablyor the Arabworldmore thananyorganizedcriticalmovementcouldhavedone,inopeningupthepublic space, ngivingArab itizensanewly oundopportunityo assert hemselves.

was created n Qatar n late 1996withfinancingfromthecountry's oungemir and a stafflargelydrawn rom a failed Saudi-Britishointventure nsatellite elevision. t wasnot thefirst ransna-tionalArab elevisionstation.Within a fewyearsof the 1991GulfWar,a num-

ber of satellite elevisionstationshadgone on the air,filledwithbellydancing,movies,and other formsof entertainment.These stationsreachedanybody nthe Arabworldwho had a satellitedishoraccess to a cafe or otherpublic placethatshowedsatelliteprograms.Al-Jazeera'snnovationwas to makeopen, con-tentiouspoliticscentral o itstransnationalmission.Gone werethebellydancersandthesleepyinterviewswithdeputy oreignministersand B-listheads of statethathad dominatedArabairwavesn the past.In theirplace came shockinglyopen andpassionatepoliticaltalkshowsandhighlyprofessional,f sensational-

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America in the Footlightsist,newscoverage ocusingon the problemsand issuesof theArabworld.The evolutionofal-Jazeerand the Arabnews mediareachedaturningpointinDecember1998withOperationDesertFox, heAnglo-Americanombing am-paign aunchedagainst raqon theaccusation hatSaddamHusseinwasrestrict-ing accessby UN weapons nspectors. t wasthe moment whenal-Jazeera,heonly elevision hannelwithcameraspresent n theground tthe timeofthestrikes,brokethroughto a mass audience. Al-Jazeera'sraphic footagerivetedArabviewers nd contributedo the massive nti-Americanprotestshateruptedacrossthe region.The Palestinianal-Aqsa ntifada,which broke out in September2000,wasanotheroccasionto broadcastgraphic magesof intensecombat romthegroundevel- andtalk hows ullofappealsorArab ctionagainst srael.Thatcoverage onsolidated l-Jazeera'sentralityoArabpolitical ife.During he inva-sion ofAfghanistann 2001,the station's xclusivepositionon thegroundonceagainmade its newscasts ssentialviewing.Intheseyears, tsestimated udiencegrewas largeas some 50 million viewers,while its Arabiclanguagewebsitebecameone of the mostpopulardestinations n the Internet.Butby early2003,al-Jazeeraad ost tsmonopoly n Arab atellite ews.Rivalsnippedatits heels: Lebanon'sLBCand FutureTV, Hizbollah'sal-Manar,AbuDhabiTV,Egypt'sDreamTV.Al-Arabiya,aunched n February003 withSaudifinancingas a moderate andpro-American)lternative, uicklyemergedasa powerfulcompetitor.The United Statesentered the fraya year aterwith itsown government-runtation: he well-fundedbut mostly gnoredal-Hurra. nmarket urveys onductedin late2004, the ArabAdvisorsGroupfoundthat72percentofJordanianswith satellitedisheswatchedal-Jazeera,while 54percenttunedintoal-Arabiyandonly 1 5percent o al-Hurra.Egypt'smarketwasmoreskewed,with 88 percentof dish-equippedCairo residentswatchingal-Jazeera,35 percentwatchingal-Arabiya,nd fivepercentwatchingal-Hurra.

intensecompetitionhasreducedwhatever bilityal-Jazeerancehad to single-handedlyshape opinion in the Arabworld. It is stillclearly the dominant satellite television station, more than first

among equals, but it feels acutely the pressures of competition. Thedemands of Arabviewers,who tend to channel-surf and compare content,increasinglyshape the broadcasting trategiesof all Arabtelevision stations.Forexample,despitehisfrequentdenunciationsofal-Jazeera'siringofhostagevideos,al-Arabiya'sirector,Abd al-Rahmanal-Rashed,has admittedthat hisstation could abstain fromairing hostagevideos fromIraqonly if al-Jazeeraagreedto do likewise. Otherwise,his station would lose marketshare.It isal-Jazeera'sewsbroadcastshathave receivedmost of America'satten-tion. Critics have lashed out at the station'scoverageof Iraqfor exaggerat-ing violence while ignoringpositive developmentsthere, forfomenting eth-nic strife,forallegedly collaborating with insurgentsand terrorists.Yet itwas also the station'snews coverage duringthe heady Arabspring of 2005that led many to regardal-Jazeeramore favorably.Such longtime critics asinterim Iraqi prime minister Iyad Allawi and U.S. Secretary of State

>MARC LYNCH s an associate professorof political science at Williams College. His new book,Voices of theNew ArabPublic, will be published by Columbia UniversityPress in December.

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Exclusive oal-Jazeera, saysthe graphicin the upperrightcornerof this Osama bin Ladenbroadcastweeksafter9/11 Such imageshave won the station theenmityof manyAmericans.

Condoleezza Rice admitted that the station's coverage of the Iraqi elec-tions in Januaryand the Lebanese protests n Februaryover the murderofRafikHariri, he formerprime minister who had defied his country'sSyrianoccupiers, had aided the cause of reform.*To focus only on al-Jazeera's ews programming,however,is to overlookthe station'smost revolutionaryaspect:its political talk shows. Consider al-Jazeera's esponseto the fall of Baghdadin April2003. During the invasionof Iraq, the station went to an all-news format. When Baghdad fell, itreshapedits prime-time programming,featuringthe bare-bonestalk showMinbaral-Jazeera al-Jazeera'sPlatform).In the veryfirstpostwarepisode,the beautifulyoung Lebanese anchorJumanaal-Nimour faced the cameraandasked, Where s the Iraqi esistance?Whyare the streets fBaghdad mptyof Iraqidead? Then she opened the phones, and the voices of the Arabpub-lic poured forth. SisterJumana,you grieved over the fall of Baghdad,butI celebratedthe fall of the tyranny.We hope that this tyrant s slaughtered*In the documentary Control Room (2004), Lieutenant Colonel Josh Rushing (the American media liaison dur-ing Operation Iraqi Freedom) compared al-Jazeera'sselective approach to news coverage to that of Fox News.The comparison is alluring but of limited validity. It's true that both appeal openly to a particular political iden-tity-whether Arab or red-stateRepublican. Fox has covered the IraqWar, for example, by identifying with theU.S. military and presenting heartwarming stories about American troops, while al-Jazeerahas identified withArabs and emphasized the sufferingand fear of the Iraqipeople. Even on their respective talk shows there are sim-ilarities, in that guests are often drawn from the extremes of politics (which guarantees exciting arguments butobscures the existence of a vital middle ground). But the two inhabit verydifferent media environments. WhereasFox News began as an underdog and drew on a partisanaudience, cultivated by conservative talk radio, to chipaway at the dominance of the mainstreammedia, al-Jazeeraemerged almost immediately as a near-dominantmarketleader. And while Fox News has benefited since 2000 from a close relationship with the dominant polit-ical partyin the United States, al-Jazeerahas remained isolated from the powers of the Arab world.

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America in the Footlightsin the streets of Baghdad, aid one caller. Anotherwarned, Ihave a mes-sagefromthe Iraqipeople. We will not be satisfiedwith an American occu-pation. A Saudi caller worried that the forces came to Iraqto protecttheoil, and will abandonIraqto civil war. Anotherragedthat theissue is notthe future of Iraq. It is the

slaughterof Muslimsand Arabsat the walls of Damascus,atthewalls of Beirut, at the walls ofJerusalem,and now the slaugh-ter of Muslims and Arabsat thewalls of Baghdad.

For weeks thereafter,as anaudience of upward of 30million looked on, al-Jazeeraopened the phone lines night afternight, allowing Arabsfrom all over theworld o talkaboutIraqwithoutscriptsor rules or filters.The anguished,excit-ed, angry,delirious discussions, in which Arabsstruggledto make sense ofevents, constitutedperhapsthe most open and accessible public debate inArabhistory.And they made forgreattelevision.

is playinga leading role in creatinga new Arabpublic,andthatpublic isvisiblytransformingArabpoliticalculture. Fordecades,Arabpublic life was dominatedbythe dead hand of thestate.The Arabnews media resembledthe desert:barren,boring,oppressive,repetitive,and (if not controlled by a national government) owned by theSaudis. In the evocativewordsof Iraqidissident KananMakiya,a politicsof silence smotheredthe public life of the Arabworld. Arabwritersworkedunder the constant eye of the intelligence services, with, as one Jordanianjournalistput it, apoliceman on my chest, a scissors n mybrain. The tele-vision programmingof those daysoffered endless footage of dignitariessit-ting on couches orshakinghandsatairports;news broadcastsdevoid of anysubstance;an incessanthammeringon well-worn hemes, such asthe Israelithreat; ove lettersto the accomplishments of each country'scurrentgreatleader.

Al-Jazeeraushered in a new kind of open, contentious politics thatdelightedin shattering aboos.The namesof its mostpopulartalk showssug-gest their distinctive combination of transgressionand pluralism- MoreThan One Opinion, No Limits,TheOppositeDirection,OpenDialogue. Al-Jazeera'spublic defines itself in oppositionto the statusquo, againstthe glo-rificationofkingsandpresidentsand theirsycophants.A program n the sum-merof 2003 askedviewerswhether the currentArabregimeswere worsethanthe old colonial regimes.Respondingonline, 76 percentof the respondentssaid yes. Nor does radical Islamism go unchallenged: When the stationaired an exclusive video by al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiriin June, it turned his monologue into a dialogue by inviting oneof his leading Islamist criticsand several liberalsto respond point by point.This past March, al-Jazeerabroadcasta discussion with four leading

Arabs from allover the world talked

about Iraq withoutscripts or rulesor filters.

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Arabintellectuals on the results of an online surveyabout the prioritiesofthe Arabstreet. While Palestinepredictablyplaced first n the poll, with 27percent, reform was a very close second with 26 percent, followed byhuman rightsat 11percentand povertyat 10percent. (The U.S. occupationof Iraq,terrorism,and Islamic extremism all failed to clear the 10 percentthreshold.)Al-Jazeerahen assembledpanelsofordinaryArabcitizensin Doha,Cairo, Rabat, and Beirut to debate the implications of the survey. Twomonthslater,al-Arabiya opied al-Jazeera, iringa verysimilarprogram,withverysimilarresults.Such programs rebeing noticedbymore thantheirArabviewers:Al-Arabiya'surveyended up being widelydiscussed atMay'smeet-ing of the World Economic Forum in Amman.

The new al-Jazeera-stylepennesshasproveddisconcerting o many.Oneguest stormedoff the set afterbeing challenged on Quranic interpretationby a Jordanianfeminist. Another demanded that an exchange be editedout, only to be reminded- on the air- that the programwas being broad-cast live. In a June2000 program,an Iraqicallercalmlytold a guestfrom theIraqiForeignMinistry hat thisunjustblockadeimposedon ourpeople hasonlyone cause andthat s SaddamHussein. Even the veteranAmericandiplo-mat and fluent ArabicspeakerChristopherRoss once admittedthat he wasuncomfortable ith thepaneldiscussions nd call-in alkshows n al-Jazeera,preferring ituationsin which he could remainin control.Arabregimeshavecomplainedendlesslyof the indignitiesheapedon themby al-Jazeera'sguests. Jordan closed down al-Jazeera'soffices after anAmerican academic ridiculed the Hashemite monarchy.Morocco did thesame after tsoccupationof the Western Saharawasdiscussedon a talkshow.The Algerian governmentallegedly cut powerto the entire city ofAlgierstopreventresidentsfromwatching a particularly ncendiarydiscussion.

Accordingto New YorkTimes columnist Thomas Friedman, The U.S.ousterof SaddamHusseinhastriggeredhe firstreal conversation' boutpolit-ical reform n the Arabworldin a long, long time. It's still mostlyin private,but more is now eruptingin public. Anyregularviewer of al-Jazeerawouldfind those remarkslaughable. Long before George Bush took up the man-tle of democratizingthe Middle East,al-Jazeera outinelybroadcastdebatesaboutpoliticalreform n theArabworld.In 1999alone, the stationairedtalkshow telecasts on ArabDemocracy between Two Generations, Dem-ocracy in the ArabWorld, ArabParticipation n IsraeliElections, TheRelationshipbetween Rulersandthe Ruled in Islam, The Misuse of Statesof Emergencyin the ArabWorld, HumanRightsin the ArabWorld, and

UnleashingFreedom of Thought. In 2002, only months before the inva-sion of Iraq, its programsincluded Democracy and the Arab Reality,Reformand Referendain the ArabWorld, and (in a dig at the democrat-ic trappings of Arab regimes) a mocking look at 99.99% ElectoralVictories.

Evenon Iraq, hat most contentious of topics, the stereotypeof al-Jazeeraas relentlessly pro-Saddamor anti-American is misleading. Here is whatwas said about Iraqon some of these programsduringthe Saddamyears: December 1998: Aftercondemning the Anglo-Americanbombing of

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America in the Footlights

Long before GeorgeBush talked aboutdemocratizing theMiddle East, al-Jazeerawas broadcasting

debates about reform.

Iraq,the popularIslamist Sunni cleric Yusufal-Qaradawi urned his atten-tion to SaddamHussein: We are againstSaddamHussein, but we are notagainstthe Iraqipeople. We consider the Iraqiregimea criminal and harm-ful regime for its people. ... I call on the Iraqipresidentto allow freedomsinside of Iraqand to allow the Iraqi people a voice. January 2000: After Iraqi foreign minister Mohammed al-Sahhafclaimed thatIraqhad satisfiedall the demands of the UN SecurityCouncil,he wasvisiblybroughtup short

by the curt responseof anchorJumanaal-Nimour: Butthis isnot what the SecurityCouncilsays. When Sahhaf rejected anew round of weapons inspec-tions,Nimourcoolly responded,If there are no weapons pre-sent, why are you afraid of aninspections team enteringIraq? To be challenged and

dismissed,andbyayoungwoman no less,wasnotbusinessasusualfora seniorIraqiofficial. August2003: Faisalal-Qassem,host of The OppositeDirection and themost controversialmediafigurein the Arabworld,faced the camerasframedbyAbd al-BariAtwan,the radicalpan-Arabnationalisteditor of the London-baseddaily newspaperal-Qudsal-Arabi,and EntifadhQanbar,spokesmanofAhmed Chalabfs IraqiNational Congress.Afterposinga witheringseriesof questions about the American presence in Iraq, Qassem suddenlyreverseddirection: Butafterseeingthe massgraves, sn't it time for theArabsto apologize to the Iraqipeople fortheirsilence over the years? n the mid-dle of the show, Qanbardramaticallypulled a pile of documents from hisjacketthatproved,he said,that variousArabpoliticiansand journalistswereon Saddam'spayroll. May 2004: On the first talk show after the revelation of sexual tortureat the U.S.-runAbu Ghraibprisonin Iraq,Qassem raised a ratherdifferentissue: ortureof ArabsbyArabgovernmentsnArabprisons.Hismessagecouldnot have been clearer:Not everythingis about America.Al-Jazeeraand its Arab television competitors are building a pluralistpolitical culture in which all public issues are up fordebate, and disagree-ment is not only permissiblebut expected. Its importancecannot be over-stated,particularly ince neither Islamistmovements nor the existingauto-craticArabregimes- the two most powerfulcompeting forces in the Arabworld- offera route o liberalreforms.Andpro-Americaniberalsn the region,however brave and eloquent, are, on their own, weak and marginal. Al-Jazeeraoffers them what American guns cannot: credibility, legitimacy,influence.When Ghassanbin Jadu,al-Jazeeras Beirutbureauchief and hostof Open Dialogue, sat down on-camerain December 2003 with the liberalSaad al-Din Ibrahim and the moderate IslamistFahmy Huwaydito discussIbrahim'sargumentthat Arabreformers hould acceptAmericansupport n

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While al-Jazeeraremains an important presence in the Arab world, it competes for itsviewers' attention with a growing number of newspapersand other information sources.

their quest forsignificantpolitical change, their conversationreached mil-lions of Arab viewers.asal-Jazeeraultivates politicalcultureof fiercepublicargument,a fundamentalquestionarises: ssuch a culturereallya viablefoun-dation ordemocracy?The spectacleofArabpoliticians creamingateach other s notalways difying.Nor is theshattering ftaboosnecessarily on-structive. n the fall of 2000, amid headyArabmobilization n supportof thePalestinianal-Aqsantifada,TheOppositeDirectionhostQassemclaimedthatal-Jazeera ad succeeded n formingan Arabpublic opinion, probablyor thefirst ime inArabhistory. Less than threeyears ater,he strucka moredespon-dent note: Whydoesnothingremain n the Arabarenaexceptforsome croak-

ing mediapersonalities?Whydoes a loud televisionclamorsuffice asan alter-native o effectiveaction?Al-Jazeera'soliticsof pluralismare interwovenwith an equallypotent pol-itics of Arabidentity.Protests n Egyptand Lebanon, elections in IraqandPalestine,parliamentary isputes n Jordanor Kuwait,arrests f journalistsnTunisiaandAlgeria:Al-Jazeeraoversall of these aspartofasingle,sharedArab

story.This narrative indsArabstogether n an ongoing argumentabout issueson whichallArabs houldhaveanopinion- thoughnot thesameopinion.Thispoliticsof identitysagreat ourceofstrengthoral-Jazeera. ut it alsoposesdan-gers.Afrustratedidentitypoliticscan easilygivewayto demagoguery,o a pop-ulism of grievanceslarge and small, to demands for conformity- to whatAmerican legal scholar Cass Sunstein calls enclave deliberation, whichsqueezesout the voices in the middle.Whetherpopulist, dentity-drivenutpluralist oliticscanbe the foundationfor iberal eformss one of the mosturgentproblemsacing he Arabworldtoday.

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America in the Footlights

Al-Jazeera createsan Arab identity bycovering events

as part of a single,shared story.

What one enthusiast alled theDemocraticRepublicof al-Jazeera oesnot,in fact,exist.Al-Jazeeraannot createdemocracyon itsown, norcompelArableaders ochangetheirways.Television alk howscannotsubstitute orthe hardworkof politicalorganizingand institutionbuilding.Talk can become a meresubstitute oraction,and can even serve he interests f regimes ntenton cling-ing to power.The Kefaya Enough )movement in Egyptis the quintessential expres-sion of the new Arabpublic. This diverse coalition of oppositional move-ments-new Islamists, liberals, Nasserists, and Arabists has demandedchange from below and an end to the rule of President Hosni Mubarak.Itsname and its narrativearticulatethe frustrationsof the new Arabpublic: a

restless, impatient call for anend to the exhausted, incom-petent Araborder,and a fierceresentment of American for-eign policy.Members of Kefaya haveworkedexpertlywith al-Jazeera(where many of its leading fig-ures have long been regular

guests).The first dentifiableKefayaprotest- in March2003, against he inva-sion of Iraq- turned nto an unprecedentedanti-Mubarak emonstration.Ke-faya's elevision-friendlyrotests, t firstquitesmall,soon escalated nto largerdemonstrations.ndthegroup's rguments learly esonatedwiththe widerArabpublic.Al-Jazeera'sollsshowoverwhelming ejectionof the Mubarakregime'sself-serving reforms, ndsupport orKefaya'smpatientdemands orchange.

Kefaya'sortunes emonstrateoththestrength nd the limitations fthenewArabpublic.The combinationf acourageousnddedicated omestic ocialmove-ment and the magnifyingpowerof the newArabmediaprovedcapableof trans-forming he politicalenvironment.But its limits werepainfullyapparent.TheEgyptianregime soon learned the importanceof barringal-Jazeera amerasfromprotest ites.Kefaya emonstratorsacedcontinuingrepression ndharass-ment at the handsof security orcesandregime thugs,mostnotablyduring hehorrifyingttacks nfemaleprotestorsuringheMay25constitutionaleferendum.As the Egyptian tateretrenched,hebubble of enthusiasmcreatedbythe Arabmedia'scoverage fKefayahreatenedoburst,eavingArabs nceagain rustratedand furious.

How hasAmericarespondedo thiscomplex, ransformativechallenge ntheArabworld?Poorly ndeed.welcoming l-Jazeerantheyears efore /11asa forcechallengingthe sicklyArab tatusquo,Americanofficialsbecameso angryoverthe station'scoverageofal-Qaedaand theAfghanistanwar hatthey

stoppedappearingon itsprograms- andthereby ost the opportunityo reachavastaudience.Secretary f DefenseRumsfeldand otherprominentmembersofthe Bushadministrationavefrequentlyccusedal-Jazeeraf incitingviolenceagainstcoalitionforcesandairing atrocious ewscoverage.DorranceSmith,

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a formerseniormedia adviser o the Coalition ProvisionalAuthority,wroteinThe Wall StreetJournal arlier hisyear hat thecollaboration etween the ter-rorists ndal-Jazeeras strongerhan ever.Criticism shealthy,at leastwhen it'snotsimplyan exercise n blamingthemessenger.ButWashingtonhasgonebeyondcriticism.When the interimIraqigovernmenthuttered l-Jazeera'saghdad ffices, orexample,U.S. officials aidnot a word n protest.Andthe Bush administration asallegedlypressuredhegovernment fQatar o closedown,privatize, r censoral-Jazeera.he new Arabpublic sees such actions as prime examplesof Americanhypocrisy.How canAmericacrediblydemand liberalization nddemocracy n the regionwhen itsfirstresponse o politicalcriticism s censorship,pressure, nd abuse?

The otherprincipalU.S. response oal-Jazeeraas been to create he Arabic-language atelliteelevision tation l-HurraogetAmerica'smessageoutinundi-luted form.Though al-Hurrahas been a dazzlingsuccessin termsof securinglargebudgetsandbuildingstate-of-the-artacilities n northernVirginia, t hassunkwithbarelya trace n the intenselycompetitiveArabmediaenvironment.FewArabs eem impressedwith thequalityof its newsprograms nd talkshows,and thestationhasstruggledo overcome he inevitablewhiffofpropagandaur-roundinganygovernment-runtation.It has had littleimpacton eitherpublicopinionorthe widerArabpoliticalconversation.AbetterAmerican esponsewould be toactively ngagewithal-Jazeera. neof the hiddencostsof al-Hurrasthat t sucksupthe timeandenergies f Americanguests,officialornot,whomightotherwise e reaching arwideraudienceson al-Jazeera.The UnitedStates houldmaintaina stableofattractive,luentlyArabic-speaking epresentatives,tationedn Doha and otherArabcapitals,whose chiefresponsibilitywould be to appearon any Arab satellite television stationthatwouldhave hem. Even ftheydidn'twineverydebate, heirpresencewould orcetheirArabsparring artnerso takeAmericanargumentsnto account. It wouldkeepArabshonest,whileat the same timedemonstratingo Arabaudiences hatAmerica ook hemseriously nd waswilling o debate hemon anequalfooting.For the newArabpublic,the fundamentalchallengetoday s not to shattermore taboosor askmorequestionsbut to offersolutions.Al-Jazeera'salkshowshavegivena forum to voicesboth moderateand extreme.The showsoftenerron the side of sensationalism nd falseoppositions, nvitingconflict rather hanreasonablecompromise.In the short erm,the stationmaywell havestrength-ened anti-Americanentimentin the region.Butin a longerview,al-Jazeerasbuilding he foundations f apluralist oliticalculture.Byreplacing tifling on-sensuswith furiouspublicarguments ndsecrecywithtransparency,l-Jazeeraandits Arabcompetitorsarecreatingperhaps he most essentialunderpinningof liberaldemocracy: freeandopen criticalpublicspace, independentof thestate,where citizenscan speak heirpiece andexpectto be heard.The worldwill continue to argueaboutwhether the invasion of Iraqwasnecessaryorthe currentdemocratic erment n the MiddleEast.Butal-Jazeerawas most assuredlynecessary.Shutting it down or muffling its voice mightgiveAmericanssome short-term atisfaction,but to do either would also takeawayone of the most powerfulweapons in the hands of Arabdemocraticreformers.

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Documents

AljazeeraMarkLynch-2