Al-Jazeera

Al-Jazeera, the 8-year Middle East based news channel, has been routinely criticized by administration officials for their portrayal of U.S. operations in the Middle East. Are these criticisms justified? How does the network see its role?

Hafez Al-Mirazi, Washington bureau chief for Al-Jazeera Television, will be online Tuesday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. ET to take your questions on the network, their coverage and the Middle East.

The transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

_____________

Hafez Al-Mirazi: Hello. Thank you for inviting me to washingtonpost.com. I hope that this is instructive and informative for both of us.

_______________________

Virginia: Who funds al Jazeera?

Hafez Al-Mirazi: That is an excellent question. Al Jazeera is a public corporation registered and headquartered in the state of Qatar in the Gulf region,. It receives public funds and subsides from the state of Qatar the same way that BBC is funded and relies on public funds for the United Kingdom. However al Jazeera has its own independent board of directors who do their best in order to keep the station as separate and independent from the influence of the government of Qatar and any other government.

_______________________

U.S.: Do you get a lot of audience mail from your Arab listening public? Is there anyway to characterize what the main themes/requests/demands of the letters are?

Perhaps said differently, what do your viewers want you most to be?

Thank you.

Hafez Al-Mirazi: Yes, we do get a lot of audience e-mail rather than regular mail in the case of the Washington bureau and the headquarters in Doha, Qatar. Most of the email and audience response, there are also call in shows, center on the frustration on the part of Arab citizens lack of freedom and democracy in Arab countries. Also, they feel that their governments are subordinate or lackey to the wishes of the U.S. government. You will also find the main theme when it comes to their reaction to our programs in covering US policies and politics, that there is a lot of resentment on the part of the Arab audience when it comes to US policies in the region, they perceive the US policies to be biased against them and in favor of the Israeli government. Also, they see the US government as supportive not only of Israeli occupation of Arab land, i.e. the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza territories, but of Arab totalitarian and authoritative regimes despite that the US government is talking about promotion of freedom and democracy in the Middle East.

_______________________

Berkeley, Calif.: Would you please describe in what kinds of ways the pressure for you to conform to the US government's spin on the invasion and occupation of Iraq was communicated to you? Were you contacted directly by the military? Where your facilities threatened with descruction? Or was it somehow more diplomatic?

Thank you.

Hafez Al-Mirazi: Regardless of the way or the words that we could use to describe US government rhetoric, when it comes to the intervention in Iraq, we cover news conferences by the president and senior cabinet members regardless of the content - some people would call it spin, other would consider it truthful. We carry it to our audience most of the time live, with gavel-to-gavel simultaneous English to Arabic interpretation, in addition to interviewing some principals in the US government such as Sec. Powell and Dr. Condi Rice. Also we invite analyst and commentators from US think tanks to put things into perspectives from the American side. From the Arab side we invite officials, analysis or public leaders in order to comment on the statements and events coming out of Washington, and we leave it to the audience to decide on their own what is the spin and what is the truthful explanation of policies. In our coverage we are keen to be faithful of the motto of al Jazeera that we often flash on the screen which is "the view and the other view." In other words covering both sides of the story. We do that when covering the Arab -Israeli conflict by inviting Israeli officials on our network to speak despite the criticism we get for doing that from a segment of our audience. We do that also in covering Arab politics by inviting dissidents and human rights activists to challenge the Arab government version of any story despite the criticism and hostility that create against us from many governments. Of course, we did it after 9-11 when we allowed a few minutes now and then for a bid Laden tape or someone from al Qaeda or someone from the former government of Taliban to say their side of the story. Of course, that earned us some hostility and criticism in America and in the west, for people who do not follow al Jazeera closely who do not understand that we are not taking sides.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: I'd like to know whether Al-Jazeera follows any particular code of ethics, such as those prescribed by the Society of Professional Journalists.

In particular, I'm curious as to whether there are any internal debates as to whether it's appropriate to air videotapes delivered to your correspondents by al-Qaeda or Iraqi insurgents, be it propaganda messages by bin Laden or the latest footage of some kidnapped westerner being beheaded? Have you ever NOT aired one of these tapes for any reason, such as concerns that they may contain coded commands to launch an attack?

Hafez Al-Mirazi: Thank you for the question. Certainly al jazeera earlier this year adapted its own code of ethics. You will find it very similar to most codes of ethics adapted by many professional broadcasting or journalist associations. You could take a look at the code of ethics in English posted on our English web site (www.english.aljazeera.net). Actually, even before that, for the last five years before adapting that code of ethics, the assumption was that there are professional ethics that comes with every professional that we hire and employ in al Jazeera. Most of them did work before for many years in places like the BBC or other western or international reputable media outlets. But we decided to put our code of ethics on paper earlier this year in order to end a lot of debate outside the network on the frame of reference that we go to in judging what is suitable to be broadcast and what is not.

For example you read sometimes a lot about people claiming that al Jazeera broadcasts tapes of beheadings of hostages inside or outside Iraq. Let me say here that is totally false. We have to distinguish between the actual beheading or shooting or killing of someone that we refrained from broadcasting from any tape, whether we received that tape directly or we got it out of the Internet or news agencies. What we broadcast is very similar to what you would see on CNN or BBC or even on and off FOX NEWS. It is still images or 30 seconds to one-minute or the person or victim paraded by kidnappers or making a statement. We cut the tape out that on the tape that person was beheaded or killed. We always apologize to our audience that we cannot put these terrible or graphic images of the killing of a person.

The debate is there of course when it comes to how much you would broadcast of a speech or and argument that is made by some person like bin Laden or al Qaeda and most of the time we edit out a lot of these tapes to make sure that only what could be perceived or coincided political argument is allowed. Without allowing things like instructions for followers to do certain attacks. For example, on Nov. 1, 2001 al Jazeera broadcast a bin Laden tape in which we edited out about 5 minutes of the tape after discussion in the editorial board because he was asking his followers in that tape to attack certain US bases in Pakistan and other countries, and we objected to that. Also our reporter in Afghanistan during the first days of the war had an interview with bin Laden but the question that the reporter had with him were ignored and the reporter felt intimidated in the place he was taken to to do the interview and had to listen to long answers to questions he did not address. At that time al Jazeera decided to cancel the whole interview and not air it. These are just examples of the debate and the editorial judgment that we try to utilize in broadcasting these tapes.

Just a final note, al Jazeera has never broadcast a tape or bin Laden before making sure there is an American commentator or official available on air at that time to answer and make a rebuttal to what bin Laden or another al Qaeda leader said.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: Good afternoon. Thanks for taking our questions. Al-Jazeera is best known here in the U.S. -- we can't watch for ourselves -- for its focus on civilian casualties in the war in Iraq. Setting aside Iraq for a moment, what do you feel is your network's role in the region? I think many Americans see the Middle East, to the extent we can generalize about it, to be an area of the world with great potential but which is overrun with poverty, corruption, and tribalism. Do you feel your network has a role in exposing injustices and fighting them? Does Al-Jazeera focus on the role of governments and citizens in these problems -- not just scapegoating the West and the U.S.? I don't mean to imply that the West does not have a role in the Middle East, but the perception in the States is that we are scapegoated for all the troubles in the Middle East -- many of which are caused by corrupt, authoritarian regimes. If you don't feel this is the case, please help us understand! Thank you.

Hafez Al-Mirazi: First let me say that we don't have a focus on civilian casualties, just because we intend to make the U.S. look bad for the Arab audience. Our focus is to tell the news that matters most to our audience in the Arab and Muslim world given the time limitations that any media outlet or television might have to fit such flow on information. So, the same way that CNN or FOX or American networks focus on any American casualty - civilian or not civilian, in Iraq or outside of Iraq - because such news matters to the American audience you would see al Jazeera and other Arab media outlets interested as well in covering these events. But, as you said, sitting inside Iraq for a moment, let me talk about the networks role in the region as requested. You are right, it might look as if people in the Middle East are obsessed with America only and scapegoating the U.S. for all the ills and problems that face their societies. But we have to remember that part of that as I mentioned in the earlier part of my answer is due to what the media filters out to their own audience. The American media is not going to spend too much time to tell the American audience what Arabs and Arab media say negatively about their own governments or about other factors that is not relevant to the U.S. When the American media covers Arab criticisms of the US it might look like that is the only thing that Arabs criticize. Also, given the U.S. role in the region you cannot compare the U.S. influence on events in the Middle East to Canada or Sweden, for example. Speaking of Sweden, bin Laden in his latest tape said "If we were really against freedom as George Bush claims, why were we not attacking Sweden. It is a free society." I am not hear personally adopting the rhetoric of bin Laden, just giving you the argument over there that because critics of the U.S. consider it responsible for two main issues that affect their daily life, unconditional support to occupation by the Israeli government against Palestinians and support to authoritarian and oppressive Arab regimes that are willing to accommodate U.S. national interests. For these reasons they are criticizing the U.S.

_______________________

Clarendon, Va.: Do you now or do you plan to have any stations that air on US cable or satellite ?

Hafez Al-Mirazi: Yes we are planning to air al Jazeera International, that will be our English language network, on U.S. satellite as well as U.S. cable if possible. Currently al Jazeera Arabic Television is available in the US thorough direct satellite services, mainly dish network, based on subscription. Al Jazeera international is planning to launch as of Nov. 2005. Thank you.

_______________________

Columbia, Md.: Personally, I am happy Al Jezeera exists. With the exception of airing the beheading tapes, I think your network offers a different, valid viewpoint -- something that is essential for a free society that cherishes discourse. My question: Can you think of any "American" value or characteristic that your audience admires about the US?

Hafez Al-Mirazi: I would like to thank you for your nice words and feelings towards al Jazeera. I explained before, and let me reiterate again, that al Jazeera has not aired any beheading. We aired segments or some clips of hostages taken and beheaded but not the beheading itself. None of what we broadcast included any beheading or killing of any person. We might have aired a minute or 30 seconds more than CNN or BBC of what a kidnapper or hostage was saying, but not the scene of killing itself.

For your question, I would like to assure you that there are so many values and characteristics that our audience do admire about American life and about the U.S. The value of freedom, democracy, also another value, the rule of law, all of these things are universal values and people of course admire not only that, but as we learned that frustration comes from high expectation. Arab frustration against the U.S. government I would claim is coming out of the high expectation from a country that cherishes freedom and they wonder why not freedom for Palestinian as well as from Israeli occupation, that valued democracy and they wonder why do you keep dealing with undemocratically elected leaders in our region as well. Let me just conclude by saying that despite all of what you read and hear about resentment in the Middle East against the U.S., on any single day you can go to any Arab capital to find long lines of Arab applicants in front or U.S. embassies to visit, learn, and work. That was not the case when the former Soviet Union was an ally of the former Arab governments. Despite the strong relationship at that time between Moscow and Arab capitals we did not see people crowded around Soviet Embassies in the Middle East to see Moscow.

_______________________

Philadelphia, Pa.: Why didn't Al-Jazeera show the video of Margaret Hassan's execution?

What is Al-Jazeera's viewership in North America?

What do you think Al-Jazeera viewers need to know about America, its people and its politics?

By the way, while I question its objectivity, I think Al- Jazeera is a very important voice in the media world.

Thank you.

Hafez Al-Mirazi: Why did not al Jazeera show the video? First of all that reminds me of what they say here in America, "damned if you do, damned if you don't." Al Jazeera did not broadcast the tape of Margaret Hassan and we were first to announce the alleged claim of her death by saying on our network that "we received a video that showed a blindfolded woman being killed. The video claims that that lady is Margaret Hassan. We are not sure of her identity." That was the reason for which we did not want to be a victim of a hoax, especially after someone in California a few weeks before posted on the internet a hoax of a video of kidnapping that he put himself in as a hostage and some networks, deceived by that including ours and some very prestigious international and US networks, and used it as a news item. However, we were very sympathetic to Mrs. Hassan's plight. Her husband, Mr. Hassan, appeared on al Jazeera after her kidnapping to plead for her release. Also Mr. Hassan appeared immediately on al Jazeera after we announced that we received such a controversial tape of her alleged execution and he asked whoever was holding her or her body to release it for an honorable burial.

Through dish network, we have about 200,000 subscribers, but that is very tiny of our audience because our worldwide audience is estimated at around 40 million viewers.

You could say everything. For example, The Washington bureau of al Jazeera covered extensively the US elections and campaign of 2004. It was the first Arab television, if not non-American television, to start as of January of this year a weekly one-hour show to photo-op the US election campaign starting with the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire and continued our coverage through Nov. 3. We had extensive presence and a large team covering the conventions - both in Boston for the Democrats and in New York for the Republicans and we have got a lot of positive feedback from our audience about the chance that they had to understand the American political process and the American electoral system through the coverage of al Jazeera. As Ted Koppel of ABC said in a live interview with us at that time, " you in al Jazeera are covering and broadcasting more hours of the conventions than all our three networks together - ABC, NBC, CBS."

Let me end here by thanking Philadelphia, PA for saying that he thinks al Jazeera is a very important voice in the media world. I would like him not only to question al Jazeera's objectivity but also to continue questioning the objectivity of al media outlets because none can claim perfection.

Thank you all.

_______________________