Comments on: Al Jazeera trial to open in Rabat

By: A. A. B.

A. A. B. — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:02:35 +0000

The "makhzen", i.e. the Moroccan political system and Al Jazeera don’t get along well recently. It all started with areport by Al Jazeera about fromer king Hassan II which his son, king MohammedVI, didn’t appreciate. So, under a pretext, Al Jazeera was not allowed to broadcast from their studio in Rabat anymore. Al Jazeera was not happy about that, so they encouraged riots in Sidi Ifni. Whereas I am not sure if someone actually died there, it seems quite clear that Al Jazeeras extensive broadcating about the topic increased the crisis in that city. Now, it is the Makhzen’s turn again in the game… wait for more to come.

By: Michael Merritt

Michael Merritt — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:52:08 +0000

Well, to be fair, even in the west, if someone is lying about someone else, they could find themselves sued. It does get a little tricky on the matter of public figures, though.

However, yes, there is some dishonesty rampant, especially in the media.

By: Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief

Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:52:24 +0000

Mohamed; I’ll try to get my hands on that book. As indicated in the post, I may be a European conservative, but I’m less biased towards Al Jazeera than most. Firstly, in my experience, it’s less bad than many think (in fact, I find at least the English version to be top notch) and, secondly, I think that people often forget that Al Jazeera Arabic is broadcasting to an Arab public; different worldviews, and all that.

By: Mohamed

Mohamed — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:33:01 +0000

Michael, Thanks for your comment. Al Jazeera, whose slogan is "The Opinion…and the Other Opinion," was the first arabic channel that openend the media doors to the israeli-officials to share their point of view with the rest of the middle east. Live debates between arab officials and Israeli officials are daily occuring events on Aljazeera. This contributes very much to create a positive political climate in that part of the world. This and other Al jazeera related stuff are described perfectly by Hugh Miles in his book ‘ Al jazeera, The inside story of the arab news channel that is challenging’.

By: SAS

SAS — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:12:10 +0000

Al Jazeera is the best. It is neither anti Amerian nor anti Arab but the fact that these accusations are being made at all means that it is doing something preciously right.

watch it at http://www.aljazeera.net/english

By: Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief

Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:31:49 +0000

Mohamed; I have to judge the Arabic version by what I see… and I only see what they say, when they allow yet another extremist to share his ‘views’ or when they distort the news… MEMRI comes into mind.

But, I’m more than willing to believe you, because my experience with the English version is very good indeed.

Those excesses don’t happen at the English version, by the way.

As I said, the English version is definitely better than CNN International.

As for the debate; I agree, that is very, very important. That’s a good thing. People have to learn to think for themselves in that part of the world. They have to learn to see through fake arguments, etc.

By: Mohamed

Mohamed — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:24:52 +0000

Dear Michael, With all respect, you are too unfair in describing the Arabic sister of Aljazeer-english. I’m a daily watcher of this channel, and I enjoy very much the room that it gives to opinions deviating from the norm. Their daily shows - for example, the ‘opposite direction’- are very helpfull, to stimulate and to a create a environment in which debating becomes part of the culture in the middle east. And I think we need that very much in a region, where violence and political unrest, is still part of the daily life there.