These past few days have witnessed several media sources featured in the news, a departure from simply being the messenger of all tidings.
In the first instance, Israel decided to boycott Al-Jazeera.
The Israelis stated last week they were boycotting Al-Jazeera television to protest the pan-Arab channel’s coverage of events in the Gaza Strip.
It seemed the Israelis were miffed at Al-Jazeera’s incisive coverage that reported the upsurge in violence that saw more than 130 Palestinians killed in Israeli military strikes on the territory. Five Israelis had also died, including one civilian killed in a barrage of retaliatory rocket fire from Gaza.
The Israelis have long been known not to take too kindly to any organization or individual reporting on the truth if it does not portray them as angels. And what they are doing in Gaza and the occupied territories is akin to the actions of Nazis in the last century. So boycotting the Al-Jazeera comes as no surprise.
Al-Jazeera is the people’s overwhelming choice in the region for news and features, and when it comes to reporting on the crisis in Iraq, Lebanon or Palestine, this channel leaves its rivals in the dust for its unadulterated brand of journalism.
On another front, the BBC announced last week that it was launching an Arabic television news channel across the Middle East and North Africa to meet a growing appetite for current affairs in the Arab world. The channel promises to feature news and current affairs programs such as Newshour, which includes news, analysis, key interviews and discussions on events from around the region and the rest of the world as they unfold.
BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman said, “BBC Arabic is renowned for broadcasting impartial and accurate news and information which is strong on analysis and expertise. This enhanced multimedia service meets the needs of an audience with a very strong appetite for news and debate. We will be contemporary in style; and independent and incisive in our journalism.”
So what would that mean to front-runners Al-Jazeera and other regional news outlets? Speaking to the press, Ahmed Al-Sheikh, editor in chief of the Doha-based Al-Jazeera said, “We do not fear competition. In 12 years, we have gained enough experience and a network of correspondents strong enough to reach public opinion. The presence of an additional competitor will only encourage us to do better.”
As the heavyweight news channel in the region, Al-Jazeera perhaps should have no worries. They have a loyal following and have rightfully earned the title of “the people’s choice”. Other networks, however, may find their audiences shrinking and moving away toward the new kid on the block.
In another development, a worldwide outage of popular video clip website YouTube was caused by the bungling of a network in Pakistan, according to the BBC. As reported by Google, “Traffic to YouTube was routed according to erroneous Internet protocols, and many users around the world could not access our site. We have determined that the source of these events was a network in Pakistan. We are investigating and working with others in the Internet community to prevent this from happening again.”
The boycott of a news channel, the launch of another and a massive screw-up by someone somewhere in Pakistan sum up the media events for these past days. What next, pray tell?
