Palestine, media, Jordan, community radio, online journalism
By Daoud Kuttab When it first appeared, the new satellite channel broadcast from Qatar reflected its own name. Al-Jazeera – Arabic for “the island” – represented a haven of professional, independent, current affairs programming in a sea of one-sided, government-controlled Arab media. Until al-Jazeera’s journalists, mostly BBC-trained, arrived on the scene, the average Arab citizen’s…
Courage In Their Coverage By David Ignatius Wednesday, December 7, 2005; A25 DUBAI — Talking with brave Arab journalists such as Hussein Shobokshi, I hear the passion that animates good reporting everywhere. And it makes me all the more disgusted by recent revelations that my own government has been corrupting the nascent Iraqi free press…
Wednesday, October 12, 2005 Journalists and the plague of being identified with interviews By Daoud Kuttab It has always been a problem for journalists: how to carry on the profession of journalism without being accused of sympathizing with the person you are covering. Every journalist who covers a conflict can’t help but have some sympathies…
By Daoud Kuttab It has always been a problem for journalists. How to carry on the profession of journalism without being accused of sympathizing with the person you are covering. Ever journalist who covers a conflict can’t help but have some sympathizes for his subject. Internationally famous columnists Tom Friedman once told me that a…
by Daoud Kuttab The world community has suddenly become interested in the media scene in the Arab world. It is not clear whether this is a result of the success enjoyed by some Arab satellites or simply an attempt to find a way to win the hearts and minds of Arabs and Muslims, as part…
This is the BBC from London, Voice of America from Washington, Deutsche Welle from Germany, Monte Carlo Radio from France. According to Reuters, AP wire service, UPI news. This is CNN. You are watching the Disney Channel, Hollywood channel, History Channel. Tonight’s feature is The Terminator. Follow the latest episodes of The Bold and the…
Television has been both a blessing and a curse for Palestinians. During the first Intifada, one can argue that it was a blessing. It raised the profile of a people refusing to accept living indefinitely under occupation. This Palestinian popular resistance was beamed all over the world and won sympathy and support from people. What…
We all prefer shortcuts. None of us likes to do things that require time and patience. Whether it is a visit to the dentist or world peace, shortcuts might be desirable, but they rarely produce the required results. I thought of this yesterday as I was having a pleasant breakfast at the Amman Intercontinental. The…
No one is indifferent to Al Jazeera, the Qatari-based Arab satellite television station. You can sense the blood of U.S. officials boil when they discuss it. To be sure, in the context of the dream of all Arabs being united and independent of foreign control, Al Jazeera is undeniably partial to Arab aspirations. But that…
What happened in Gaza and Ramallah during the past few weeks has left many people perplexed. How much was genuine and how much was contrived? And if it was set up, who set it up? For what reason? And for whose benefit? Who are the key players in this political play?