Qatar is the wealthiest country on the planet.
Their citizens enjoy a higher GDP per capita than the Swiss, or indeed any of the nationals
from any of the other oil-rich monarchies.
But today we are not going to talk about this.
In fact, the most important fact of this country is not their wealth, nor their absolute monarchy,
or their ties with radical terrorist groups.
Beyond any doubt, what made this country famous can be summarized in just two words: AL JAZEERA.
It is the most influential TV network in the Arab World and one of the most important news
networks on the entire planet.
At the beginning of the 90s, the Royal Family that rules Qatar with an iron fist, the AL
THANI house, had a dream.
They wanted to turn their nation into the hegemonic leader in the region.
But the question was: How could they achieve this?
We are talking about a tiny country, with a smaller population than the city of Chicago.
Of course they couldn't rival Saudi Arabia in the military field, and sharia law made
it impossible to be a financial powerhouse.
Further, their geographical position was nothing special either...
There was only one possible strategy and that was the idea of so-called "soft power".
In other words: influence, diplomacy and "well" propaganda!
Since then, Qatar has invested more than any other country in improving their image to
outsiders by doing things like hosting the Soccer World Cup in 2022, a Formula 1 race,
and even directly sponsoring soccer teams.
But, among all these projects, the most successful and famous of them all has to be their TV
network: AL JAZEERA.
They are the market leader, in terms of audience, in the entire arab world.
In fact their market share surpasses all of their rivals put together!
And this is all despite the fact that the channel is banned in most countries.
Al Jazeera has lead to the overthrow of governments in several nations, they have amplified the
effect of the arab spring and they've even become the unofficial loudspeaker for some
terrorist groups...
Since the attacks of the September 11th, Al Jazeera has become, in many ways, the only
source of information for understanding what is going on in some parts of the world.
Even CNN buys their footage...
In other words: they are a respected media institution.
But, then again, you might wonder: isn't Al Jazeera just a state propaganda channel?
I mean to what extent should we really trust their information?
What's their ideology?
Well, today we are going to answer all these questions.
But before we do that, let's take a look at some history.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING UNIQUE
In 1995, the BBC closed their arab channel because the Saudi Government wanted to interfere
in their editorial process.
150 journalists got fired.
All of them were Arab journalists, who were trained at one of the most prestigious media
organisations in the world.
These people had a deep knowledge of Muslim culture but, at the same time, they couldn�t
meet the high standards of Western media.
This is where the, the Emir of Qatar at the time, HAMAD AL THANI, comes in.
Al Thani had just come to power and had a clear vision for his country: he wanted to
become the leader of the Islamic world.
In order to achieve that, those 150 unemployed journalists were given an opportunity...
As soon as they lost their jobs, Qatar offered them a brand new one.
Their mission?
To create a new news network.
An Arabic-speaking TV network that would meet the quality of Western media...
At any cost.
Qatar's government gave them a $147 million loan.
With that, this team of 150 journalists could buy state of the art studios, have correspondents
in many countries and broadcast through a satellite.
Every little detail was taken care of. For example to design the logo, the Emir made
a public contest.
Finally, this one, that you see on the screen now, was the winner and, as you can see it
reads "AL JAZEERA" in Arabic.
Finally, in 1996, Al Jazeera, that means "the island" in arabic, started broadcasting
to the Arab world.
In very little time, they surpassed the rest of their rivals...
Think about it: back in the day, Arab TV was extremely boring.
In this part of the world, freedom of expression doesn't really exist, and therefore TV news
just offered official announcements.
Al Jazeera was different.
They had no problems in criticizing various politicians and royal families.
They showed corruption scandals and they even interviewed political dissidents.
All of this with a unique, dynamic style, that had never been seen on an Arabic speaking
TV station.
Nevertheless, the real turning point for Al Jazeera was on 9-11...
OSAMA BIN LADEN used this TV network to broadcast his claim to the terrorist attack.
All of a sudden, the name "Al Jazeera" was being said on TV news across the world.
But not only that!
A month after the terrorist attack, the American government declared war to Afghanistan.
Back then, all the big media corporations like CNN or CNBC had correspondents in Tokyo,
London or Berlin, but no one had thought Kabul would be that newsworthy...
And, well, guess who DID have an office in the Afghan capital?
Yep, that would be Al Jazeera.
Since they were a channel targeted to the muslim World, they had correspondents in all
of the Muslim countries.
Suddenly, Al Jazeera footage was appearing on televisions all around the world.
This is why, in 2004, the Emir of Qatar realized that what he had was not only a powerful tool
to reach the Arab world, but indeed the world at large.
And this is how English Al Jazeera was born, and it was ready to broadcast into the most
competitive media market in the world: The United States of America.
Since then, Al Jazeera has become the TV news that talks about countries that never appear
on American TV news.
Want to know about Africa?
Tune into Al Jazeera!
Middle East?
Go to Al Jazeera!
Central Asia?
Yeah, you get the idea...
But wait a minute because things are not as great as they seem to be!
Don't forget we are talking about a TV network being paid by a government to influence other
countries!
Starting to sound a bit like it might be propaganda right?
Well, let's see:
ISLAM'S ENFANT TERRIBLE
As we said before, Al Jazeera was the first Arab TV network that openly criticized the
governments of other countries.
And, rather unsurprisingly, this was not always welcome.
Especially given that most of these other countries are dictatorships.
So, in 2011, an uprising in Tunisia started, and the dictator of this nation abandoned
it.
All of these facts could have had little to no impact abroad.
But Al Jazeera had deep coverage of this uprising so that it could be seen in other countries.
Since it was a satellite station, their signal was arriving to sets all across North Africa
and the Arab Peninsula.
This is how the inhabitants of other countries next to Tunisia like Egypt, saw their neighbours
protesting and thought: Wait a minute... we also have a dictator, couldn't we do
something similar? And, of course, every person in opposition to HOSNI MUBARAK, had
a news show that they could watch? And, of course, this was not something that went
over brilliantly with those dictators!
Al Jazeera shut down in Egypt as Mubarak fights for control of airwaves
But, what exactly is the problem here?
Well, censoring a satellite TV station is harder than it seems.
Of course, you can forbid it if you want.
But if someone wants to access the station and have a satellite dish, then technically
it's possible.
So in a matter of months, all these Arab citizens were seeing their neighbouring countries overthrowing
their dictators.
And this explains, in part, the Arab Spring phenomenon.
But wait a minute because not everything is so perfect!
Of course, Al Jazeera helped to finish off a lot of dictatorships, but the truth is the
people they promoted on their network were not really any more democratic
For years, the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leader, was given his own television show
on Al Jazeera.
Even DAESH, the Islamic State, was portrayed by Al Jazeera as just an "opposition force"
to AL-ASSAD in Syria or even as a group of "moderate rebels".
The same happened with other Sunni radical terrorists like AL QAEDA.
And now you might wonder: Is AL JAZEERA a network that stands for radicalism and against
the West?
Well, the truth is they've been also accused of the opposite...
Just ask the Emir of Bahrain and his government?
Minister of Information Nabil al-Hamr told journalists that Al-Jazeera's correspondents
had been barred from Bahrain.
Al-Hamr claimed that the station was a medium for "Zionist infiltration in the
Gulf region."
Surprised?
Well, for many, Al Jazeera is Zionist, Western propaganda, for others, it is the TV station
of the radicals...
In fact, the only common ground for Al Jazeera when it comes to ideology is the interests
of the ones who finances them: the royal house of AL THANI who, by the way, don't support
freedom of speech on their own country.
WikiLeaks cables claim al-Jazeera changed coverage to suit Qatari foreign policy
Nevertheless, this doesn't mean they cannot show the dark side of Qatar.
In fact, despite being paid by a Royal House, Al Jazeera is more independent than many other
state-sponsored news networks.
For instance, what you see on the screen are extracts from a talk show about the near-slave-like
working conditions suffered by the immigrants who work in Qatar as construction workers.
In this show, foreign trade unionists were invited and had the chance to openly criticize
the AL THANI family and their policies.
In other words, Al Jazeera's directors are smart enough to limit their propaganda and
not lose their audience.
Of course, they have an ideology and a lot of interests to meet, but they are all aware
that, in today's world you can't silence the reality of what is happening - if you don't
tell it, others will tell it for you.
At the end of the day, Al Jazeera itself is forbidden in almost all countries in the region
- including Saudi Arabia.
Nonetheless, they are still the most influential and most watched TV network.
Everyone knows who pays for them, but, at the same time, they are the only source for
many news topics.
In fact, the Al Jazeera model has lots of copycats.
In 2003, the Saudis founded their own channel, Al Arabiya.
Further the American Government has their own Arabic-speaking network, called AH HURRA.
And what about the Iranian TV?
Hispan TV is a Spanish-speaking network paid for by the Iranian government in order to
influence in the Hispanic world.
They also have an English-speaking channel called Press TV.
In 2005, Russia launched Russia Today, also known as RT.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera keeps exploring new possibilities...
Their latest creation is A+J, a Facebook page where they share viral news.
So now our question for you is: Would you stop watching Al Jazeera because you think
it's propaganda?
Or you will keep enjoying their shows while adding a pinch of salt?
You can leave me your answer in the comment section below!
And talking about propaganda, in this other video we talk about Why Putin is so popular
among the Russians.
If you want to watch it, click on this link.
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