Al Jazeera effect

The Al Jazeera effect[a] is a term used in political science and media studies to describe the impact of new media and media sources on global politics.[2] The term was coined by Philip Seib in his book "The Al Jazeera Effect". The primary example is the effect's namesake—the impact of Al Jazeera on the politics of the Arab world, which played a historic role in transforming the region's media.[3][4] Seib argues that the rise of emerging media has weakened governments’ ability to control flow of information.[5] The Al Jazeera effect can be seen as a parallel to the CNN effect.[2]

The media can be tools of conflict and instruments of peace; they can make traditional borders irrelevant and unify peoples scattered across the globe. This phenomenon— the Al Jazeera effect—is reshaping the world. — Philip M. Seib, The Al Jazeera Effect

Origin and use

William Lafi Youmans attributes the first use of the term to Philip Seib.[2] However, Simon Henderson, who in turn attributes the term to "diplomats in the region", had used it as early as 2000.[6] As used by Henderson, the Al Jazeera effect originally referred to Arab Middle East governments’ losing their monopoly on information because of the popularity and easy access to the Al Jazeera's satellite television network,[6] and scholars still often use it in such a limited context.[7] Thomas L. McPhail used it to refer to the changes in all of the Arab media.[8] Seib generalized it to other, Internet-powered new media worldwide.[2]

The most visible of these suppliers is Al Jazeera, which is both a prototype for the new breed of news organizations appearing around the world and a player in global politics. — Philip M. Seib, The Al Jazeera Effect

Founding of Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera was created in 1996 with the combination of the Emir of Qatar's money and talent from the defunct BBC Arabic service.[9] Audiences and journalists alike were drawn to Al Jazeera’s goal of reporting news without government censorship.[10] From the beginning, Al Jazeera became the most watched and the most powerful news network in the region.[11] The period from 1996 to 2004 is often referred to as the "Al Jazeera Era" because of its significance in Middle Eastern politics.[12] Al Jazeera's motto is "The Opinion and the Other Opinion", with the goal of covering multiple perspectives from all sides.[13][14][15] Al Jazeera English was launched in 2006. Al Jazeera has described its editorial mission as giving a "voice to the voiceless" referring to a focus on reporting stories involving marginalized or underrepresented communities.[16][17][18][19]

Impact

Al Jazeera played a historic role in transforming media in the Middle East and globally by ending the one-way flow of information from the West and by giving Arab citizens a platform and an effective means to respond to Western media.[4][20][21] Al Jazeera is often called the CNN of the Arab world, and scholars argue that the launch of Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English helped challenge the dominance of Western international news networks.[22] Al Jazeera's news programming with live, comprehensive coverage also challenged the controlled coverage typical of state media news outlets in the Middle East.[23][24] It is a trusted source of news in the Arab and Muslim world. [25][26][27][28]

The Al Jazeera effect follows a similar pattern to the CNN effect which includes the accelerant effect, impediment effect, and agenda-setting effect.[29][30] Seib noted that the Al Jazeera effect can be seen as parallel to the CNN effect, which states that coverage of international events can force otherwise uninvolved governments to take action.[2] Whereas the CNN effect is used in the context of mainstream, traditional media networks such as CNN, the Al Jazeera effect generalizes this to newer media such as citizen journalist blogs, internet radio, and satellite broadcasting.[2] He also argues that new media strengthen the identity of and give voice to previously marginalized groups, which previously lacked their own media outlets; he cites the Kurdish people as an example.[2] Many of the new media organizations are affiliated with such groups, social movements or similar organizations. New media weaken the monopoly of many states on information, as even extensive Internet censorship in countries such as China is not wholly effective.[2] He concludes that the new media, while not beyond being abused, are largely contributing to democratization and political reform worldwide.[2] William Lafi Youmans notes that Seib's prediction that the Al Jazeera effect will lead to changes in the politics of the Middle East was realized in the early 2010s during the Arab Spring, with new media provoking widespread debate and unrest within the region.[2] The CNN effect and the Al Jazeera effect have had a tremendous impact on government policy. Both have influenced U.S. foreign policy. The existence of such news organizations is crucial for democratization, freedom of expression and political action.[31]

Al Jazeera was not the first Arab satellite channel, but it did provide new standards and production values in Arab news media.[15]Additionally, Al Jazeera created a voting system in which viewers could vote online, formulating a type of democracy via satellite system. This has been a useful tool in measuring public opinion, especially on controversial topics, in the Arab world.[15] As a result of Al Jazeera's programs, individuals in the Middle East have learned more about Western democracy and politics than from other previous sources.[32]

Egyptian dissident Saad al-Din Ibrahim spoke of Al Jazeera as giving Arab citizens open public space and new opportunities for expression and assertion,[33] which has been seen through its on-air talk shows, discussion, and phone-in programs.[15] Various critics have acknowledged Al Jazeera's role in aiding reforms during the 2005 Arab Spring, specifically in regard to its news coverage of Iraqi elections and Lebanese protests.[33]

See also

References

  1. ^ Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2013-10-15). Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape: The South is Talking Back. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-07869-0.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Youmans, William Lafi (2013). "Al Jazeera Effect". In Kerric, Harvey (ed.). Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics. Los Angeles: CQ Press/Sage Reference. pp. 41–43. ISBN 9781483389004. Search for "Al Jazeera effect".
  3. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. More than that, Al Jazeera is a paradigm of new media's influence. Ten years ago, there was much talk about "the CNN effect," the theory that news coverage—especially gripping visual storytelling—was influencing foreign policy throughout the world. Today, "the Al Jazeera effect" takes that a significant step farther. Just as "the CNN effect" is not about CNN alone, so too is "the Al Jazeera effect" about much more than the Qatar-based media company. The concept encompasses the use of new media as tools in every aspect of global affairs, ranging from democratization to terrorism and including the concept of "virtual states."
  4. ^ a b Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. The Qatar-based station has played a historic role in transforming media not only in the Middle East but also globally, proving that the hegemony of the predominantly Western media establishment can be successfully challenged.

    Youssef Ibrahim noted that Arab satellite media have become "a platform and an effective means to respond to Western media, and hence the Arab citizen now has a channel to the top leadership in the United States."

    Within a few years, Al Jazeera established itself as the principal television voice of the Arab viewpoint of major events and its coverage attracted the attention of news organizations elsewhere.
  5. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. This kind of thing is happening around the world. In the past, governments could control much of the information flow and therefore keep tight rein on political change. That is no longer the case. Governments can jail some bloggers and knock some satellite stations off the air, but the flood of information, and the intellectual freedom it fosters, is relentless.
  6. ^ a b "The 'al-Jazeera Effect' – The Washington Institute for Near East Policy". Washingtoninstitute.org. 2000-12-08. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
  7. ^ Sadri, Houman A.; Flammia, Madelyn (2011). Intercultural Communication: A New Approach to International Relations and Global Challenges. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-4411-0309-3. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  8. ^ McPhail, Thomas L. (2010). Global Communication: Theories, Stakeholders, and Trends. John Wiley & Sons. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-4443-3030-4. Retrieved 24 October 2012.
  9. ^ POWERS, SHAWN (2016-04-30). Seib (ed.). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World (P. ed.). Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-01574-7. Second, Al Jazeera consistently sought out journalists with experience reporting throughout the region and with training in investigative reporting typically associated with "Western journalism." This effort was substantially helped early on when, just months before Al Jazeera was launched, the British-Saudi joint venture BBC Arabic collapsed after a series of disagreements between the Saudi financiers and BBC editors over editorial freedom. As a result of the falling out, the Middle East was flooded with hundreds of BBC trained, politically active journalists, 150 of whom were hired to build the journalistic core of Al Jazeera's news team. As a result, in addition to its attractive and persuasive on-screen presenters, the channel's content was far superior in quality and depth when compared to other sources of news in the region.
  10. ^ Powers, Shawn; Seib, Philip (2012). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World. Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 5–28. First, Al Jazeera's mission was to produce programing that was journalistically sound and free from government interference. In the Middle East, no such mandate had ever been given to a news network that would broadcast from within the region, and thus Al Jazeera appealed to both reporters interested in practicing uncensored journalism and audiences keen on watching news that wasn't merely government propaganda. Sheik Hamad pledged to let Al Jazeera "report the news as they see it," adding, "I believe criticism can be a good thing and some discomfort for government officials is a small price to pay for this new freedom."
  11. ^ POWERS, SHAWN (2016-04-30). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-01574-7. At the outset, there were three factors that helped it become the most watched and the most powerful news network in the region, each of which also helps explain the origins and challenges facing AJE: (1) its mission and financial support; (2) its commitment to hiring professional journalists with in-depth local knowledge; (3) access to international communications infrastructure.
  12. ^ POWERS, SHAWN (2016-04-30). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-01574-7. Marc Lynch describes the period from 1996 to 2004 as the "Al Jazeera Era" due to its huge significance in Middle East politics and unmatched popularity among audiences from around the region.
  13. ^ POWERS, SHAWN (2016-04-30). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-01574-7. Building on its initial mission to provide uncensored and critical reporting on the region's political elite, Al Jazeera's mission is often summed up as "the opinion and the other opinion," a reference to its goal of exposing audiences to all sides of an issue. The channel quickly established credibility with audiences as it consistently challenged official accounts of news offered by the region's ministries of information, a first in the Arab world.
  14. ^ Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2013-10-15). Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape: The South is Talking Back. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-07869-0.
  15. ^ a b c d Azar, Jamil (2004). "Al-Jazeera: A new Arab voice in West Asia". India International Centre Quarterly. 31 (1): 3–11. JSTOR 23005907.
  16. ^ Seib, P. (2016-04-30). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-01574-7. Only five years old in 2011, AJE had, since its inception, proclaimed itself to be offering a new kind of journalism—with emphasis on covering the global South and providing a "voice for the voiceless." It had one of the best-known brand names in the world and an inexhaustible source of funding, the royal family of Qatar.
  17. ^ Figenschou, Tine Ustad (2013-10-15). Al Jazeera and the Global Media Landscape: The South is Talking Back. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-07869-0.
  18. ^ Stroud, Shawn (2014). "The Rise of Al Jazeera" (PDF). Military Review. 94 (4): 63–70. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2021 – via EBSCO host.
  19. ^ "The Rise of Al Jazeera" (PDF). www.armyupress.army.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2026-01-20. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
  20. ^ Zayani, Mohamed (2019-05-23). Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26399-9. In appealing to the sensibility of the Arab–Muslim world, Al Jazeera departed from the exclusive reliance on the Western news agencies. The media are becoming more diverse than ever, the news is no longer limited to that which Western media authenticates and the dominant perspective is no longer one that is Western in essence. A channel like Al Jazeera prides itself on reporting Arab news from the Arab world better than other international stations, which makes it appealing to the Arab–Muslim world.
  21. ^ Rugh, William A. (2004). Arab Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Arab Politics. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-0-275-98212-6. Americans are aware of al-Jazeera Television that has had a revolutionary impact in the Middle East, but there are other television channels in Arabic which are also important but unknown in America.
  22. ^ Sadig, Haydar Badawi; Petcu, Catalina (2019), Sadig, Haydar Badawi (ed.), "The History of Al Jazeera", Al Jazeera in the Gulf and in the World: Is It Redefining Global Communication Ethics?, Singapore: Springer, pp. 1–33, doi:10.1007/978-981-13-3420-7_1, ISBN 978-981-13-3420-7, retrieved 2026-03-15{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  23. ^ Zayani, Mohamed (2019-05-23). Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26399-9. Even state media establishments can no longer ignore what pan-Arab stations like Al Jazeera are doing and have, indeed, become more aware of the need for more appropriate programming. Al Jazeera's programming has challenged the restrained coverage available on state media which has no other choice than to follow suit and even send reporters to the scene for fear of losing audiences.
  24. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. By 2003 and the beginning of the Iraq War, Al Jazeera's success had encouraged rivals, such as Al Arabiya and Abu Dhabi TV, to emphasize live, comprehensive coverage. For the first time, many Arabs did not have to rely on the BBC, CNN, or other outside news sources when a big story broke. They could instead find news presented from an Arab perspective.
  25. ^ Zayani, Mohamed (2019-05-23). Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-26399-9. This independence and autonomy lend Al Jazeera a great deal of credibility and creativity. At least in the Arab world, it is perceived by many viewers as a credible source of news. It must be said that Al Jazeera provides a rare case of the funder not interfering with and intervening in editorial policy.
  26. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. To understand Al Jazeera's influence, it is necessary to look at the channel not from the perspective of Western policymakers who consider it to be a malignant nuisance, but rather from the standpoint of its Arab audience, which sees it as a magnifier of shared frustrations and aspirations and as a truth-teller. Relatively free from the control of governments (except its own Qatari government), near or far, Al Jazeera is trusted as a chronicler of Arab and Muslim interests.
  27. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. This is largely because the channel is trusted more than many of its competitors. Critics of Al Jazeera, particularly in the West, often challenge the channel's objectivity, but such criticism misses the point in terms of understanding the channel's baseline strength. Rather than judging the news product they receive according to standards prescribed by outsiders, most of Al Jazeera's viewers consider credibility to be a news provider's most important attribute, and these viewers want news that is gathered independently for Arabs by Arabs and that sees events through their eyes. In the new era of proliferating satellite television channels, state-controlled and Western broadcasters have found that they are at a significant competitive disadvantage in the Arab world because they are not as credible as Al Jazeera.
  28. ^ "The Rise of Al Jazeera" (PDF). www.armyupress.army.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2026-01-20. Retrieved 2026-03-15.
  29. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. More than that, Al Jazeera is a paradigm of new media's influence. Ten years ago, there was much talk about "the CNN effect," the theory that news coverage—especially gripping visual storytelling—was influencing foreign policy throughout the world. Today, "the Al Jazeera effect" takes that a significant step farther. Just as "the CNN effect" is not about CNN alone, so too is "the Al Jazeera effect" about much more than the Qatar-based media company
  30. ^ Gilboa, Eytan (2005-02-16). "The CNN Effect: The Search for a Communication Theory of International Relations". Political Communication. 22 (1): 27–44. doi:10.1080/10584600590908429. ISSN 1058-4609.
  31. ^ Seib, Philip M. (2008). The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-61234-002-9. More grandly, the Internet and other new communication mechanisms can be splendid tools of democratization, adding new dimensions to freedom of expression and political action.
  32. ^ Miles, Hugh (2006). "Al Jazeera". Foreign Policy. 155: 20–24.
  33. ^ a b Lynch, Marc (2005). "Watching al-Jazeera". The Wilson Quarterly. 29 (3): 36–45. JSTOR 40233061.

Notes

  1. ^ Also referred to as the "Al Jazeera moment",[1] "Al Jazeera Era"

Further reading

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