‘Al-Jazeera Effect’ Counters ‘CNN Effect’: Canadians Deserve Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera English, founded in 2006, joined the Al Jazeera Network in order to have its own distinctive  ‘Al Jazeera effect’: changing the direction of major global news-flow from the global South to the global North, and giving voice to the voiceless. Its independence from commercial and political pressure is challenging the paradigm of other news networks where there is increasing corporate concentrations of media ownership.

According to Al Jazeera English’s Code of Ethics, it promotes "journalistic values of honesty, courage, fairness, balance, independence, credibility and diversity." Journalists are to provide a "clear, factual and accurate picture while giving full consideration to the feelings of victims of crime, war, persecution and disaster," and to "present the diverse points of view and opinions without bias and partiality."

Al Jazeera English is able to give a voice to the voiceless by being the most diverse news service in the world in front and behind the camera. It has found a niche by offering a distinctive "Southern global" perspective, as well as an authentic people’s view, preferring to cover wars behind civilian lines rather than being embedded along with invading troops. One of Al Jazeera English’s hosts, Josh Rushing, notes the following: "CNN films the launch of the missile. Al Jazeera films what happens where it lands."

Ahmed Mansour, an unembedded Al Jazeera reporter in the embattled city of Fallujah, Iraq, told Democracy Now! in February 2006 regarding his view of independent journalism:

"What I can say is that we did our duty as journalists [in Fallujah]… If this battle took place on the land of the US and I was the one covering it and American civilians were vulnerable to killing, I would not have done any different than what I have done at Fallujah. This is our duty toward humanity in general, as journalists, to report the truth from any place that we are in. Our role was to present the truth about what is happening to the civilians. We did that with documents and pictures, and no one could deny this. The whole world reported and transferred this truth and these facts…. The battles have to be reported from both sides. We were among the civilians…They had embedded journalists with those who launched this attack from the US forces who occupied Iraq, and they reported what they wanted. We were trying to create an equilibrium or a balance, so that the truth was not lost."

Al Jazeera English also tries to create balance with respect to a diversity of perspectives from the under-reported regions in the world. About 80% of its stories are regarding the news in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. This is about double that of the BBC and CNN. The information package Al Jazeera English released in support of its CRTC application poignantly states that, "For years, the flow of information in the world has run from North to South, from rich countries to poor. The news agenda was set by media organizations of the West while the rest of the world, the majority of the world’s population, had to live with the result. People in South America, in Africa, in the Middle East, had to see their news through the eyes of producers and presenters in Atlanta [headquarters for CNN] or London [BBC]."

Al Jazeera, by contrast, has two broadcasting centres in developing countries (Doha and Kuala Lumpur) and two in developed countries (London and Washington). In addition, Al Jazeera has 69 bureaus around the world, almost half of which are in the global South. The number will be 70 if the CRTC approves Al Jazeera English’s application with the network’s promise to open a Canadian bureau.

Al Jazeera’s staff and reporters are as diverse as Canada. It has more than 1,200 staff from nearly 50 nationalities, including more than 45 ethnicities, constituting the most diverse news network in the world. Furthermore, a high proportion of AJE’s reporters are women, also adding to the diversity in topics and perspectives covered.