propaganda watch

Al Jazeera English is making its debut, featuring Dave Marash as co-anchor:

photo: Tim Dillon, USA Today

I remember Marash from his WCBS-TV days, when he was co-anchor of the 11:00 p.m. broadcast with Rolland Smith. His trademark was the rolled-up-shirtsleeves look (he didn’t wear a suit jacket). From there he went on to ABC and, eventually, the big time: Nightline. And now he’s about to become the American face of Al Jazeera. Whaddaya know about that?

The inevitable expansion of the Arabic satellite channel that has been a conduit for messages from OBL and Al Qaeda into the American market is sure to cause ripples, and Al Jazeera is also aware that it will be under the microscope:

Says AJI producer Kelly Rockwell, who used to work at CBS and ABC News: “We know there’s going to be scrutiny, so we’re making sure we are as balanced as possible. We’ll have such a global audience that we are going to be criticized, so we are going to be very cautious in our delivery. That has been drilled from Day One.”

Whatever. I am wedded to freedom of speech, and I believe that in these grim times (and not only in these grim times), nothing is more important than communication and dialogue. Plus, I’m pro-infotainment (there’s no stopping that speeding train), so I say: bring it on.

At least one media critic floats the idea that American audiences will be getting a much different version of Al Jazeera than what Arab speakers see:

Harvard media analyst Alex Jones says Arabic Al-Jazeera may “have a blood-and-thunder version for the Arab world and something more like the BBC for the West.”

Great! more “impartial” reporting! But maybe Marc Lynch aka Abu Aardvark, whose blog I enjoy reading for its interesting perspective on the Arab media, will keep us posted about the differences.

For his part, Marash says:

“Even if you think about it in the most adversarial way, you want to know your enemy, and a lot of people consider themselves our enemy, so better we should know what’s on their minds than to pretend it isn’t there.”

Here, I have to agree with him—even if he’s only trying to get us to watch.
Particularly in wartime, and particularly with the kind of enemy we face, it is critical to know your enemy. Especially an enemy that knows us so well.

Beyond that, though, this will be a long-overdue opportunity for American pols and government officials and policy wonks and other talking heads to engage with Al Jazeera, and thus with a worldwide Muslim audience. That is so necessary to our public-diplomacy efforts.

And it would do wonders for our counter-propaganda efforts too. Remember Wafa Sultan’s appearance on Al Jazeera?

Just think of the possibilities!