First World countries have always championed responsible journalism as an effective way to inform their citizens of current affairs. Some people may whine that The New York Times, once the stalwart of objectivity, has now begun a leftward slant, and others complain that Fox News is the toady of the American Right. These grievances are not without some merit, but a glance at media in the Arab world makes Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 911 look like an example of model objectivity (almost). This comparison paints a misleadingly rosy picture of Arab media. Even the best of Arab Media, such as Al-Jazeera, colors its own stories an anti-Semitic, anti-American, blood red. It contains such spurious, hate-inciting material, with an agenda that may only be obvious to Western-eyes. It is no great surprise after examining Arab media material, that much of the Arab world hates Israel. In fact, anyone subjected to Arab Media propaganda on a daily basis would too.
What prompted this article was a visit to Aljazeera.com. Just as a principle rule of investing is diversification, a principle rule of understanding current affairs is reading and watching a diverse group of news-media. Thus began an eye-opening excursion into the world of Arab Media Propaganda on Aljazeera.com (I encourage anyone reading this to go see for themselves, but be prepared for some shocking material).
Al-Jazeera, a media group ran out of Qatar, is respected in the Arab world. Many Arabs choose to watch Al-Jazeera via satellite, rather then their own state-run media. Just because Al-Jazeera is not state-affiliated does not mean it is good. Calling it not good would be a gross understatement. Calling it journalism is an insult to the entire field, and to the history of journalism. In fact, some of the material on the website contains forms of anti-Semitism that some believed were dead, and worthy of jesting because of their levels of preposterousness. In one article titled, Jewish Rabbi Allows Settlers to Steal Palestinian Crops, a claim is made that, “Last month, they [settlers] poisoned and damaged the main water spring for the Madama village. An Oxfam team tried to repair the damage but they said that they needed protection because armed Israeli settlers opened fire on workers repairing the same spring in two separate occasions during 2002.” Claiming that Jews are poisoning wells and Jews using blood to make Matzah (Jewish holy-bread used during the Passover time), are some of the oldest, and most ridiculous forms of anti-Semitism. How can a major media source get away with publishing this?
Imagine that an American media outlet, like CNN, ran a special saying that Mexicans were sneaking across the border to poison the American water-supply. Such irresponsible journalism would cause outrage in the US and Mexico, and CNN would be considered a terrible news-source. Shaking the image it would be given after the story would be an extremely difficult task. Yet Al-Jazeera gets away with worse, ad infinitum. After having anti-Israel ideology inculcated into the minds of Arabs for years on end, it is no wonder there are bombings during the peace process. Would you want to live next to a neighbor if you thought he may poison your water, or worse?
This “poisoning the water by settlers” piece comes from the News section of Aljazeera.com. There is another section, equal in size to that of the news section, with double the propaganda. This section is titled Conspiracy Theories. This implies, obviously, that information in the News section is true! A more accurate division of Al-jazeera.com would be instead of News, Anti-Semitic, and anti-American propaganda for those wishing to duped, and instead of Conspiracy Theories, How Israel and America are behind every negative event in history. The Conspiracy Theory section is so ridiculous, finding an article in there claiming Israel tricked the world into believing the sun revolved around the earth, or that the Mossad (Israel’s secret service) is plotting to destroy the world by bringing back the Bubonic plague, would not be surprising to its readers. Some article headlines include: Donald Rumsfeld: The Mastermind Behind Terrorist Attacks, 9/11 The Unspoken Blame Continues to Be Israel!, and Israel’s Hand in Sudan’s Past, Present and Future, which blames Israel for basically causing all of Sudan’s internal problems in an effort to weaken Egypt. People in the Arab world are subjected to this propaganda everyday.
The current American strategy in the War on Terror is that by spreading liberty terrorism will eventually stop or decrease in frequency, while the European’s believe that terrorism is spawned by poverty. Neither of these policies address the real cause of terrorism, that people in the Arab world are indoctrinated by media outlets such as Al-Jazeera, and then want to rise up against what they believe are their oppressors. Spreading liberty in Iraq and Afghanistan has not resulted in more accurate media for the Arab world, and much of the Iraqi insurgency is incited by this propaganda. America will not stop terrorism in Iraq in the long term by raiding suspected terrorists houses, arresting them, or bombing terrorist’s strongholds. Israel will not fully stop terrorism by creating fences, or trying to infiltrate the ranks of terrorist groups. A more effective way to reduce terrorism would be to show the people in the Arab World that what they have been reading in the papers and watching on their satellite televisions is propaganda. They need to be shown that America and Israel are not evil oppressors, and they need to be given credible, alternate media options. Perhaps then the War on Terrorism will be less needed and a sustainable peace between Israel and its neighbors exist.