Disputed Arab TV Network Launches English Web Site

As viewers eager for news of the conflict in Iraq turn to the Internet to keep up with latest developments, for some Web sites the flood of visitors is already proving too much. One of these is Arabic-language television satellite TV channel al-Jazeera's Web site which was launched for the first time in English earlier this week.

The increase in online traffic on al-Jazeera's site in the current conflict in Iraq ties in with a similar increase during the war in Afghanistan in 2001. With the start of the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan in Autumn 2001, traffic to its website in Arabic leapt from an average 700,000 page impressions a day before the Sept. 11 attacks, to 1.2 million page views a day in the immediate aftermath.

Although al-Jazeera's Web site was entirely in Arabic, the site mainly attracted American visitors: 40 percent of its visitors were from the U.S., the station told the Wall Street Journal. An increasing number of English-speaking westerners, eager for an alternative perspective on the current conflict in Iraq, are now expected to boost page impresssions on its new English Web site, which focuses mainly on covering the Iraq conflict.

With headlines such as "Basra facing humanitarian crisis" or "U.S. precision bomb destroys civilian bus", the site aims to offer readers an intimate, raw view of the sufferings inflicted upon ordinary people in Iraq as a result of the raging war.

The site, which was launched on Monday, is dedicated to special coverage on the current crisis in the Middle East. The channel prides itself on reporting on the Middle East from a unique Arab perspective while drawing on the professional experience of staff who have worked in the western media.

More freedoms

Unlike most western television networks operating in Iraq that face heavy scrutiny and monitoring from the authorities, al-Jazeera enjoys relative freedom in its reporting of the conflict.

With eight camera crews operating outside the confines of the military, and only a few of its journalists taking part in the allied forces "embedded" program, which allows a limited number of reporters to accompany U.S.-led troops, the Qatar-based channel is making the most of the special status endowed upon it by the Iraqi authorities.

The channel is also known to have the only operating television crew working in the key port city of Basra, which has been under attack by coalition forces since the start of the war.

Banned from the trading floor of the NY Stock Exchange

Al-Jazeera's provocative reporting in the current conflict in Iraq, in particular its broadcasting of captured American soldiers in Iraq has sparked heated discussions in many western countries about how far the media can go while covering a war.

In the past week, al-Jazeera drew the ire of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after broadcasting captured and frightened American prisoners of war by Iraqi troops. Rumsfeld said the broadcast was a breach of the Geneva convention.

In addition, the channel has aired graphic images of blood and gore which other broadcasters have described too shocking and insensitive. These include a picture of a child with its head spilt open, allegedly after a U.S.-led attack in Basra.

"Al-Jazeera has an editorial line and a way of presenting
news that appeals to the Arab public. They watch it and they
magnify the minor successes of the (Iraqi) regime. They tend to portray our efforts in a negative light," U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview with American radio.

The channel's blunt stance has already led to consequences for the network: On Tuesday, al-Jazeera was banned from the floor of the New York stock exchange (NYSE). The NYSE stopped al-Jazeera broadcasts, saying credentials were only for networks that provided "responsible" coverage. Al-Jazeera was also denied a request to broadcast live from New York's Nasdaq exchange.

The channel also reported that hackers had downed both its Arab and newly-launched English language Web site on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Al-Jazeera spokesman, Jihad Ballout defended the broadcaster's stance. "There has to be a national effort to protect the freedom of the press even more," he said. "We appeal to the authorities to pay attention to this."

Access to Osama Bin Laden

Al-Jazeera, launched in 1996, first made its name during the war in Afghanistan due to its exclusive access to the leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, Osama Bin Laden, and the subsequent airing of the notorious terrorist's recorded video messages. Though respected for its brand of independent and outspoken reporting, the network has often been labeled as a "mouthpiece" of Osama Bin Laden and U.S. officials in the past have voiced concern at what they see as its increasingly anti-western tone.

The Arabic channel first ran into controversy after it broadcast several interviews and speeches by senior Iraqi officials, including the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the

first few days following the launch of operation "Desert Fox" by U.S. and British forces in Iraq in December 1999.

On its Web site, al-Jazeera has been aiming for a broader view of the conflict as it reports on both the fighting in Iraq as well as inflamed passions in the Arab world as a result of it. It also reports on alleged attacks on British consular buildings in Beirut and Ecuador by angry anti-war protestors this past week.

Protests from Arab governments

According to Alan Marmion, al-Jazeera's media consultant, the recent rise in interest for the television network (since the start of the war in Iraq, its European subscribers have doubled) is not just due to the war. Still, "the fact that we provide alternative images means people are coming to us rather than going to them (western media)," he told the Guardian newspaper.

But this "alternative view" has in the past even provoked protests infrom Arab governments like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt. These complaints have focused mainly on the fact that political dissidents regularly make an appearance on the channel. Arab governments accuse al-Jazeera of providing dissidents with a platform to criticise their various regimes.