Qatar is a small non-democratic gulf state that has been much in the news recently for the role that it is playing in the geo politics and conflicts that are going on in the region. As a small country whose military presence is negligible, Qatar projects its power in the region principally through its gas based revenues and through its ability to influence the information environment notably as the home of Al Jareeza.
As a funded institution of an autocratic state, Al Jazeera is more than an information source; it is an active player in the geo-politics of the region. Its role has been much discussed in the Arab world. In fact in that context Al Jazeera is considered such a problematic entity that it was a key component of a 2017 controversy that led to other Gulf states blockading Qatar.
This article looks at the issue of Al Jazeera and examines how it disseminates information and in an African context. One way it does this is through its dual narrative approach to news reporting.
Its English language service often reports on issues fundamentally differently to its Arab language counterpart. The English edition is strategically edited, with high production values and has globally trained anchors from other parts of the world. When reporting in English Al Jazeera often focuses on issues of importance to progressive parts of the political spectrum in western societies and reports on them sympathetically. This differs from the Arab language service of the channel, where progressive issues are either not covered, or actively undermined in ways that support Qatari state interests.
An example can be seen in the issue of Feminism in Egypt. In 2021, the Egyptian feminist writer and activist Nawal Elsaadawi passed away. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the practice of female genital mutilation in her society. She was described as "the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab World".
While Al Jazeera in English portrayed her as “women's rights icon”, Al Jazeera in Arabic told its viewers that “She attacked religions and demanded the legalization of prostitution and questioned the Qur’an”. While Al Jazeera in English sought to address Western progressive audiences about the politics of a conservative state that competes with Qatar - the Arabic version sought to appeal to regional Islamist voices inside and push back on the idea of women's rights in the Arab world.