Product Description

With more than fifty million viewers, Al Jazeera is one of the most widely watched news channels in the world. It's also one of the most controversial. Set up by the eccentric Emir of Qatar, who turned a failed BBC Arabic television project into an Arab news channel, Al Jazeera quickly became a household name after September 11th by delivering some of the biggest scoops in television history, including airing a taped speech from Osama bin Laden. Lambasted as a mouthpiece for Al Qaeda, little is actually known about Al Jazeera and its operations. Financed by one of the weathiest countries in the world, Al Jazeera quickly established itself as the premiere news channel in the Islamic world by covering events Arabs cared about in a way they had never seen before. However, accusations of ties to Al Qaeda continue to plague it. Their journalists have been accused of spying for everyone from Mossad to Saddam Hussein, sometimes simultaneously. This the story behind the Arab news channel that makes the news.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #48295 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 464 pages

Review
'Western policymakers have much to learn from this stylish, highly intelligent book' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Pacey, nicely written and well contexualised' INDEPENDENT 'His (Miles's) compelling book should be read by anyone interested in the underside of curren

Herald
'[A] well-written and even-handed account of the Arab news
channel'

Telegraph, 8 January 2005
'Western policymakers have much to learn from this stylish, highly intelligent, somewhat polemical book'

Customer Reviews

A good antidote to stereotypes
Just finished Hugh Miles' excellent book on Al-Jazeera. It's well-written and easy to read, quite gripping in places, and gives much more than just the story of the Al-Jazeera network, it's really the story of the last ten years in the Middle East, and counters so many of the stereotypes we have in the West about Arabs.

Principal among these is that Arabs hate America. Far from being a mouthpiece for Bin Laden or for anti-Western propaganda, Jazeera was the first media outlet in the Middle East that allowed free discussion, investigative journalism and 'one opinion and the other' - talk shows where opponents debated freely and uncensored phone-in calls were accepted. What emerges is that Arabs love America in many ways - they lap up its TV programmes, its sport, Hollywood and, most important, this kind of open argumentative media. Emotionally Arabs are very attached to America and its ideals, and to Britain and its reputation for objectivity and education. But - and it's a big 'but' - they are passionately opposed to its foreign policy, which in their eyes contradicts the values America has always espoused. Palestine is closer to the heart of ordinary Arabs in shops and cafes than we could ever imagine any foreign-policy issue since World War II. They really care about it, even if to some of them it's an issue of sentiment and idealism rather than practical politics. They see double standards coming out of America all the time - WMD: no country should have them, we'll attack anyone who's trying to develop them but we won't even talk about Israel's nuclear bomb; free speech: Arabs almost all suffer under restrictive, almost despotic regimes where the media are forced to toe the government line slavishly but the US supports these regimes and attacks Jazeera.

Arabs see the US say one thing, and do another; espouse free speech but support the dictators, talk anti-terrorism but turn a blind eye to Israel's 'targetted killings'. Jazeera was the first Arab station to invite and broadcase Israeli leaders, yet they are still decried as 'spreading poison'. If you've ever feared the Arab world, do yourself a favour and read this book - then go there and talk to people.

Highly recommended!
A fascinating expose of the history of Al-Jazeera, an Arab news channel regarded as a pariah in the West but which Miles argues is a very important example of the emergence of free media in the Middle East. A gripping read and a wake-up call for those of us who unthinkingly accept the images portrayed through Western media!

Very good
This is a lucid and readable book on an important and interesting contemporary subject. Hugh Miles has clearly done a lot of research, and he has got to the heart of the increasingly influential news channel. As he suggests, this is not just the story of a news channel, but the story of today's Middle East. For anyone interested in current affairs - and specifically in the Middle East - this book is indispensable. Miles writes seriously, but even manages to have a sense of humour.