“Many are arguing that Al Jazeera is an independent, journalistic entity that is not in the business of producing opinion-led or biased content. I would question that premise. Today, Al Jazeera, with its various global operations, is designed to cater to a range of different audiences. It is such a large operation that it has begun to segment its audiences and market shares. Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English have their own distinct audiences, discourses, editorial policies, and red lines. Al Jazeera Arabic has long catered to right-wing communities in the Middle East, crafting specific messaging to a conservative market share. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera English speaks to a more diverse, cosmopolitan, and progressive audience. Even so, I would say that Al Jazeeraas a whole has begun to venture right. This is an important factor that anglophone readers and viewers—and even Al Jazeera English’s staff to a certain extent—do not realize.”
By Nadeem Mahjoub Documentary film-makers G. Troeller and M. C. Defarge once asked a cabinet minister in South Yemen, why socialistic ideas were so readily acceptable in that part of the Arab world. He replied: “Because we have been communists for a thousand years! My mother was Qarmatian.” Official Muslim scholars and clerics, and many so-called moderates (whether individuals or groups) oppose sedition ( fitna ). Tensions and contradictions in society should be solved peacefully and even if the ruler was unjust and impious, it is generally accepted he should still be obeyed, for any kind of order is better than anarchy and sedition. “The tyranny of a sultan for a hundred years causes less damage than one year’s tyranny exercised by the subjects against one another.” Revolt was justified only against a ruler who clearly went against the command of God and His prophet.” 1 Here we look at not what happened in the minds of people who call for calm, oppose dissent and preach the re...
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