The Obama interview: why Al Arabiya and not Al Jazeera?

"Obama's choice of Al-Arabiya network, which is owned by a Saudi businessman, follows the lead of the Bush administration, which gave several presidential interviews to that news channel. 'The U.S. sees Al-Arabiya as a friendly Arab channel, whereas they see Al-Jazeera as confrontational,' said Lawrence Pintak, director of the journalism training center at the American University in Cairo. Hady Amr, director of the Brookings Doha Center, an arm of the U.S. think-tank in the Qatari capital, described decision to make the first presidential interview with an Arabic news network as 'stunning.'" AP, 27 January 2009.
     "Mr Obama's selection of al-Arabiya over its better-known rival al-Jazeera or the US-funded network al-Hurra emphasised his desire to reach out to the Muslim world without seeming to pander to America's fiercest critics. al-Arabiya – founded in 2003 in deliberate counterpoint to al-Jazeera, which its Saudi Arabian founders saw as too sympathetic to the Jihadist cause – has an audience of 23 million." The Independent, 28 January 2009.
     "The channel is seen as a prominent voice of moderation in the Middle East, preferring calm analysis to what many see as rival al-Jazeera's more sensational coverage. The Obama scoop came at a good moment for al-Arabiya, which had seen ratings falter during the recent Israeli war in Gaza as al-Jazeera provided blanket coverage of Palestinian suffering." Scott MacLeod, Time, 28 January 2009. See also CNN, 27 January 2009.
     "Al Arabiya's Arab satellite rival Al Jazeera has been low key about the interview, mostly out of competitive reasons. They've barely mentioned it, [a State Department] official said." MSNBC, 27 January 2009.
     "Al Arabiya is part of a major Arabic news network, considered second in global coverage to Al Jazeera, which may yet see a nod from the Obama administration down the road -- but seeing that George W. Bush may have joked and/or been serious about bombing an Al Jazeera office in Baghdad, Al Jazeera may still be too much of a leap for the bounding forward new US President." Steve Clemons, Huffington Post, 27 January 2009.
     "Much will be made of Mr Obama’s choice of Al Arabiya over the more widely watched Al Jazeera network. The fact that Al Jazeera has a decidedly less pro-United States editorial stance than Al Arabiya probably figured into Mr Obama’s decision, yet there are possible political considerations behind the choice as well. That the latter is a Saudi channel, based in the UAE, and the former is a Qatari network will no doubt factor into the analysis of his decision." The National (Abu Dhabi), 28 January 2009.
     "It gave a boost to a Saudi-owned news channel founded in 2003 to present a more balanced view of regional conflicts than was being produced by the more Islamist-leaning Al Jazeera network. The latter has since become more objective in its coverage, possibly because it was losing viewers to Al Arabiya. Now it has even more incentive to play fair: the chance of landing the next Obama exclusive." Edtorial, Los Angeles Times, 28 January 2009.
     "Mr Obama has given his first formal television interview as US President to the Dubai-based station, al-Arabiya – not, it should be noted, to al-Jazeera, which has been the station routinely chosen by al-Qa'ida to convey its message of scorn and hostility to the West, but to a station with an equally extensive reach across the region." Leader, The Independent, 28 January 2009.
     "Now here's Barack Obama, World Superstar, beloved of billions, inviting the less hysterical than al-Jazeera (but still dishonest) al-Arabiya TV into the White House for a chat." Rick Moran, American Thinker, 27 January 2009.
     "Now, if Obama's people could start working quietly behind the scenes to get U.S. media goniffs to start carrying Al Jazeera on their cable systems. Then, he could actually do an interview on Al Jazeera, and most Americans could watch it." Ward Harkavy, The Village Voice blog, 27 January 2009.
     "It’s certainly not as credible as Al-Jazeera, but Obama would catch a lot of hell for appearing on Al-Jazeera. In a few years, I’m sure he’ll do it. But it’s too early for that now." fostert comment to Yglesias blog, 27 January 2009, and see other comments.
     "In the Middle East, the moderate news channel Al-Arabiya drubs other Arabic news channels in popularity, including the controversial Al-Jazeera and the U.S. government's Al-Hurra - the latter of which is getting better numbers than before, but nothing to match Al-Arabiya's." Alvin Snyder, Middle East Times, 28 January 2009.
     "This is also outreach to Saudi Arabia. Al-Arabiya is the Saudi contestant in the Arab media wars, and scoring the first interview with Obama is a major coup. It has lost a lot of ground because of Gaza, and this will help it regain some buzz. ... Granting the first interview to al-Jazeera would have reached a much larger audience, and would have been more daring -- like going on to Fox News instead of MSNBC." Marc Lynch, Foreign Policy blog, 27 January 2009.
     "Al Arabiya is an international news station that broadcasts in Arabic from Dubai; most of its funding comes from Saudi Arabia. In terms of its popularity and ratings in the Arab world, it is a distant second to the Doha-based Al Jazeera - the network Obama should have sat down with if he really wanted to reach the largest possible audience. ... From a US perspective, in the realm of media, Al Arabiya represents the moderates and Al Jazeera the radicals. While such generalizations are inaccurate and unfair, there are reasons for them. Al Jazeera is well known for a certain degree of sympathy to the Palestinian resistance; however, watching news reports on Al Arabiya, one often gets the impression that their editorial line is not too far off from the political agenda of the US government." Kalash, Kabobfest, 26 January 2009.
     "Al Arabiya despite what they are claimed are highly criticized for being biased to the American administration and its allies in the region. The American administration should have chosen either BBC Arabic 'couple of other benefits' or Al Jazeera 'of course Al Jazeera can be a controversial choice.' I prefer BBC Arabic despite it is not originally an Arabic network but if Obama wants to send a message to the Muslim world regarding Peace, mutual relations and Iran, what would be better than BBC Arabic and its newly young sister BBC Farsi!!? Anyhow It is a scoop for Al Arabiya , yet I doubt it will make me watch them as I watch BBC Arabic or Al Jazeera 'despite the later attack on Egypt.'" Zeinobia, Egyptian Chronicles blog, 27 January 2009.
     See also Why Al Arabiya and not Alhurra? See previous post about same subject. Posted: 28 Jan 2009 Permalink Print