The Hindu : International : U.S. pressure behind <I> Al-Jazeera</I> sale plan?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 31, 2005

International

International

U.S. pressure behind Al-Jazeera sale plan?

By Steven R. Weisman

WASHINGTON, JAN. 30. The tiny state of Qatar is a crucial American ally in the Persian Gulf, where it provides a military base and warm support of U.S. policies. Yet, U.S. relations with Qatar are also strained over an awkward issue: Qatar's sponsorship of Al-Jazeera, the provocative television station that is a big source of news in the Arab world.

The Vice-President, Dick Cheney, the Defence Secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State, Colin L. Powell, and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al-Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.

The pressure has been so intense, a senior Qatari official said that the Government is accelerating plans to put Al-Jazeera on the market, though Bush administration officials counter that a privately owned station in the region may be no better from their point of view. ``We have recently added new members to the Al-Jazeera editorial board, and one of their tasks is to explore the best way to sell it,'' said the Qatari official, who said he could be more candid about the situation if he was not identified. ``We really have a headache, not just from the United States but from advertisers and from other countries as well.'' Asked if the sale might dilute Al-Jazeera's content, the official said, ``I hope not.''

Wide audience

Estimates of Al-Jazeera's audience range from 30 million to 50 million, putting it well ahead of its competitors. But that success does not translate into profitability, and the station relies on a big subsidy from the Qatari Government, which in the past has explored ways to sell it. The official said Qatar hoped to find a buyer within a year. Its coverage has disturbed not only Washington, but also Arab Governments from Egypt to Saudi Arabia. With such a big audience, but a lack of profitability, it is not clear who might be in the pool of potential buyers, or how a new owner might change the editorial content. U.S. Administration officials have been reluctant to talk about the station, being sensitive to charges that they are trying to suppress free expression. Officials at the State and Defence Departments and at the embassy in Qatar were reluctant to comment.

However, some administration officials acknowledged that the well-publicised U.S. pressure on the station — highlighted when Qatar was not invited to a summit meeting on the future of democracy in West Asia last summer in Georgia — has drawn charges of hypocrisy, especially in the light of the President, George W. Bush's repeated calls for greater freedoms and democracy in the region.

Among the broadcasts criticised by the United States were repeated showings of taped messages by Osama bin Laden, and, more specifically, the reporting early last year, before Al-Jazeera was thrown out of Iraq, of the journalist Ahmed Mansour, that stressed civilian casualties during an assault on Falluja. The network also reports passionately about the Palestinian conflict.

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