Al Jazeera: The Voice of the People

"I was immediately struck by the fact that the stories were told by ordinary individuals in their own words and perspectives, not by the reporters themselves," Bruce C. Swaffield states in Al Jazeera: Model News Outlet? (Swaffield 36). The Al Jazeera reporters do a great job of stepping aside and letting the people who actually experienced the story do the talking. This is a great news model because it prevents the reporters from interpreting the story, and allows the participants to tell Al Jazeera's 80 million viewers what really happened. Because Al Jazeera was the first independent news network in the Middle East, it made it possible for the Arab people to speak to the world instead of the reporters on the other news channels who were limited by the state because their channels were state-controlled.


When Al Jazeera gives the people its voice, it does not limit those who are interviewed to scholars, government officials, or others with the "right" credentials. Instead it gives its voice to the average citizen who has something interesting to say. Yes, when it is appropriate and applicable, Al Jazeera will interview a government official, scholar, or someone in power, but for the stories that affect the average citizen they allow the average citizen to do the talking.


Al Jazeera also covers stories that local news channels and U.S. news tend to ignore. For example, in December of 2006 Al Jazeera broadcast a story with Israel's Prime Minister where he admitted that they had nuclear weapons.  One would think that this would be a major story that the world would need to know. The story, however, did not even show up in the Washington Post here in America (Potter 62). Not only does Al Jazeera cover stories that the rest of the world doesn't, it covers many of its stories in more depth than the average news channel. A news story in America normally lasts five or six minutes. Al Jazeera, however, has multiple stories longer than ten minutes during any given news session. This allows the viewer to learn about the story in its entirety, rather than skimming over the basic information.


Al Jazeera's style of news coverage gives its viewers more in-depth information about world events from a more realistic viewpoint. By allowing the average citizen to speak, Al Jazeera allows its viewers to understand what really happens in the world and how it affects them. Also, because Al Jazeera broadcasts stories that other news channels ignore, the viewers receive a more complete picture of world events.