CNN & BBC Vs. Al Jazeera: Battle Royale

Al Jazeera has become a major news station in almost every region of the world. There are, however, two major markets that Al Jazeera seems unable to get a substantial toe-hold in: the United States and Great Britain. With Western news channels such as CNN and BBC dominating the news industry in these countries, the citizens of these countries fail to see the news from a perspective besides their own. So what exactly are they missing?


As mentioned in previous entries, Al Jazeera has a global perspective. It brings its viewers news from all areas of the world, even the ones that do not affect the nation of Qatar. CNN and BBC, however, "don't cover foreign news so much as they cover the foreign extensions of Washington or London" (Kaplan 56). When you watch CNN and BBC you will see foreign news, but all of this news affects the United States or Britain in some manner. Common examples include the War in Iraq, natural disasters, and foreign government officials taking office. All of these affect America or Britain--at least indirectly--in some way, shape, or form. On the contrary, the attack of a Sikh temple in Austria would never be found on CNN or BBC. Why? Because it does not affect the U.S. or Britain any way, directly or indirectly.


Al Jazeera makes sure to let the citizens who experience the story do the talking. By doing this,  it gives Al Jazeera a stronger global voice that is untainted by the reporter. When interviewing a survivor of the Haiti earthquake and a Nigerian rebel in Niger, Al Jazeera has  increased its population of global voice by two. Also, by doing this they have increased their area of global voice to both Haiti and Niger. However, when CNN and BBC report these same events, but let their reporters do the talking, their global voice remains the same. Not only does Al Jazeera's global voice expand from interviewing citizens of foreign countries, it also expands from the multiple offices they have worldwide. Wadah Khanfar, the director general of Al Jazeera Network, states that, "We have an extensive network of almost 70 bureaus across the world. This allows us to go beyond the immediacy of headlines and bring a much deeper perspective to issues that incorporate the complexity of historical, social, political, and cultural context for a story,"a technique Al Jazeera calls "journalism in depth" (Swaffield 39).


America and Britain must realize the global news they are missing by refusing to incorporate Al Jazeeera into their TV networks. Yes CNN, and BBC contain international news, but the news is portrayed from a U.S.- and Great Britain-centric perspective. U.S. and British news networks fail to realize that "if you sit in Doha or Mumbai or Nairobi, the world is going to look starkly different than if you sit in Washington or London" (Kaplan 56)