From Baghdad to Paris

Abstract

This article analyzes the key ways in which Al-Jazeera brings the veil onto the screen and into its network current affairs, news, and religious programming and how it reported on the story of the veil in France between late 2002 and early 2005. Although much of the extant literature on Al-Jazeera describes it as the “CNN of the Arab world,” it is more like an Islamic version of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) than the secular or nonreligious CNN (Cable Network News) because of the time it devotes to the views of Islamic religious leaders and the ways in which it promotes Islamic practices. Al-Jazeera is not a “liberal” or “neutral” channel; it is a religious and news channel that allows other programs that are liberal or neutral to be shown occasionally.If the news broadcast on Al-Jazeera is pluralist,the religious message that it disseminates almost daily is monodenominational.The author argues that Al-Jazeera is using the issue of the veil in France to influence viewers in France and Europe,build a global Muslim identity,mobilize a shared public opinion,and construct an imagined transnational Muslim community.