Hegemonic No More: Western Media, the Rise of Al-Jazeera, and the Influence of Diverse Voices

Abstract

Although the United States proved in its invasion of Iraq (though not in its postinvasion efforts) that it retains dominance in military power, this war marked an end to the near monopoly in global news that American and other Western media had long enjoyed. New voices emerged, competing for audiences throughout the world by offering news shaped by varied interests and perspectives. Competitive war coverage was just the latest step away from US cultural hegemony, and although Qatar-based Al-Jazeera has attracted the most attention, it is just part of a movement toward diversity. American and other Western policymakers must be prepared to deal with the influence of broadly based news programming that will lessen the influence of US news organizations, which have been relatively supportive of US policy during recent conflicts. When Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak toured Al-Jazeera's cramped headquarters in Qatar, he observed that “all this trouble from a matchbox like this” (Whitaker 2003). For Mubarak and other Arab leaders who prefer their news media compliant, Al-Jazeera has caused plenty of trouble by fostering debate about topics that many in the region—including many news organizations—treat as being outside the news media's purview. On Al-Jazeera, everything from the role of women to the competence of governments is addressed, often loudly. The station's motto is “the opinion, and the other opinion,” which might seem commonplace in the West but is exceptional in the Arab media world. Al-Jazeera is the successor to a failed experiment, BBC Arabic Television (BBCATV), which was set up in 1994 and quickly ran afoul of its principal financial backer: the Saudi royal family. When BBCATV aired “Death of a Princess,” a documentary drama about the execution of a Saudi princess and her lover, the Saudis withdrew their funding and the BBC venture collapsed (Careless 2002). Some relatively …