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Qatari prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani once remarked (in a cable released by WikiLeaks) that the network's "ability to influence public opinion is a substantial source of leverage for Qatar." The cable further implied that the network was willing to adjust its coverage in exchange for political favors. Yet Aljazeera's reformist reputation does not hold up to heavier scrutiny. But you know part of the reason is that the per capita income in Qatar is $145,000 a year. Now, he himself is not reforming significantly - there's no big move toward democracy in Qatar. Reform, reform, reform - you're seeing it on Aljazeera. He is a big booster, big promoter of democracy all throughout the Middle East. The president described him as a "pretty influential guy. because it's real news." And during an April 21 meeting of Democratic Party donors, President Obama was caught by a live microphone praising Qatari ruler Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, whom he had met earlier that day and who has used the emirate's huge natural gas revenues to pump millions of dollars into Aljazeera. In fact, viewership of Aljazeera is going up in the U.S. In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted last week that the network "has been the leader in that they are literally changing people's minds.It is really effective. This campaign has reportedly led to ongoing talks with both Comcast and Time Warner. On February 23, the network issued a press release announcing that it had given Comcast executives more than 13,000 letters from Americans demanding access to the channel, and it has submitted more than 40,000 emails as well.
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Meanwhile, Aljazeera's online English-language viewership has reportedly skyrocketed. As a consequence, Aljazeera offices have been ransacked from Cairo to Sana, while staff and reporters have been harassed, detained, abducted, or worse - as when one cameraman was killed by regime forces in Libya. The network now reports critically, though selectively, on dictators and their security apparatuses. Makeover and Growing InfluenceĪljazeera is striving to move beyond allegations of anti-Americanism garnered during the Iraq war, as well as perceived association with radical Islamism due to its habitual airing of grievances by Usama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Hamas, Hizballah, and other violent extremists. This is not to say that Aljazeera English is without problems of its own or that Aljazeera Arabic is entirely flawed the point is that the messages are often different. To illustrate: at a time when Aljazeera is polishing a new image as a champion of media reform and freedom, one of its most popular Arabic television programs is that of fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood preacher Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose twinkly grin accompanies virulently anti-American and anti-Semitic diatribes interspersed with expressions of support for censorship of "anti-Islamic" messages. The problem is that the content of Aljazeera's English site differs, at times radically, from that of the Arabic version. cable networks and broadcast locally in only a few cities, depends on its English-language website to reach an increasingly large U.S. officials are now offering praise for Aljazeera, a Qatar-owned and -based news network that broadcasts in both Arabic and English-language versions.