Al-Jazeera: Arabic versus English (vol. 2)

Contrary to my last comparison of Al-Jazeera's Arabic and English pages, there are many differences between the two sites today. While Al-Jazeera English's interface template has remained the same, Al-Jazeera Arabic has changed a lot. Beyond the aesthetic changes, the content is very different as well.

The Arabic page's headlines were as follows: Great Wall of China is longer than Previously Thought; Abdul Aziz First Candidate to Run for Mauritania Elections; Ahmadinejad calls for significant changes in Washington.

The English page's headlines were: Israel Criticism Sparks UN Walkout; 'Last warning' for Sri Lanka's LTTE; Italy Takes in Stranded Migrants.

Although the main articles on each page were about the same subject - Iran at the United Nations - they had very different tones. The Al-Jazeera Arabic article was entitled Ahmadinejad Calls for Significant Changes in Washington and the English article was called Israel criticism sparks UN walkout. The Arabic article discussed Iran's role in the United Nations and proposals that Ahmadinejad introduced. The article also explained Iran's acceptance of the United State's new policy of dialogue toward Iran. "Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad encouraged the new changes to U.S. foreign policy toward Tehran, but he explained that Tehran is waiting for tangible changes in the process. (أعرب الرئيس الإيراني محمود أحمدي نجاد عن ترحيبه بالتغييرات المستجدة على السياسة الخارجية للولايات المتحدة تجاه طهران لكنه عاد فأكد أن طهران تنتظر من واشنطن تغييرات عملية ملموسة، داعيا إلى إصلاح مجلس الأمن وإلغاء حق النقض.)."

The Arabic article continued by further explaining the practical changes Iran is looking for in talks with the United States. It also talked about Ahmadinejad's proposal to reform the UN Security Council because it "fails to achieve its goals of the preservation of international peace and security." The Arabic article contained only a brief mention of President Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN Racism Conference.

The English article focused entirely on Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN Racism Conference where he said Israel is a "racist government" and "The Iraqi people have suffered enormous losses ... wasn't the military action against Iraq planned by the Zionists ... in the US administration, in complicity with the arms manufacturing companies?". The article went on to describe the speech that some members applauded while others walked out on the rest of his speech. It also explained that there were a number of demonstrators who interrupted the speech.

It is very clear that the Arabic article was much more in depth. It discussed serious issues that have real and important consequences on a variety of levels. The article discussed substantive policy proposals, the important change in U.S. foreign policy, and Iran's reaction to those changes. On the other hand, the English article was very sensational. It did not contain substantive information of strategically important issues as the Arabic article did.

The pictures within the articles show this comparison as well. The Arabic article shows President Ahmadinejad with a serious face, appearing to be thinking in depth about something while listening to a translator. The English article shows Ahmadinejad with his finger in the air and his mouth open wide. In addition, the English article showed one of the demonstrators wearing a clown wig.

Why are the articles so different this time in contrast to my first comparison? Does it depend on the issue? - I will seek to answer these and other questions as I continue to examine the similarities and differences between Al-Jazeera Arabic and English.

Hamas et al. on Facebook

A number of surprising groups have utilized Facebook's networking tools:

Mujahideen is a global Facebook group with 189 members. The group type is classified under the common interest of Religion & Spirituality. The group communicates primarily in Arabic, but there are a few comments in English.

A comment posted in November, 2008: "Lets go Jihad brothers, lets die as Heroes in the name of Allah...I am ready to kill Jews and Hindus and Americans, are you?"

Another Facebook group called Mujahideen has 43 members. It is under the common interest of Beliefs & Causes. The group description says "Fight for God......" A group member from Trinidad and Tobago, Stuart Muhammad, has Osama bin Laden as his profile picture.

Apparently, the group is open to any Facebook member. Someone who is obviously not a supporter has joined and posted messages, pictures, and video against the group.

HEZBOLLAH resembles what I could see as an 'official' Hezbollah Facebook group. On its page is a history of Hezbollah and election information. It is affiliated with http://www.hezbollah.com/.

Interestingly there is a group called F*** Hezbollah that uses the same group image.

Some other 'anti' groups include Disarm hezbollah Now !, Down with Hezbollah, and anti-hezbollah which boasts over 2 thousand members.

HAMAS is a Facebook group with 204 members. It is a Religion and Spirituality group that communicates in both English and Arabic. One member posted, "Assalamualaikum, I come from Indonesia, how can i come to palestine for jihad?"

Al-Jazeera: Arabic versus English

A fellow classmate reported in her blog that “over 75% of the Middle East headlines on Al-Jazeera right now in some way glorify the Middle East and various Arab states.” This is not the same picture Marc Lynch portrayed in Voices of the New Arab Public. He described an al-Jazeera that was much more balanced and without glorification of or for anyone. So why is there such a disparity between his account and what currently appears on al-Jazeera’s web site?

Well, there could be any number of reasons. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to look at al-Jazeera’s news coverage over time to determine how it has changed since the beginning of the Iraq war, when Lynch says al-Jazeera was extraordinarily self-conscious and very critical of its own coverage (and when most of its leaders were former BBC journalists). It would also be important to recognize the difference between al-Jazeera English and al-Jazeera’s traditional Arabic site.

I will attempt to compare and contrast the content on al-Jazeera’s Arabic site with its English counterpart at least once a week until the end of this semester.

Today, there are no articles that glorify Arab states or the Middle East on either of al-Jazeera’s pages. The earthquake in Italy was the most salient topic on both the English and Arabic sites. The only difference in coverage is that the English site is reporting that 90 Italians have died because of the earthquake and the Arabic site is reporting that 150 have died. Headlines following this first topic were the same on both sites: a Baghdad car bombing and President Obama’s trip to Turkey. The headlines appear to be very similar and arranged in the same order, so perhaps peaking into one of the articles will reveal some contrasts.

Coverage of President Obama’s trip to Turkey:

First of all, the article from the English page quotes an al-Jazeera correspondent quoting President Obama: “[President Obama] talked about the contribution of the Islamic faith in the life of American Muslims and then he personalized that message by saying 'I know because I am one of them'. It was a message that reached out to many today.” Clearly, President Obama is not a Muslim. This was bad incredibly bad reporting. Beyond that rather large mistake, the articles on both sites are quite similar. They heavily cover President Obama’s speech to Turkey’s parliament, which included discussions on Armenia, U.S. relations with Muslims and Islamic countries, and Iraq. Along with pictures, both sites also briefly discussed the demonstrations that occurred in protest of President Obama’s visit. The only difference worth mentioning is that al-Jazeera English did not not cover any mention of Turkey’s ambition to become a member of the European Union but the al-Jazeera Arabic article did.

I am quite surprised with how similar the coverage is between the two articles. Here are some excerpts: “Obama sought to strike a balance over the issue of the massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire in 1915, a sensitive issue which has poisoned ties between the two allies before.” – From al-Jazeera English and:

وبخصوص قضية الأرمن أبدى أوباما استعداد بلاده لحل الخلاف بين أرمينيا وتركيا وتشجيع الأخيرة على المضي قدما في المحادثات الخاصة بالموضوع

– From al-Jazeera Arabic which (roughly) translates as: On the issue of Armenia, Obama is ready to resolve the conflict between Armenians and Turkey and to encourage Turkey to proceed in talks.