WP: Al-Jazeera Puts Focus on (Mideast democratic) Reform

[DeepModem Mom]

Al-Jazeera Puts Focus on Reform
Mideast Coverage by Network Reviled in Washington Is Boon for Bush
By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 8, 2005; Page A16


DOHA, Qatar -- From its headquarters, dispersed among cramped trailers, air-conditioned tents and a squat box of a building on a dusty lot crawling with stray cats, an unlikely ally has emerged in this desert capital for the Bush administration's new Middle East democracy campaign -- al-Jazeera.

The Arab world's most-watched satellite channel has been reviled in Washington since it began airing Osama bin Laden tapes and footage of insurgent strikes on U.S. troops in Iraq. Yet as the Bush administration struggles to design a public diplomacy program for its democracy campaign, al-Jazeera has become a leading vehicle for the region's budding reform movements.

Arab and U.S. analysts say the network helps give voice to the reformers. In January, it saturated the airwaves with coverage of the Palestinian and Iraqi elections. After the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in February, it aired 10 straight hours of footage from Lebanon as street protesters demanded the ouster of the country's government and Syria's troops.

It deployed four correspondents to report on the Egyptian reform movement known as Kifaya, or Enough, this spring. And it has run long stories on Kuwait's new women's suffrage movement and Morocco's commission on human rights abuses and missing people.

"During the last weeks, everyone is talking about change, reform, political transformation and democracy in the Arab world," said Wadah Khanfar, al-Jazeera's managing director, who studied in South Africa during its political transformation. "The realities are changing, and so is what is dominating the news -- Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco. The whole discussion taking place in the region has found itself on our screen."...


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/07/AR2005050701031.html