How the Media Whitewashes Al Jazeera
NPR complained about the importance of Twitter accurately labeling state media, but refuses to do the same for Qatar's propaganda outlet.
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From the way people in the mainstream media talk about it so often, you wouldn't know that Al Jazeera is a state-owned propaganda outlet of the Qatari government. Qatar, as in the nation that harbors Hamas leaders who live as billionaires in extreme wealth while doing nothing to help the people of Gaza. And the problem isn't just that the mainstream media ignore this and often hide it. They go further, and praise it. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera praises terrorists.
Today on They Stand Corrected, how the media’s role in whitewashing Al Jazeera became clearer than ever during a dispute between NPR and Elon Musk of Twitter. Plus, someone from inside Al Jazeera who blew the whistle on how it shills for the Qatari government. And how an obsession with adoring Al Jazeera has led news organizations to relatively downplay the deaths of journalists across the world.
Links for listeners
In this episode, I discuss NPR’s understandable complaints that Musk was mislabeling NPR, suggesting it was similar to state-funded news outlets in autocratic nations. But NPR itself, like so many other news organizations, regularly fails to identify Al Jazeera as state-owned.
For those interested in NPR financing, here’s information from NPR. And here’s an op-ed in The Hill by Howard Husock of the American Enterprise Institute, who spent several years as a board member of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Here’s a writeup I mention from the Investigative Project on Terrorism: “Al Jazeera Anchors Continue Tradition of Praising Terrorist Attacks.”
Here’s Al Jazeera cutting off a Palestinian man courageous enough to criticize Hamas. “They can go to hell and hide there,” he says.
I discuss the hundreds of journalists killed, whom you never hear about in the news. But when one Al Jazeera journalist’s death could be blamed on Israel, that of course was treated as the world’s top story. Here are lists of journalists killed around the world, from the Committee to Protect Journalists. I also share clips from reports about Halla Barakat, Dylan Lyons and Brent Renaud.
What you can do
Anytime a news agency cites Al Jazeera without stating that it is Qatari state-owned media, look up other stories that same news agency has done that include words like “state media” or “state news” elsewhere. Feel free to send text like this to the leaders of that news agency, by email, social media, or both:
In your report, you discussed Al Jazeera without stating that it is Qatari state-owned media. Why? Here are examples of times you have called other agencies state media. Why the special exception for Al Jazeera? Please listen immediately to the podcast They Stand Corrected, which exposes the hypocrisy and dangers of this problem.
The same goes for coverage of a journalist killed in the West Bank in 2022. Anytime you see a mention of her, tell news leaders:
Hundreds of journalists are killed all over the world. Why do you give so much coverage to this one journalist while ignoring all the others? It is a clear sign of anti-Israel bias, as explained by the podcast They Stand Corrected.
As for NPR specifically, anytime they cite Al Jazeera without mentioning that it’s state-owned, you can send text like this:
You condemned Elon Musk at Twitter for failing to accurately label NPR when it comes to state media. Yet you yourselves regularly fail to accurately label Al Jazeera as what it is: Qatari state-owned media. Why? Please listen immediately to the podcast They Stand Corrected, and then get back to me.
(For NPR, you can fill out the form here for the public editor. Also, try emailing
echapin@npr.org and krmaher@npr.org.)
Even easier: Send me links! Paid subscribers, post links, questions and comments in the comments section below. Everyone else, there’s a form you can fill out at my website.
Big love,
JL
P.S. Thanks to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for featuring my fact check on dads’ heart health from Episode 10.
One item not mentioned in your piece: An Al Jazeera Gaza-based journalist Abdallah Aljamal, had held hostage Noa Argamani at his home in central Gaza’s Nuseirat.