Al Jazeera should give Palestinian state bid more coverage – Qatari editor
A Qatari daily has criticized Doha-based Al Jazeera broadcaster for its limited coverage of the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations.
“It is disconcerting for many of us that the satellite TV channel that prides itself on being the voice of the Arab people and being seen by most around the world as such has covered one of the most live, indeed geopolitically the most important, issues of the region – taking the Palestinian bid for statehood to the UN — rather scantily,” The Peninsula said in a front page editorial by Khalid Al Sayed, its editor-in-chief.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is scheduled to address the UN Assembly on September 21, to present Palestine’s case for recognition as a state.
“A quick search on Al Jazeera English’s website came up with fewer than a dozen entries on the Palestinian statehood issue. I was surprised that AlJazeera English has so little on this developing story happening right in their backyard. Why is there no documentary or special programme discussing Palestine’s statehood bid at the UN when just about a month is left before the General Assembly convenes?”
Al Sayed quoted Waddah Khanfar, Al Jazeera’s head, saying that the pan-Arab channel decided “to be the voice for these voiceless people” and “to spread the message”.
“Al Jazeera took the voice from these people and amplified it. We put it in every sitting room in the Arab world—and internationally, globally, through our English channel,” Waddah reportedly said.
However, The Peninsula editor-in-chief said in his “Al Jazeera … Where are you?” opinion piece that such attributes should be used to help the Palestinians.
“If Aljazeera prides itself in being the voice of the Arab people, why is it that they are not taking up the Palestinian statehood bid since this is a major issue for the Arab people? If they believed in this issue, they could have provided extensive coverage like they did with the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya,” Al Sayed wrote.
“Recently, Aljazeera English has become available for the first time to cable television viewers across New York and is estimated to reach around 2 million subscribers. Why not use this opportunity to become the voice of the Palestinian people so that it can be heard on an international arena? According to their website, Aljazeera is broadcasting to more than 220 million households in more than 100 countries and it is the most watched news channel on YouTube, receiving 2.5 million views per month. With this kind of scope, Aljazeera can easily help the Palestinian statehood bid by informing decision makers and changing the perception of the Western media.”
