Aljazeera to debut English-language network

The appearance of an English language service from Aljazeera television will mark more than expansion of a company; it will come as one of the biggest challenges yet to the dominance of Western news providers, academics say. "The forthcoming launch of Aljazeera International, the English language edition of the pan-Arabic news network, is likely to influence the way television news is received in newsrooms around the world," said Prof. Daya Thusu from the University of Westminster in London. "It is likely to challenge the dominance of the Anglo-American news networks." Given that the Arabic world that Aljazeera covers closely is among the areas of most intense interest these days, and is likely to remain so for a long time, this new development is a critical one, Thusu said. "An Arabic perspective on what is happening in a geopolitically and economically important part of the world becomes very important for our understanding of international issues," he said following a seminar held recently at the University of Westminster on internationalizing the media. "The United States has now labeled the 'war on terrorism' as 'a long war,' which may also be reflected in the war on the airwaves," Thusu said. "This may not be a bad thing after all." The conference, which brought together media experts and academics from almost 50 countries, addressed many of the political issues arising from the internationalization of the media. It sought to address issues faced both by those in the media and those studying media. "The idea of organizing an international conference on how we study the media emerged from a general sense of dissatisfaction about the dominance of Anglo-American models of studying the media at a time when media themselves have become global," Thusu said. "The conference succeeded in creating a much greater awareness about the need to be more cosmopolitan when thinking about the media." The internationalizing of media is intensely political, and consequently unavoidably controversial. And Aljazeera remains among the most controversial news providers. But it is not the first challenger to established media. "Historically alternative media has been around, and it has always challenged traditional media," said Robin Mansell, president of the International Association for Media and Communication Research based in the United States. "What has changed is the global dimension of the new media." But simply a creation of new media is not enough of a challenge, Mansell said. "How far that new challenge works in parallel with existing media, and how far it presents an alternative viewpoint that is valued all over the world is a difficult question." But was it a question of credibility? "I think credibility has always been an issue for media," Mansell said. "With new media there is a similar problem of questioning the origin of stories." And would the diverging political backgrounds of the news providers imply different news values? "I think there are arguments in every culture about what is news," Mansell said. "Although it is something of a chimera. Values have changed with time." The change is not coming by way of Aljazeera alone. Other news providers from other countries are gaining ground and air. "News channels such as the Chinese CCTV9 and NDTV from India have been gaining audiences, Thusu said. "Add to this the growing contra-flow of media products from the global South to the North and within the South; examples include Bollywood, Korean cinema, Japanese animation, Arabic news," Thusu told the delegates.