Al Jazeera’s fall from grace reflects Qatar’s shift on Egypt

When young Arabs led street protests to remove autocratic leaders in 2011, Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television played an instrumental role in promoting the uprisings, giving a crucial platform to secular activists and the Islamist opposition, particularly in Egypt.

Two years later and leaflets posted in central Cairo show a bloodied hand next to the Al Jazeera logo with the slogan: “The news manufacturer: the sedition and the other sedition” – a play on the channel’s logo “the opinion and the other opinion”. Egyptian activists vilify the channel for supporting the democratically elected former president Mohamed Morsi and criticising the opposition.

Al Jazeera’s fall from grace reflects the changing dynamics in the region. Qatar, which gave the Islamist government about $8bn in budgetary support, has been undermined by the overthrow earlier this month of Mr Morsi, whereas Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which initially opposed the region’s uprisings, have supported the military’s ousting of Mr Morsi. The shift also highlights how pan-Arab media reflect their governments’ policies, say analysts.

Often described as the soft weapon in Qatar’s foreign policy arsenal, Al Jazeera for two years reflected the unequivocal support of the gas-rich Gulf state for regime change in the region and was even described by many activists and pundits as a catalyst for the popular revolts of the Arab spring.

By contrast, reporters for Saudi-owned al-Arabiya, al-Jazeera’s main competitor for Arab viewers, were harassed on Egypt’s streets two years ago because the channel was seen as being against the revolution.

The channels’ coverage continues to reflect sentiment in the Gulf. Jazeera described the army’s removal of Mr Morsi as a “coup”, angering the millions who demonstrated against the president, whereas al-Arabiya won plaudits for describing Mr Morsi’s overthrow as a popular revolt.

When more than 50 mostly Islamist protesters were shot near the Republican Guard headquarters in Cairo on Monday, Al Jazeera focused its coverage on the event while al-Arabiya played it down and gave prominence to the army’s explanation that it had come under attack.

Growing popular opposition to Al Jazeera burst into the open at a news conference held by the army in the wake of the violence, when an Egyptian journalist stood up and demanded that Al Jazeera reporters be excluded. The channel’s reporters eventually left amid chants of “out, out” from fellow journalists.

The new military-backed authorities in Cairo have also shown their displeasure at the channel’s coverage. One of their first acts was to order the closure of the live Egypt channel, Al Jazeera Mubasher.

The turmoil has reached into Al Jazeera itself. About 22 reporters in Egypt and Qatar are reported to have resigned in protest at what they say is biased coverage. Al Jazeera refused to confirm the number of resignations.

According to Saud al-Katib, a Jeddah-based media analyst, the anti Al Jazeera sentiment reflects a deeper problem with the Arab media, which claims to be independent but often takes sides that reflects their governments’ point of view.

“In general, pan-Arab televisions lack professional coverage,” he said. “Both channels have their own agendas and they do not realise that the political situation changes very quickly. The images they use and the pundits they interview are used to highlight their points of view on the events, not what is actually happening.”

Sultan al-Qassemi, a Dubai-based analyst said that Al Jazeera was the channel of choice of the former Islamist government in Egypt, frustrating supporters of other Egyptian factions. He also pointed out that while the Gulf-based channels focus on Egyptian politics, they rarely cover controversial issues, such as human rights abuse, at home.

“Both al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera’s recent coverage of the events in Egypt highlighted their owners’ view of the situation in Egypt,” he said. “The liberal opposition were often quoted in al-Arabiya while the Islamists were quoted in Al Jazeera. They cover the same news but in a completely different language and focus you feel they are covering a different country.’’