31. Name: Gurina Kolin Title: Distraction and Democracy: Al Jazeera and the Arab World Institution: La Trobe University Country: Australia Date: 2007 Language: English Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between Al Jazeera satellite channel and its Arabs audiences throughout the Arab world. The aim of the study is to discover whether progressive media such Al Jazeera, can help introduce liberal values and support civil society throughout the region by providing the repressed Arab public with a candid platform of free, uncensored and open debates. Al Jazeera is the prism through which the relationship between Arab audiences and Arab media should be examined. Through its seemingly well-balanced news coverage, contentious and original programming, and heated debates of issues that have been considered taboos, Al Jazeera channel allowed Arab audiences a platform through which to engage one another in unprecedented way. Almost as important are issues of Al Jazeera’s editorial independence in light of the ambiguous and controversial relationship that connects it with the state of Qatar and its foreign policy. In a region dominated by continuous historical rivalries and political power play, it is feasible that Al Jazeera’s seemingly autonomous perspective and independent media discourse are merely a cover for the emirate of Qatar’s delicate political balancing act.
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