17. Name: Tal Samuel-Azran Title: Contra-flow in global News: A Case Study of U.S. Media’s Representation of Al Jazeera’s News Material in the Wake of 9/11 Institution: University of Melbourne Country: Australia Date: 2006 Language: English Abstract: Covering the rebroadcasting of Al Jazeera’s images on major US television networks since 9/11, this study draws an alternative picture revealing that the advent of Al Jazeera has eroded the counter-hegemonic debate in US war reporting. It shows how the US government persuaded television networks to reformat legitimate war images from Al Jazeera, labelling it a deviant network, in order to eliminate war criticism. An examination of the US reception of bloggers and network carriers of Al Jazeera English reveals the US administration’s resolve to limit public discourse. This study provides a timely contribution to the debate about global news flow and the role of rising regional news players. These players either help pluralize and democratize the traditional Western dominance of news and contribute to an emergent global news sphere or, alternatively, become co-opted and politically neutered when re- presented within the Western news prism going against the grain of much current thought in the field of media scholarship. The researcher argues that the spectacular rise of Al Jazeera should not be simply taken as evidence for an emergent and democratizing global public sphere.
39
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter