46. Name: Shawn Powers Title: The Geopolitics of the News: The Case of the Al Jazeera Network Institution: University of Southern California Country: United States Date: 2009 Language: English Abstract: This study examines how Al Jazeera helped foster the rise of a microstate into a regional geopolitical force. At risk of becoming a colony of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or Iran just 15 years ago, Qatar now demands global attention and has emerged as a critical actor in the region’s ongoing conflicts. Drawing from over 30 interviews with members of the Al Jazeera, the study examines the strategies behind the network’s growing popularity in the region and beyond, discussed in the context of the geopolitical aspirations of Qatar and its regional rivals. The project concludes by arguing that Qatar’s investment in the network, exemplifies a larger trend towards the convergence of different media networks. This convergence of networks of influence is a means of achieving power and influence in network society, and no country is moving faster towards this form of networking power than Qatar. Qatar’s investment in Al Jazeera is part of its continued effort to build a network of media, financial and military ‘nodes’ in order to promote a foreign policy seemingly guided by Kant’s famous concept of ‘perpetual peace.
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