Al Jazeera Tells its Story: In-Depth Studies

happen, the presenter must mention the violated tenant, “so if the guest stigmatises an entire people with a negative attribute such as stupidity, the guest must be stopped and reminded that this is a discriminatory statement” (1) . Of course, there are some journalists, who question the feasibility and effectiveness of some of these values (such as objectivity and neu- trality) in the field of journalism, and argue are illusions, myths or bla- tant lies. This is a type of nihilistic approach, which destroys journalism from within and extracts any type of ethical values from the work, “be- cause having no standards is the worst thing people can face” (2) . More- over, those who ascribe to the “objectivity is a lie” school of thought “offer no alternative that could serve as measurement standard for good versus bad coverage, or transparent versus biased coverage. Those who hold this view tend to view the profession with pessimism and a lack of trust for journalists and others in the field, and journalism as an unethi- cal profession as a result of components that cannot be disassembled; in other words, a pre-meditated fatalism” (3) . III. There is an overall value of diversity that Al Jazeera expresses in its motto, “The Opinion and the Other Opinion” (4) . This motto has accompanied Al Jazeera since its inception, and it is what made it “the voice of the voiceless”. However, it is important to note the criticism of recent years that this value has broken down occasionally, or weakened in some coverage. This was a research topic for the Quality Control unit, and was logged in its feedback and reports, as was another prob- lem noted in reports on guest interview content analysis and evaluation,

(1) Ibid , p. 25.

(2) Zygmunt Bauman, Liquidity Series , Volume I, translated by Hajjaj Abul Khair (Beirut: Arab Network for Research and Publication, 2019), p. 51.

(3) Hussam al-Deen, Edward Deming’s Life, Ibid, p. 152.

(4) This motto is ascribed to Jamil Azar, according to him. See: “Ten Years of the Opinion and the Other Opinion”, The Al Jazeera Decade: 1996-2006, Al Jazeera Media Network, (Manama: Al-Waraqoon, 2006), p. 39. Mohammed Jasim Al-Ali and Jafar Abbas confirmed this to Al Jazeera’s documentation team.

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