of news values that surpassed the traditional perspective in the pro- cess of selecting and broadcasting news and observed new elements and variables, the news had started to incorporate. In the context of exploring these new variables, we will focus on what constitutes as the identity of Al Jazeera’s news model. Despite of the priority and hierarchy of these elements, in Al Jazeera’s matrix of news values, the cognitive standard is a fundamental addition that distinguishes Al Ja- zeera’s news model. The cognitive value or element of a news item prompted the audience to wait for an answer to the question, “What is the truth portrayed in the news and what knowledge does it add?” This standard provides the viewer with “knowledge of realities, facts and information”, as indicated in a previous study on “The Epistemology of News Coverage of Arab Issues in Al Jazeera” (1) . This addition takes place through the sharing of public events via a communication process that aims to enable recipients to know things that they do not know or have access to and that shares specific information with them, enabling them to learn about personal experiences and the roles of individuals, groups, institutions or bodies. It also occurs by putting events in their broader and deeper contexts and providing documented information from its historical and live sources. The addition of this cognitive dimension to the matrix of news val- ues is one of the merits of Al Jazeera’s news model, and one of its most important achievements, given Al Jazeera’s public educational role. Al Jazeera performs this function by covering what is happening and af- fecting people’s lives by taking into consideration people’s opinions through digital platforms that allow for the discussion of public affairs. In this context, Jafar Abbas, a journalist and Writer who has worked for Al Jazeera since its launch and was in charge of the Quality Assurance unit before it became the Quality Control and Editorial Standards de- partment, describes Al Jazeera as “a means of education, enlightenment
(1) This cognitive dimension establishes an enlightening media model that featured the insti- tutional identity of Al Jazeera’s professional experience. For more information about the foun- dations of Al Jazeera’s cognitive discourse, see Mohamed Erraji, “The Epistemology of News Coverage of Arab Issues on Al Jazeera”, in Mapping the Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Twenty Years On , (Beirut: Al Jazeera Centre for Studies and Arab Scientific Publishers, 2016), pp. 237.
158
EN2.indd 158
20/02/2022 4:14 PM
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter