media competitor, which resulted in further political and media debate on its role and impact. Controversy also extended to the content of the Network’s coverage, as Al Jazeera provided an un- precedented window for people to understand various events from a regional perspective that put an end to the Western monopoly of the flow of news and information. Such an end marked an import- ant achievement for Al Jazeera, regardless of the controversy and those who took part in it. And Al Jazeera’s continued commitment to reporting the news without any filter or bias only added to the controversy. The network aired live images and footage of situa- tions, events, and victims of wars and attacks. Some of these im- ages were shocking to the international public. Examples include the images of U.S. captives in Iraq, the victims of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the Israeli bombing of civilians in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as videos of hostages held by Al Qaeda and ISIL. Third , Al Jazeera offered ample room for the long denied dif- ferent opinions and voices, whether inside the Arab world or else- where. To quote Spencer Tucker, “Al Jazeera has become the first main Arabic speaking news outlet in the Middle East to open its platforms to the official Israeli viewpoints, in addition to outlawed Islamic organisations and extremist groups” (1) . This resulted in the early criticism and doubts about the network that were sparked by airing images and statements from Al Qaeda and footage of its operations, not to mention the speeches of Al Qaeda leader, Usama bin Laden. “While the U.S. administration considered Al Jazeera a mouthpiece for Al Qaeda, terrorist organisations and a number of Islamic states took it for a guise of Zionism” (2) . Along these lines, Al Jazeera has also been seen as a ‘platform’ for politi- cal Islam, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood (3) , which increased
(1) Spencer C. Tucker (ed.), U.S. Conflicts in the 21st Century (U.S: ABC-CLIO, California, 2016), p. 61.
(2) Josh Rushing, Mission Al Jazeera (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007), p. 122.
(3) See Mohammed Ali Abunajela and Nael Jebil, Reporting Political Islam and Democracy: Al Jazeera and the Politics of Journalism (London: I.B Tauris, 2020).
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