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Al Jazeera Arabic ignores gay news
Al Jazeera is based in Doha, Qatar — making it the only global news service with headquarters in the Middle East. Al Jazeera Arabic was started in 1996, and in 2007, Al Jazeera added a sister channel, Al Jazeera English, to its network.
"I feel Al Jazeera English is a reliable source of information, and I think what they are offering is a perspective from the Middle East region, but the professionalism of the reports, including on [lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans] topics, has global standards," says Hossein Alizadeh, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).
Gay activist El-Farouk Khaki says Al Jazeera English's entry into Canada is good news for the representation of queers in media.
"What we suffer from is invisibility in Canada within the larger Muslim community," says Khaki. "Some of the more traditional, conservative groups do not recognize our existence."
Al Jazeera English regularly reports on gay issues. In recent months, its coverage included segments about the gruesome murders of close to 100 gay men by al Mahdi Shi'ite militias in Iraq in 2009, the killing of gay youths in a Tel Aviv club last summer, and India's court decision to decriminalize gay sex.
But Al Jazeera's Arabic network "is not interested in covering gay rights issues the way Al Jazeera English does," says Alizadeh. Comparing Al Jazeera Arabic with Al Jazeera English "is like comparing apples and oranges." Al Jazeera Arabic is geared towards a Middle Eastern audience and does not challenge cultural values or orthodox religion, he says.
Extremist religious viewpoints are expressed on Al Jazeera Arabic's religious talk show Shariah and Life. A number of participants who regularly contribute to Al Jazeera Arabic make negative comments about homosexuality but appear on the channel again and again, he says. This includes Yousef al-Qaradawi, a prominent scholar who is on every other week. While Alizadeh says the cleric has offered some progressive views such as "discouraging government monitoring of citizen behaviour, the right of people to commit sin and the right to privacy," he also promotes anti-gay views — in line with orthodox Islam.
"Al Jazeera and any other network operating in the region," says filmmaker Parvez Sharma, "are very uncomfortable talking about homosexuality in any honest and open way."
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Al Jazeera Arabic ignores gay news
Al Jazeera is based in Doha, Qatar — making it the only global news service with headquarters in the Middle East. Al Jazeera Arabic was started in 1996, and in 2007, Al Jazeera added a sister channel, Al Jazeera English, to its network.
"I feel Al Jazeera English is a reliable source of information, and I think what they are offering is a perspective from the Middle East region, but the professionalism of the reports, including on [lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans] topics, has global standards," says Hossein Alizadeh, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC).
Gay activist El-Farouk Khaki says Al Jazeera English's entry into Canada is good news for the representation of queers in media.
"What we suffer from is invisibility in Canada within the larger Muslim community," says Khaki. "Some of the more traditional, conservative groups do not recognize our existence."
Al Jazeera English regularly reports on gay issues. In recent months, its coverage included segments about the gruesome murders of close to 100 gay men by al Mahdi Shi'ite militias in Iraq in 2009, the killing of gay youths in a Tel Aviv club last summer, and India's court decision to decriminalize gay sex.
But Al Jazeera's Arabic network "is not interested in covering gay rights issues the way Al Jazeera English does," says Alizadeh. Comparing Al Jazeera Arabic with Al Jazeera English "is like comparing apples and oranges." Al Jazeera Arabic is geared towards a Middle Eastern audience and does not challenge cultural values or orthodox religion, he says.
Extremist religious viewpoints are expressed on Al Jazeera Arabic's religious talk show Shariah and Life. A number of participants who regularly contribute to Al Jazeera Arabic make negative comments about homosexuality but appear on the channel again and again, he says. This includes Yousef al-Qaradawi, a prominent scholar who is on every other week. While Alizadeh says the cleric has offered some progressive views such as "discouraging government monitoring of citizen behaviour, the right of people to commit sin and the right to privacy," he also promotes anti-gay views — in line with orthodox Islam.
"Al Jazeera and any other network operating in the region," says filmmaker Parvez Sharma, "are very uncomfortable talking about homosexuality in any honest and open way."
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