The UA is well known throughout the Middle East, said Najib Ghadbian, UA professor of political science.
“Whenever I travel to the Middle East, people say ‘You’re that guy from Arkansas,’” Ghadbian said.
Ghadbian provides political analysis and commentary for Al-Jazeera, the Middle Eastern news agency. When he comments on U.S. foreign policy and democratization, Al-Jazeera notes his affiliation with the UA, Ghadbian said.
Now, even more people will know about the UA through Al-Jazeera, which launched its English news channel Nov. 15.
Ghadbian has been on a panel covering the 2004 election for the network and has provided phone commentary as well, he said. At the UA, he teaches political science and Middle East affairs, he said. Ghadbian has a degree in political science with a focus in U.S. policy toward the Middle East, and he currently teaches a class in world affairs, so his commentary is not separate from his teaching, he said.
“It actually complements what I do,” he said.
Contributing to Al-Jazeera has been “a good experience for me,” Ghadbian said. People often ask him if the network is objective, and he responds that all news channels have their own bias and Al-Jazeera merely represents a different perspective from Western news channels, he said.
“While some people have a negative impression, they get that impression secondhand from Western media,” Ghadbian said. “To get the big picture you have to watch CNN, BBC, Fox and Al-Jazeera.”
U.S. policy makers originally liked Al-Jazeera because it promoted freedom of the press in the Middle East, Ghadbian said. This changed when the news channel presented the more “human side” of the war in Afghanistan, he said.
Many people say that Al-Jazeera should not air tapes from Osama bin Laden, but any news channel would run them if they had access, he said. Al-Jazeera is like the BBC, Ghadbian said.
Al-Jazeera English is being launched because interest in the news channel rose after the Sept. 11 attacks, Ghadbian said. Many people have expressed interest in watching Al-Jazeera, but they did not know Arabic, he said.
“They want to be the voice of the South, meaning the southern hemisphere,” Ghadbian said. “They feel there is a vacuum there when it comes to representing that voice.”
The new Al-Jazeera channel will offer the same coverage as the Arabic channel but in English, he said. Al-Jazeera has recruited reporters from the BBC and other English-speaking news agencies throughout the world, he said.
“People are saying good things about it to me,” he said. “It will appeal to intellectuals who are tired of Western media. More competition is better.”
Overall, the channel could help the West understand the anger and resentment coming out of the Middle East and perhaps produce more enlightened U.S. policy, Ghadbian said.
Al-Jazeera celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, and published “The Al-Jazeera Decade,” a 200-page book cataloging the network’s first 10 years in existence, according to english.aljazeera.net.
