-Caveat Lector-
http://truthout.org/docs_03/032703E.shtml
Editor's Note: The rest of the planet is watching a far, far
different war on television than we are here in America. - wrp
Europeans Flock to al-Jazeera
Claire Cozens
The Guardian
Tuesday 25 March 2003
The Arabic-language TV network al-Jazeera has seen its European
subscriber numbers double since the start of the war in Iraq amid
huge demand for an alternative to western media coverage.
The controversial broadcaster said it has signed up 4 million new
subscribers in Europe since last Wednesday, doubling its viewership
on the continent.
"We had 4 million subscribers in Europe and I would estimate we
have added another 4 million over the last week," said Alan
Marmion, al-Jazeera's media consultant.
"There are a lot of Arabic speakers in Europe - around 4 million in
France alone. Canal Plus have even given us a transponder just so
they could broadcast us.
"It's not just because of the war - we were already pushing out our
distribution before the war began. But the fact that we provide
alternative images means people are coming to us rather than us
going to them."
Al-Jazeera had around 35 million Arabic-speaking viewers before the
start of the war in Iraq but the vast majority of these were in the
Arabic world, where it is free.
Outside the Middle East, only 10 million people had access to the
network, but this figure has swollen since the outbreak of
hostilities last week.
Al-Jazeera has been given greater freedom than western broadcasters
in Iraq, with as many as eight camera crews operating outside the
confines of the military although it does also have some
journalists embedded with the allied forces.
Although western TV crews remain in Baghdad, al-Jazeera has the
only camera crew known to be operating in Basra, Iraq's second city
which is still under attack. It also has crews in Baghdad and
Mosul.
It was an al-Jazeera camera crew that helped ITN establish the
whereabouts of Terry Lloyd, the veteran reporter who died after
coming under fire on Saturday. He was taken to a Basra hospital
where al-Jazeera were allowed to film.
The channel has also been at the centre of the controversy
surrounding the broadcasting of footage of Iraqi and American
casualties that many western news organisations considered too
shocking to screen.
One image shown repeatedly on Sunday showed the head of a child
aged about 12 that had been split apart, reportedly in the US-led
assault on Basra.
Others came from northern Iraq, where American missiles targeted
the Kurdish Islamist Ansar al-Islam organisation.
Al-Jazeera made its name in the west during the war in Afghanistan,
when its exclusive access to Osama bin Laden made it the envy of
its European and US rivals.
Although the channel is available free of charge throughout the
Arab world, in Europe it is mainly a pay-TV channel.
In the UK, where 87% of Arabic-speaking households have access to
al-Jazeera, it is available on BSkyB's family package of channels,
although it is also possible to pick up the French signal via
satellite.
An English-language version of al-Jazeera is planned and could
launch by the end of this year.
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