The Al Jazeera effect is a term used in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and media studies to describe the impact of

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

and media sources on global politics, namely, reducing the government and mainstream media monopoly on information and empowering groups which previously lacked a global voice. The primary example is the effect's namesake – the impact of the

Al Jazeera Media Network Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) (Arabic: الجزيرة‎, romanized: al-jazīrah, IPA: �l (d)ʒæˈziːrɐ , referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is a Qatari international state-owned public media conglomerate headquartered at Qatar Radio and T ...

on the politics of the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

Origin and use

Al Jazeera was created in 1996 with the combination of the Emir of Qatar's money and talent from the defunct BBC Arabic service. It started as a response to the strict control that many governments in Arab League countries exercised over most forms of journalism as well as the lack of a free press. Audiences and journalists alike were drawn to Al Jazeera’s goal of reporting news without government censorship, as well as its recruitment of expert journalists who covered multiple perspectives on a singular issue. At the time, the viewing public did not respect journalism because it considered most reporters to be mouthpieces for dictators or political groups. The Emir of Qatar sought to break the heavy handed media management by the government because he had progressive ideas of expanding political participation and allowing independent press. Similarly, founders set up Al Jazeera to counter the dominant Western viewpoint of Arabs and Arabic culture throughout the 20th century. Arabs depended on the BBC and

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...

– but were frustrated they had to listen to the Western viewpoints about themselves. William Lafi Youmans attributes the first use of the term to Philip Seib, author of ''The Al Jazeera Effect: How the New Global Media Are Reshaping World Politics'' (2008). However, Simon Henderson, who in turn attributes the term to "diplomats in the region", had used it as early as 2000. As used by Henderson, the Al Jazeera effect originally referred to Arab Middle East governments losing their monopoly on information because of the popularity and easy access to the

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

media network, and scholars still often use it in such a limited context. Thomas L. McPhail used it to refer to the changes in all of the Arab media. Seib generalized it to other,

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

-powered new media worldwide. Al Jazeera challenges authoritarian governments by stimulating discussion on topics and through its provision of multiple perspectives and opinions. Al Jazeera's motto is "The Opinion and the Other Opinion", demonstrating its dedication to covering multiple perspectives rather than taking one stand on an issue. It also takes the position in reporting as the “voice of the voiceless” rather than relying solely on official statements from officials and other figures of power. Al Jazeera was not the first Arab satellite channel, but it did provide new standards and production values in Arab news media.

Impact

Al Jazeera ended the flow of information that followed the format of from the "West to the rest". Al Jazeera has focused on reporting news stories originating from underrepresented countries, countering the one-way flow of media information from the

global north Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

to the global south. Egyptian

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

Saad al-Din Ibrahim spoke of Al-Jazeera as giving Arab citizens open public space and new opportunities for expression and assertion, which has been seen through its on-air talk shows, discussion, and phone-in programs. Various critics have acknowledged Al Jazeera’s role in aiding reforms during the 2005

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in Tunisia in response to corruption and econo ...

, specifically in regards to its news coverage of Iraqi elections and Lebanese protests. Additionally, Al Jazeera created a voting system in which viewers could vote online, formulating a type of democracy via satellite system. This has been a useful tool in measuring public opinion, especially on controversial topics, in the Arab world. As a result of Al Jazeera's programs, individuals in the Middle East have learned more about Western democracy and politics than from other previous sources. The Al Jazeera effect follows a similar pattern to the CNN effect and includes the accelerant effect, impediment effect, and agenda-setting effect. Seib noted that the Al Jazeera effect can be seen as parallel to the

CNN effect CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by t ...

, which states that coverage of international events can force otherwise uninvolved governments to take action. Whereas the CNN effect is used in the context of mainstream, traditional media networks such as

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

, the Al Jazeera effect generalizes this to newer media such as citizen journalist blogs,

internet radio Online radio (also web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio, IP radio, Internet radio) is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not transmitted ...

, and satellite broadcasting. He also argues that new media strengthen the identity of and give voice to previously marginalized groups, which previously lacked their own media outlets; he cites the Kurdish people as an example. Many of the new media organizations are affiliated with such groups,

social movements A social movement is a loosely organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a social or political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to resist or undo one. It is a type of group action and ma ...

or similar organizations. New media weaken the

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

of many states on information, as even extensive

Internet censorship Internet censorship is the legal control or suppression of what can be accessed, published, or viewed on the Internet. Censorship is most often applied to specific internet domains (such as Wikipedia.org) but exceptionally may extend to all Int ...

in countries such as China is not wholly effective. He concludes that the new media, while not beyond being abused, are largely contributing to democratization and

political reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

worldwide. William Lafi Youmans notes that Seib's prediction that the Al Jazeera effect will lead to changes in the politics of the Middle East was realized in the early 2010s during the

, with new media provoking widespread debate and unrest within the region. Search for "Al Jazeera effect". The CNN effect and Al Jazeera effect have had a tremendous impact on policies and the government. They have both influenced foreign policies of the US. the existence of such news organizations is crucial for having global communications and is promising in terms of spreading democracy.

Subaltern

The Al Jazeera effect has also been referred to as a subaltern, in reference to subaltern (post colonialism). Subaltern, depending on the context and where the subaltern is present, resembles something of opposition to the status quo through the demographic that does not have the capital to have their voices be heard; this form of ''alternative media'' gives a "voice to the voiceless". This notion of the subaltern is discussed by scholars, such as Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak.

Origin and use

Impact

Subaltern

See also

References

Further reading