Battle over al-Jazeera

Editorial

Some Canadian cable broadcasters are urging federal authorities to allow them to broadcast al-Jazeera. The Qatar-based television news station is sometimes dubbed the Arab world's CNN, though many observers now view this description as far too benign.

Al-Jazeera is accused of running anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic views, as well as segments denying the Holocaust.

While the news station has gained the wrath of Israel and its allies, its reporters have also been banned from several Arab states, including a since-rescinded expulsion from Iraq last week.

The network originated in 1996 with the financial backing of the emir of Qatar and has apparently caused a series of monumental tremors in the Arab world for its willingness to express views that are unpopular with Arab leadership. It is reportedly the only network in the Arab world that airs interviews with spokespersons from Israel.

There is an old saying in journalism that if you have enemies on both sides, you're doing your job properly.

This is too facile an argument in the case of al-Jazeera, which presents the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) with very serious issues to address. According to one Toronto observer and critic of al-Jazeera, the station caters to "the lowest common denominator" among the Arab masses and is not averse to giving airtime to Islamic fundamentalist terrorists.

Keith Landy, national president of Canadian Jewish Congress, is urging the federal authority not to allow the network to be broadcast here. He told the National Post that al-Jazeera has run anti-Semitic statements and other observers have argued that it would be unwise for Canadian broadcasters to carry a network that reflects what one academic refers to as an "anti-western voice." Landy said the station would likely "not be consistent with hate laws that are in force in this country."

Canadian cable companies are arguing that they seek to give their customers what they are asking for. There are an estimated 1.2 million Arabic-speaking people in Canada.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, many western observers have turned their attention to the question of why so many in the Arab world seem to detest the United States and its allies so vociferously. One explanation is that the Islamic world sees its values and civilization threatened by a globalization of values it deems fundamentally American. Israel, as a democracy and an ally of the United States, is viewed as an expansionist force of American and western values in the heart of the Islamic Arab world.

Though most of us probably reject the over-simplification represented by this view, there is no denying that television is a powerful force and that satellite broadcasting has instilled in viewers worldwide a window into American ideals. Several of those values – democracy, freedom from oppression, free expression – are among the main arguments used by the American administration for its current war in Iraq. Al-Jazeera provides that scariest of values: free expression for views that fundamentally challenge our own worldview.

Americans have tried to downplay the suggestion that the current war (and the broader conflict between Islamic fundamentalism and the United States) is a conflict between two incompatible civilizations. We may accept this premise, but we can also imagine the way it would look if western countries refused to allow the Arabic-language news station to air on our televisions at the precise time when western soldiers are making Iraq free for contending ideas.

The idea of Canada rejecting al-Jazeera would be a propaganda victory for the Islamic fundamentalists. But is that propaganda value enough to make us agree to air TV programs that may well be illegal under Canada's hate laws?

The content of al-Jazeera makes the issue far more urgent, but the variety of opinion in different languages is not a new challenge to Canada. There was a time when Canadian politicians expressed opposite views depending whether they were speaking in English or French. A newer phenomenon is the emergence of several Chinese-language daily newspapers.

Rarely, though, has the practical application of our multicultural ideal presented such a serious challenge to our prized values of tolerance, peace, order and good government. But the CRTC makes its decisions based on representations from the public and according to specific guidelines. If the commission decides to permit the cable companies to broadcast al-Jazeera, it will do so in its best judgment. It will then be for the courts to decide – if any individual or organization brings a case to them – whether the hate provisions of the Criminal Code are being violated. After all, that's why we have a legal system. And that's what makes us a free country.

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