TORONTO — Al-Jazeera English, the Qatar-based 24-hour international news and current events television channel, plans to apply for a broadcasting licence in Canada within the next few weeks and hopes to be on the air by the fall.
Tony Burman
But if Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canada-Israel Committee prevail, the licence won’t be granted unless the station complies with guidelines set down several years ago by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
Five years ago, the CRTC granted Al-Jazeera English’s parent company, Al-Jazeera Arabic, permission to broadcast in Canada if it did not violate Canadian hate laws and if the Canadian cable and satellite carriers offering it kept recordings of all its broadcasts.
Canadian Jewish organizations had accused Al-Jazeera Arabic of carrying anti-Israel and anti-Semitic material.
As it happened, not a single Canadian cable or satellite provider agreed to pick up Al-Jazeera Arabic, which was launched in 1996 and is now available in more than 100 countries, including Israel.
Six years after Al-Jazeera Arabic submitted its abortive application in Canada, Al-Jazeera English – which was launched in 2006 and claims to be watched in 140 million households – is applying for a licence.
Its bid will be presented to the CRTC by its sponsor and carrier, Ethnic Channels Group, a Canadian, Toronto-based multi-ethnic broadcaster that currently offers programming in a number of languages ranging from Arabic and Hebrew to German and Russian.
Tony Burman, managing director of Al Jazeera English, said last week that it has never broadcast anti-Semitic comment and has always been balanced and fair in its coverage of Israel and the Arab-Israeli dispute.
“But it should be said that, sometimes, hateful words are voiced from all sides of this conflict, and this should be universally deplored,” he added. “No one side has a monopoly on virtue.”
Burman, the former editor-in-chief of CBC News, said that Al-Jazeera English’s “fair, thorough and restrained” reporting of Middle East affairs is intended “to inform, not inflame.”
Bernie Farber, chief executive officer of Congress, is skeptical.
“We have always opposed the request by Al-Jazeera for a broadcast licence,” he said. “The only true record we have of Al-Jazeera is the parent Arabic station, which has broadcast anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.”
Farber said he might revise his views if Al-Jazeera English complies with CRTC regulations. “At the very least, these guidelines would have to be fully honoured. Anything less would be unacceptable. The key guidelines [centre] around the need for a delay in broadcasting so that any hate-mongering could be dealt with prior to coming on air, and signed guarantees of responsibility to ensure that Canada’s laws pertaining to hate promotion and broadcast standards would be honoured.”
Asked why Al-Jazeera English should not be given a Canadian licence when it is carried by an Israeli provider, Farber replied, “Israel must deal with issues pertinent to its geopolitical circumstances. Canada is in a much different situation with laws that address broadcasting, all of which must be adhered to.”
Shimon Fogel, chief executive officer of the Canada-Israel Committee, charged that Al-Jazeera has a record of advancing “a skewed narrative of the past and present without regard for objectivity or the journalistic standards we have established in Canada.”
He added: “There is a sufficient body of evidence about Al-Jazeera English to support concerns about the nature of its coverage and its tendency to generate anti-Semitic sentiments here in Canada.”
Claiming that Al-Jazeera Arabic refused to comply with CRTC guidelines when it submitted its application in 2003, Fogel observed, “The fact that [it] was unwilling to proceed under those conditions suggests that its agenda is incompatible with Canadian broadcast standards.”
Fogel argued that Israeli viewers have “the resources and opportunities” to balance Al-Jazeera’s “manipulated information.”
As he put it, “Israelis have multiple sources of news and analysis that all focus on the same issues and the same level of intensity as Al-Jazeera, minus the distortion. Here in Canada, however, the audience is considerably more naive and lacks the capacity to view the broadcast in a critical way, or to seek alternative perspectives.”
As a result, he noted, Canadian viewers may draw “tainted and compromised” conclusions.”
Burman, saying there is “a significant demand” for Al-Jazeera English in Canada, appeared to reject Farber’s demand for its compliance with special CRTC guidelines.
“Anyone who takes the time to watch Al-Jazeera English would agree that these sanctions are completely unnecessary. Al-Jazeera English is available and popular in England, and it is regulated by Ofcom, the body that oversees England’s media organizations and deals with issues of impartiality and fairness. In two years of broadcasting, Al-Jazeera English has never experienced a serious problem. Further, Al-Jazeera English journalists are required to follow a strict code of ethics.”
Saying that Al-Jazeera English would never carry anti-Semitic comments or Holocaust denial, Burman declared that such broadcasts would be contrary to its code of ethics and be offensive “to us and our viewers.”
Al-Jazeera English, he said, is not and never will be “a forum for hate. It is our editorial mission to show every angle and every side of today’s controversial stories.”
During the recent war in the Gaza Strip, he said, Al-Jazeera English was the only international English news channel that covered it from both sides.
“We had reporters in Gaza and also in all parts of Israel. Reviews of our coverage were overwhelmingly positive.
“Our coverage of Israel is now and has always been balanced and fair. People are often surprised to learn that Al-Jazeera English is broadcast throughout Israel.Our bureau in Israel is one of our largest in the world. Israeli politicians speak directly on Al-Jazeera, on both the Arabic and English channels.”
Burman said that Al-Jazeera Arabic made it possible, for the first time, for Israelis to reach the Arab world freely and unfiltered.
“That was revolutionary, and to this day, Israeli officials see the benefit of going on the Al-Jazeera Arabic channel to have their voice heard throughout the Middle East.”
