CAIRO, Oct 11 (DPA): An increasingly number of people in the Arab world and beyond are tuning in to the Qatari-based Al-Jazeera channel, once known as the "enfant terrible" of the mideast regions satellite stations, for news about ongoing US,led strikes against targets in Afghanistan.
One of the reasons for its popularity is the channels excellent access to people and places in Afghanistan, including to the Taliban leaders, whom the US accuses of supporting and harbouring Saudi millionaire turned terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, its prime suspect in the devastating September 11 in the US.
Even before the US and British attacks on targets in Afghanistan began last Sunday, a few people outside the Arab world, including some in the US, had began to take interest in Al-Jazeeras coverage of the US-led war against terrorism Secretary of state Colin Powell reportedly expressed displeasure during a recent meeting in Washington with the emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, suggesting that if Al-Jazeera was going to cover the war, it should also project the US.
In fact, Al-Jazeera was among the first networks to broadcast reports that the attack was underway and the first to capture live pictures of the October 7 air strikes on Afghanistan.
The expulsion of western journalists from Taliban-controlled areas of Afghanistan evidently gave Al-Jazeera, whose correspondent was among a handful of reporters allowed to continue operating in the country, an edge over the other major networks.
"We now have an Arab network that competes in newsmaking.
We were the only channel that broadcast the beginning of the war and its progression live," Mohammed Jasem al-Ali, the channels director told the London-based Al-Hayat Tuesday.
In addition to reporting the strikes and giving Taliban officials time on its airwaves, Al-Jazzera surprised the world by broadcasting a pre-recorded video showing bin Laden and his key associates, delivering diatribes against the US and its allies shortly after the attacks began.
The tape was later relayed by scores of networks around the world, including those based in the US, and although US officials were not entirely pleased that it provided members of bin Ladens Al-Qaeda network with an opportunity to get their message across to a wider audience, president George W.
Bush apparently watched the tape.
"His reaction was first that this is much bigger than any one person.
This is not a war against Osama bin Laden, this is a war against terrorists," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
This, however, was not the first time that bin Laden has favoured Al-Jazeera to get across his message.
More recently, he has sent tapes of training sessions and other material such as press releases to the Channel.
The Al-Qaeda needs a medium to present its point of view and it chose Al-Jazeera without fear or hesitation," said Al-Jazeeras Al-Ali.
"They brought the tape to our offices as the attacks began and we broadcast it live from Kabul," he added, referring to the latest tape.
Nevertheless, it was through controversial broadcasts such as this one that and that the Channel began attracting attention to itself.
The station was created by the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, by decree in 1996 shortly after he ousted his father in a bloodless coup.
Since then, it has become increasingly vocal, taking stands unpopular with countries in the region on a broad range of issues, including relations with Israel, Iraq, civil society and democracy, prompting an outcry from most leaders in the region, who claimed that the channel was specifically directed against their governments.
Most of the complaints stem from the panel discussion programmes such as Al-Itijah Al-Muaqas (opposite direction) and Akhtar min Rayi (more than one opinion), which generally feature members of banned opposition groups.
For instance, Kuwait was angered a couple of years ago when one programme featured an Iraqi official successfully out-debating his Kuwaiti counterpart.
Jordan briefly closed down the channels offices in response to a programme featuring Jordanians debating the merits of the peace process with Israel.
Meanwhile, Egypt accused the channel of distorting its history after Al-Jazeera aired a programme about the 1973 war with Israel with Israeli guests taking part.
Egypt was further infuriated when the channel hosted London-based "convicted Egyptian terrorists" Yassir Sirri and Adel Abdel Meguid, something which required getting visas to Qatar.
Cairo accused Doha of violating Arab agreements about harbouring terrorists , a new bureau was later opened in London to spare Qatar further embarrassments.
Even with it high production standards and journalistic values, there are limits, however, to what the station can broadcast.
There have been neither reports about local Qatari politics nor interviews with the deposed Emir and, Al-Jezeera officials confirmed that as a general policy, the station tends to respect the sensibilities of its larger neighbour, Saudi Arabia.
Despite successfully antagonizing nearly every government with its hard hitting reporting and controversial guests on news shows, Al- Jazeera continues to be recognized as pretty much the best thing going in the Arabic language news field.