News Coverage Case Study: Al Jazeera and CNN

In the talk entitled The Future of News at the Council on Foreign Relations, the speakers questioned the quality of international news coverage in the US. To investigate this possibly shortcoming, two major news networks that cover international news, Al Jazeera and CNN, may be used as a case study. These networks have two types of broadcasts; Al Jazeera has Arabic and English versions and CNN has domestic and international broadcasts. Unless specifically stated, assume Al Jazeera English and the domestic CNN broadcast are being considered, because these are most available to an American audience and are therefore competitors. To compare their quality, the networks’ performances are analyzed in categories: coverage of local, regional and international news, bias and presentation of the “other side,” censorship, and viewership. Considering these criteria, one can get a general sense of how CNN’s coverage compares to an international competitor's.

First to consider is the networks’ coverage of news at the “50, 500 and 5000 foot” ranges, to use the same terms used at the Council on Foreign Relations. The definition of “local” (50 foot) and “regional” (500 foot) for each network must be established before beginning analysis. Al Jazeera is largely viewed as simply an Arab news network, but it is based in Qatar. Therefore, Qatari issues are considered local. Regional issues for Al Jazeera are those from the greater Middle East. The categories for CNN are a bit different; state level issues are considered local and national issues are regional. The reason for this difference is the size of the US compared to Qatar. It would be unreasonable to assume it takes the same effort to cover all of the US and it does to cover Qatar.

With respect to local coverage, Al Jazeera has been criticized by some for neglecting Qatari issues. In “New Media, New Politics?” Jon B. Alterman states that Al Jazeera fails to report power struggles and criticism of Qatari foreign policy because it is a Qatari funded organization (24). There are others, such as Hugh Miles, who hold the opposite opinion. In his piece “Think Again: Al Jazeera,” Miles cites Al Jazeera’s coverage of the trial of those charged with planning to overthrow the emir and on-air debates on whether or not there should be a US air base in Qatar as proof that the network covers local issues. There were no available texts on CNN’s local news coverage, so this analysis is based on first hand research and experience. CNN.com has a local news section, but it just redirects to locally run sites. On their broadcast, local news is present when the story is a national concern or controversy. For example, New Jersey’s budget cuts were all over CNN, not because the network regularly reports on the state’s policies, but because there were calls for the federal government to follow this model. Also, southeastern states get air time during hurricane season because a possible natural disaster, even one affecting a few states, is a national concern. In terms of local coverage, Al Jazeera is better (not because its coverage is perfect but because it makes a significantly greater effort to examine local issues).

Next is the question of regional coverage. Al Jazeera has a reputation for covering stories that Arab governments try to censor. Alterman explained that the network has a history of criticizing the Saudi government in a way no one has dared to before. Avi Jorisch cites the history of unhappy Arab governments closing Al Jazeera network offices as proof that they challenge the regional status quo. Also, Al Jazeera has been a major source of information on wars in the Middle East and, recently, the Arab Spring. The network showed coverage of what actually happened during the revolutions, whereas state-run networks showed peaceful footage to convince the public there was no major unrest (Miles “The Al Jazeera Effect”). It was difficult to find analysis of CNN’s coverage of regional news. The domestic broadcast of CNN spends the majority of its time on national issues. Lucinda Fleeso explains this focus in “Bureau of Missing Bureaus.” She states that the domestic broadcast focuses largely on national issues like its competitors Fox and MSNBC. Since national news is CNN’s main focus, it is superior in this category. (CNN spends a higher percentage of time on regional issues than Al Jazeera.)

The final category relating to the geographic focus of the networks is global news coverage. According to Miles, Al Jazeera created two programs after the attacks of September 11^th strictly dedicated to US issues. One show covered the US presidential race in great depth. The other regularly interviewed Bush administration officials and other politicians about domestic issues (Miles “Think Again”). These shows went beyond headlines from the US and exposed the Al Jazeera audience to US concerns, even those not directly related to Qatar or even the Middle East. Of the hours Al Jazeera devotes to news each day, at least four hour-long shows are strictly dedicated to going “[b]eyond the headlines to the heart of the news of the day” (Al Jazeera). The network focuses on news from around the world regardless of regional relevance. A study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press showed that 38% of CNN’s stories on international issues were centered on America’s relationship with the other country rather than on the other country. The report also showed that more than 90% of all of international stories studied, including CNN’s, were about breaking news and went no deeper into analyzing global happenings (Kohut 2). Also, unlike the hours of international news shown by Al Jazeera, CNN has a tendency to include short stories: “CNN also carried more short foreign pieces than ABC: 47% vs. 15% under 90 seconds” (Kohut 1). Another, fairly simplistic but enlightening, way to see the geographic focus of each network is their weather maps. Al Jazeera goes through the weather in major cities all over the world during its meteorology section. CNN, on the other hand, only shows US weather. Due to Al Jazeera’s focus on international issues regardless of their regional importance, it is the better network in the comparison of international focus.

Though Al Jazeera presents more international news than CNN, that fact could be inconsequential if the news is presented in an extremely biased and one-sided fashion. Al Jazeera has promised to present both sides of the issues; the network’s motto is “The opinion and the other opinion.” Everyone from al-Qaeda leaders to Israeli government officials have been given air time on Al Jazeera (Miles “Think Again”). These people clearly possess conflicting opinions, yet the network airs them both. Al Jazeera also makes an effort in some of its shows like “The Opposite Direction” and “The Other Opinion” to have people with conflicting ideas debate. Though Al Jazeera has been said to be intensely antiAmerican and antiIsraeli, it gives time to the politicians of these countries but also to those who hate them. Miles states that this criticism of Al Jazeera’s bias has led the network to work even harder to make sure all sides of an issue are covered (“Think Again”). CNN has received similar praise for impartiality about its coverage of national issues. A CNN viewer is likely to see interviews with both democrats and republicans. A study of the political bias of major US news networks showed that CNN fell in between conservative FOX and liberal MSNBC (Fowler). For international coverage, it has been the network’s mission to "get the foreign news from foreign reporters" (Brislin). Despite the use of foreign reporters, CNN, specifically CNN International, has not been praised for impartiality in international coverage and has even been called “American-centric” (Al‑Najjar). Though CNN tries to show other sides of an issue by using foreign reporters, it comes off as one-sided, hence the accusations of being American-centric. Al Jazeera is superior as far as bias and showing all sides of an issue.

Censorship of the networks is the next concern. It does not matter what the networks try to cover if their ability to report is restricted. Al Jazeera has a history of airing stories banned on other Arab networks (Alterman 24). The censorship concern for Al Jazeera is coverage of Qatari issues, but there is no clear answer as to whether or not Qatar’s government restricts coverage of domestic issues. CNN, on the other hand, has recently been accused of censorship related to the Iraq war. A CNN war correspondent said the Bush administration and the FOX network pushed for restriction of war coverage (Johnson). Though CNN has experienced government restraint on its coverage, Al Jazeera receives greater pressure. Considering this, CNN is superior regarding censorship.

Viewership is the final category and the most easily quantified. Both networks reach viewers around the world, so the difference is the size of their audiences. It is estimated that Al Jazeera has around 50 million viewers (Miles “Think Again”). CNN is said to be available to 2 billion people (“CNN Worldwide Fact Sheet”). All 2 billion people who can watch CNN do not necessarily do so. Still CNN is better in the viewership area by a great margin.

In short, Al Jazeera was deemed superior in the areas of bias and showing differing opinions, local coverage, and international coverage. CNN was better with respect to censorship, regional coverage and viewership. The three and three split may make it seem like CNN and Al Jazeera are evenly matched, but there is a superior network. The comparison stems from questions of international coverage, therefore, for this subjective evaluation, the categories of coverage of global issues and impartiality and showing multiple opinions are the most important. Al Jazeera was the better network with respect to both of these categories. Further, according to Badreya Al-Jenaibi1 (and I agree), “Al-Jazeera has more news analysis than the CNN” (94). Al Jazeera’s focus and in-depth coverage makes me believe that it covers international news better than CNN. Further analysis would be necessary to truly compare all of the US news industry to foreign news networks, but if CNN and Al Jazeera are representative of their respective groups, it seems the US has subpar international news coverage.

Works Cited

Al Jazeera. "Programme Schedule." Al Jazeera. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Al-Jenaibi, Badreya. "The Competition Between Al-Jazeera’s Arab News Diversity and US Channels: Content Analysis of Iraq War." Canadian Social Science 6.4 (2010): 81-96. CSCanada. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.

Al‑Najjar, Abeer I. "How Arab Is Al-Jazeera English? Comparative Study of Al-Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English News Channels." Global Media Journal 8.14 (2009). Global Media Journal. Purdue University. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

Alterman, Jon B. "Satellite Broadcasting." New Media, New Politics?: from Satellite Television to the Internet in the Arab World. Washington, DC: Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1998. 15-32. Print.

Brislin, Tom. "Journalism Ethics in Asia." University of Hawaii. University of Hawaii. Web. 29 Nov. 2011

"CNN Worldwide Fact Sheet." CNN Press Room - CNN.com. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Fleeson, Lucinda. "Bureau of Missing Bureaus." American Journalism Review (2003). American Journalism Review. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Fowler, Nancy. "Measuring Political Bias of Network News." Washington University in St. Louis. 14 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.

Johnson, Peter. "Amanpour: CNN Practiced Self-censorship." USATODAY.com. USA TODAY, 14 Sept. 2003. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Jorisch, Avi. "Review of Al-Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East." Middle East Quarterly X (2003). Middle East Forum. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Kohut, Andrew, director. A CONTENT ANALYSIS: International News Coverage Fits Public's Ameri-Centric Mood. Rep. Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 31 Oct. 1995. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.

Miles, Hugh. "The Al Jazeera Effect." Editorial. Foreign Policy 8 Feb. 2011. Foreign Policy. Web. 27 Nov. 2011.

Miles, Hugh. "Think Again: Al Jazeera." Editorial. Foreign Policy 12 June 2006. Foreign Policy. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.