Al-Jazeera throws dice, bases Asian operation in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Al-Jazeera, the Arabic broadcaster which polarized opinion with its war coverage, is promising more "fearless" reporting on Asia with the launch of its new global English-language channel. Al-Jazeera International is due to go to air by mid-2006, beamed from its headquarters in the Qatari capital of Doha, and regional broadcast centers in London, Washington and Kuala Lumpur.

Its studios here are currently taking shape on the 60th floor of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers and dozens of newly hired staff, including 30 journalists, are converging on the Malaysian capital.

Malaysia's government has a famously uneasy relationship with the media, but the channel's Doha-based managing director Nigel Parsons, a Briton who has previously worked with the BBC, insists: "We've been welcomed with open arms.

"Here as in the Middle East, Al-Jazeera is seen as a welcome alternative in regions which have been used to getting all their international news channels from the West and I think we're welcomed as a breath of fresh air," he argued.

The station, to be initially funded by the Qatari government, expects to reach between 30 and 40 million households around the world on the day of its launch. As it attempts to seize market share from U.S. and British rivals CNN and BBC, Al-Jazeera International will be positioning itself as having a fresh new perspective with a focus on the developing world.

Although Parsons doesn't "want to get into a slanging match" with the other global broadcasters, he believes Al-Jazeera will not have the same pressure to convey its home country's perspective.

"One of our unique advantages is the fact that we are coming out of the Middle East, coming out of a tiny country ... so we're not burdened by a domestic agenda," said Parsons. "I'm not going to criticize any of these broadcasters but I think we will be coming at stories from a different angle. I think there is a tendency to see things from a particular prism and we want to turn that prism around and look through the other way."

Despite the buzz surrounding Al-Jazeera in media circles - and a succession of high-profile hires that has included veteran broadcaster David Frost - some observers say its appeal outside Muslim-majority countries will be limited.

Kavi Chongkittavorn, a leading Thai journalist and chairman of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance, said the Asian television news scene was already overcrowded and that the newcomer would be judged on its performance.

"It's too early to say whether it's good to have Al-Jazeera contributing to the diversity of information and whether they will be independent from governments or cover Asia from an Asian perspective," Kavi said. "Asia is not like any other place in the world. It has a range of political systems from absolute monarchies to self-declared dictatorships. Their biggest customer base will be in Malaysia and Indonesia."

Malaysia has said it hopes that the broadcaster's coverage of the predominantly Muslim country will be less "biased" than that of the Western media.

But it remains to be seen how Asian governments react to Al-Jazeera's brand of journalism, which in the Middle East has seen it gone from being hailed as a beacon of freedom, to being barred, suspended or expelled in just about every country in the region. Its problems there have stemmed from allegations of bias, giving airtime to critics of regimes and a refusal to allow governments to dictate terms of coverage.

"Our job is to be fearless, not to shy away from controversy if need be, to provoke thought and hopefully to allow people to see things from another perspective," Parsons said. "I don't think we'll have a more difficult time, but journalists always have a more or less uneasy relationship with governments."

Parsons denied that Malaysia was chosen because it is a predominantly Islamic country - 60 percent of the population is Muslim Malays, living alongside ethnic Chinese and Indian communities. Hong Kong was seriously considered, "but it's expensive and we weren't quite sure about future editorial freedom," he said, and Singapore lost out because "I suppose we felt it was a bit sterile for our kind of operation."

Malaysia, on the other hand, "filled our requirements - there is a good English-speaking labor pool here, and it's cost-effective. It'll be interesting to see how we're treated. I think a lot of people will be watching that."

Sonia Randhawa from Malaysia's Center for Independent Journalism welcomed Al-Jazeera's arrival but warned that despite initial goodwill the broadcaster could face obstacles.

"Good luck to them," she said. "But we've seen before that the government of Malaysia and other regional governments are more than happy to censor foreign media ... Situating their office here doesn't really bode that well." - AFP