Like its viewers, Al Jazeera presents a far more moderate, Westernized face than Islamic jihadism or rigid Sunni orthodoxy. In fact, there is very little specifically religious content in its broadcasts. Though some of its more strident critics accuse Al Jazeera of being an “Islamist” stalking horse, it is, in fact, a not-for-Prophet as well as a not-for-profit news operation. As such, it should be welcomed by all who share the humanist, democratic values of Western civilization.

THE BOTTOM line? After two months of monitoring Al Jazeera’s English-language broadcasts, I am inclined to take the network’s moderate, modernist face at face value. A look at the list of Al Jazeera correspondents, commentators and anchors offers dramatic proof of its cosmopolitan breadth. You are not likely to find names like Nick Clark, Dan Hind, Richard Falk, Ronnie Vernooy, Pepe Escobar, Corey Robin, David Zirin, Amanda Robb and Danny Schechter on any list of Muslim extremists. And Al Jazeera’s Muslim broadcasters, like Marwan Bishara (formerly of The American University of Paris), are scarcely the stuff that militant Islamists are made of.

All in all, the Al Jazeera team matches or exceeds most of its rivals when it comes to professional credentials, including in the number of its alumni from Sky News, ITN, BBC, CNN International, the Economist, ABC, CBS, Canadian Broadcasting and Granada TV. Al Jazeera has even landed the man whose celebrated Nixon interviews earned him superstar status as a television journalist. At age seventy-two, Sir David Frost may be slightly past his prime—there are moments when his Frost Over the World program could be more accurately described as Fog over Frost—but he regularly interviews top-tier statesmen, financial experts and celebrities in a full-length format, offering viewers much more than the usual domestic-network sound bites.

At a time when Western broadcast and print operations are decimating staff and closing overseas news bureaus, Al Jazeera is expanding. Middle East coverage is anchored in Qatar’s modern capital, Doha, with bureaus in Beirut, Gaza, Ramallah and Tehran; European coverage is anchored in London with bureaus in Paris and Moscow; Washington, DC, anchors the Americas, with bureaus in Bogatá, Buenos Aires, Caracas, New York City, Mexico City, São Paulo and Toronto; the Asia-Pacific region is anchored in Kuala Lumpur with bureaus in Beijing, Islamabad, Jakarta, New Delhi and Manila; and there are African bureaus in Cairo, Abidjan, Nairobi, Johannesburg and Harare.

Some bias is inevitable in any news operation. But in two months of heavy Al Jazeera viewing, I saw no evidence of pervasive pro-Muslim religious bias. On the contrary, most of the bias on display tended to be of the same liberal, secular variety that skews much of the reporting by mainstream American media, e.g., acceptance of “Occupy Wall Street” demonstrators on their own terms as spokesmen for 99 percent of the American people. The only green bias discernible had nothing to do with the sacred color of the Prophet’s banner and everything to do with Western-style tree hugging: a report on how Tasmanian devils, particularly nasty little antipodean marsupials, are on the brink of extinction because of their vicious tendency to bite one another, thereby passing on a contagious, fatal form of facial tumors.

On the whole, I found myself better informed by Al Jazeera than by the so-called mainstream media on a wide range of issues during the two months I monitored its English transmissions. Obviously there was more detailed, in-depth coverage of the Middle East. While sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians was apparent, it was at about the same level that one encounters nowadays on CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC. And I was pleasantly surprised by the global reach of the coverage: flooding in Colombia, parliamentary crisis in Italy, Mexican military operations against illegal immigrants entering the country from Guatemala, reform elections in Morocco, steady coverage of the Canadian pipeline controversy, pending Supreme Court consideration of Obamacare and gang violence in Brazilian favelas, to cite a random sampling.

Particularly gripping was a feature-length investigative report on the abduction and murder of Russian human-rights crusader Natasha Estemirova by hit men serving Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed thug currently running Chechnya. This was a moving, disturbing exposé of the true nature of Russia under the heel of Vladimir Putin, a subject that has been largely neglected by most Western media.

There are, of course, many things to criticize about Al Jazeera. Like all 24/7 broadcast-news operations, there are far too many recycled segments offered up as fresh news again and again over several days and, until recently, Al Jazeera’s coverage of popular protests against the Sunni monarchy in Shia-majority Bahrain—and their brutal suppression—was far less aggressive than its coverage of popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world. But, all in all, I came away from two months of Al Jazeera viewing with a respect for the general quality of its journalism, an admiration for the physical courage of its frontline reporters and the conviction that—particularly in the case of Al Jazeera’s female Muslim correspondents—the network offered viewers throughout the Islamic world strong, positive role models for a civilized, secular society.

In essence, the test for the future of Islam’s 1.4 billion adherents around the world (compared to 2.2 billion Christians) is whether or not their societies can come to terms with not just the technical aspects of modernity—it is easy enough to learn how to build bombs and crash planes invented by others—but with balancing spiritual and secular concerns in a way that allows for tolerance, intellectual inquiry, and a civil structure that respects the rights of all individuals and includes among those rights participation in the making of society’s laws and their fair enforcement.

Whether or not Qatar’s emir personally embraces all of these principles, the Al Jazeera English-language service he underwrites offers news, analysis and encouragement for those who do in the Arab and Islamic worlds.

Aram Bakshian Jr. served as an aide to presidents Nixon, Ford and Reagan and writes frequently on politics, history and the humanities.

Image: Wittylama

Pullquote: Even Al Jazeera's fiercest critics have come to acknowledge both its increasing global impact and, more recently, its indispensable role in covering the wave of revolutionary ferment sweeping the Middle East.Image: Essay Types: Book Review