Whose side are they on? U.S. officials have accused Arab news network Al Jazeera of biased coverage. Are any media really objective in times of war?

• Author: Smillie, Dirk
• Position: Media

As the U,S.-led war in Iraq erupted this spring, CNN chronicled the awesome power of the U.S. military, chatted about battle strategy with retired generals, and referred to American troops as fighting a war of "liberation."

But on Arab television, a much different story was unfolding. The war was not an act of liberation, but of "occupation." Across the Middle East, Arab viewers saw a pair of wounded, shell-shocked Iraqi children with blood-spattered faces; a woman squatting in front of her bombed-out home, now a pile of smoking rubble; a weeping man clutching what appeared to be a handful of dark pottery shards--actually fragments of his son's skull.

Al Jazeera, the seven-year-old Arabic-language news network, delivered daily scenes like these by satellite to 35 million viewers in 20 Arab countries, greatly influencing public opinion in the Mideast. American officials have accused the channel of biased, anti-American reporting. But how can viewers determine whether that's true? And what about American media outlets--are they more accurate or fair than Al Jazeera?

OBJECTIVE LENS?

The idea of objectivity in modern journalism that news should be reported without opinion or bias--dates back to 19th-century America. Before then, newspapers were most often partisan organs of political parties or opinionated publishers (some still are today).

A key component of objectivity is giving opposing sides equal treatment in news reports. At least in theory.

Paul Wolfowitz, U.S. deputy secretary of defense, certainly gives Al Jazeera low marks for objectivity. He accused the 24-hour network and other Arab news channels of "biased reporting that has the effect of inciting violence against our troops."

Officials at Al Jazeera denied the accusation. They said that broadcasting scenes of wounded civilians and interviewing Arabs about American policy gives voice to people U.S. news organizations are unlikely to interview.

Who is right? They are probably both right, says Robert Thompson, professor of media and culture at Syracuse University. "Watch CNN and Al Jazeera," he says, "and you'll quickly realize that everyone who tells a story tells it from a different point of view."

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