USING AL JAZEERA TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 000103 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO QA SUBJECT: USING AL JAZEERA TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE ARAB/MUSLIM WORLD Classified By: AMBASSADOR JOSEPH E. LEBARON, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). -------------- (C) KEY POINTS AND COMMENTS -------------- -- As the Department seeks to implement President Obama's and the Secretary's goal of a renewed dialogue with Arab and Muslim audiences, we should make strategic use of the Al Jazeera television network, including both the Arabic and English news channels. -- Embassy recommends that top USG officials, including Special Envoys, the Secretary, and other cabinet officials grant interviews to Al Jazeera to lay out the President's foreign policy agenda. -- This Embassy stands ready to help with this effort, including through our direct contacts with Al Jazeera headquarters and with senior members of the Qatar government and the Al Thani ruling family. -- Al Jazeera and its Al Thani overseers have demonstrated a willingness to put U.S. officials on the air. And they are flexible, to an extent, about how that is done. -- Al Jazeera Board Chairman Hamed bin Thamer Al Thani offered us a free broadcast hour to present our views about September 11. We should instead call in that offer to convey the new Administration's message out on a network we know millions of Arabs watch. END KEY POINTS AND COMMENTS ¶1. (SBU) As the Department seeks to implement President Obama's and the Secretary's goal of a renewed dialogue with Arab and non-Arab Muslim populations, we should make strategic use of the Al Jazeera television network. Notorious though it may be for its sensational broadcasts, even its detractors recognize that Al Jazeera commands a market share in the Arab world of over 50 percent, reaching between 40 and 50 million Arabs every day. Despite bans imposed at one time or another by a number of Arab governments, Al Jazeera is still the undisputed king of Arab broadcast media. ¶2. (SBU) We should also keep in mind that most Muslims are not Arabs, and Al Jazeera's English channel, which claims to reach 100 million households, reaches many of the Muslim audiences that do not speak Arabic, particularly in Africa and South Asia. ¶3. (C) For these reasons, former Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes remarked that "as a communicator, I cannot afford to ignore Al Jazeera." But by and large, that is exactly what most senior Bush administration officials did, especially from 2004 onwards. In doing so, the USG lost a critical opportunity to communicate directly with millions of Arabs. ¶4. (C) There are many good reasons not to like Al Jazeera. Their journalistic and editorial practices are often unprofessional, and the Qataris' use of the station to stoke Arab sentiment over emotional issues such as the Iraeli-Palestinian conflict is crass. The station's coverage of the events in Gaza, described by one Al Jazeera insider as "outrageously biased" in favor of Hamas, is just one recent example. ¶5. (SBU) That said, post is not aware of any occasion in recent years in which Al Jazeera has refused to interview a senior official. Interviewers do ask tough and sometimes outrageous questions, but no more outrageous than what Ambassadors and officers face every day from the Arab public. ¶6. (C) In addition, Al Jazeera Board Chairman Hamed bin Thamer Al Thani has proven open to creative uses of Al Jazeera's airwaves by the USG beyond straightforward interviews. In response to our complaint about a documentary spewing fantastical conspiracy theories about 9/11, for example, Hamed bin Thamer offered to allow the USG a full broadcast hour to present its views either as an interview or in another format. ¶7. (C) We should take advantage of this willingness to not only allow U.S. voices to appear on Al Jazeera, but also the flexibility the Al Thanis are demonstrating in how we put our message across. ¶8. (C) Importantly, as is true for Arabs around the region, editors and journalists inside Al Jazeera tell Embassy staff that they are personally reserving a large amount of goodwill for the Obama administration. The USG needs to take advantage of this window of opportunity. We do not need to like or condone the actions of Al Jazeera to use it as a platform to communicate with the Arab world. ¶9. (C) Embassy urges that senior officials, including the Secretary, Special Envoys Mitchell and Holbrooke, and other cabinet officials consider granting interviews to Al Jazeera as soon as possible and on a regular basis to lay out the President's foreign policy agenda. This Embassy stands ready to help with this effort, including through direct diplomacy with Qatar's ruling family and members of Al Jazeera's Doha headquarters. ¶10. (C) The Arab world is waiting eagerly to hear more from President Obama, the Secretary and senior officials, and indications are that audiences are reacting positively to the Administration's swift engagement and willingness to listen. We need to extend that engagement to Al Jazeera as soon as possible. LeBaron