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