Al Jazeera: How the Free Arab News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East
Most Americans first heard of Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, the Arab  satellite television news network, when they saw the October  2001 broadcast of the Osama bin Laden video. The Al-Jazeera  bureau in Kabul gave the network exclusive footage on the war in  Afghanistan, and with its access to Arab spokesmen and audiences  it has emerged as a powerful player on the world stage. In an  entertaining and accessible journalistic style, El-Nawawy, a  former journalist in the Middle East and a journalism professor  (Univ. of West Florida), and Iskandar, a communications  professor (Univ. of Kentucky), examine the history of the  network, its operation, and its effects on Arab viewers across  the world. The authors also chronicle the negative reaction of  Arab governments to some of the political coverage, such as  Kuwaiti complaints that the network is too sympathetic to Iraq,  and analyze several of the controversial talk shows, including  The Other Direction, modeled on CNN's Crossfire, to highlight  the radical nature of Al-Jazeera programming in Middle Eastern  media history. Given ongoing world events, this timely book will  be a welcome addition to academic and public libraries. Judy  Solberg, George Washington Univ. Lib., Washington, DCCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.