New Business As Usual?

This week’s coverage of Obama on Al Manar continued to cast a hopeful image of Obama and emphasize potential source of friction between the US and Israel.

Al Manar’s coverage of Obama’s actions vis-à-vis Latin America seemed to give Obama the benefit of the doubt and said that Obama attempting to build a new cooperative relationship with Latin American states. Another article mentioned changes to the American stance on Cuba and quoted Obama’s comments on these changes: "I think it's a signal of our good faith that we wanted to move beyond the Cold War mentality that's existed over the last 50 years. And hopefully we'll see some signs that Cuba wants to reciprocate.” The article provided viewers with extensive quotes from Obama explaining his stance on Cuba: “I don't expect Cuba to beg. No one is asking for anyone to beg. What we're looking for is some signal that there are going to be changes in how Cuba operates."


Al Manar also covered sources of disagreement and future tensions between the U.S. and Israel. One article mentioned that the Obama administration is reconsidering its planned boycott of the Durban II Anti-Racism Summit held at the UN. The article pointed out that the Racism Summit is deeply opposed by Israel and that this US action is likely to upset Israel. Al Manar also reported on US envoy George Mitchell’s trip to Israel, saying that Mitchell “pressed the two-state solution” in his meetings with Israeli officials. The article also included Mitchell’s remarks during his time in Morocco, which were described in the following manner “Washington considered the 'creation' of a Palestinian state as the only way forward.” After mentioning Mitchell’s statement the article mentioned that Mitchell’s remarks “could set Israel on a collision course” with the US.

Al Manar: Warming Up To Obama

While Al Manar's collection of op-ed stories writen by Western sources still include sharp critiques of American policy, Al Manar’s coverage of Obama’s recent actions indicate that Al Manar's approves of the changing direction of American foreign policy. The current links to op-eds on Al Manar’s news homepage include a story from Amnesty International criticizing American arms shipments to Israel as well as a sharp critique of America’s hypocrisy on nuclear capabilities, contrasting America’s stances on the nuclear capabilities of North Korea and Israel.However, Al Manar’s own coverage of the Obama administration indicates a thaw in Al Manar’s stance on the US. Al Manar’s coverage of Obama was favorable and at the same time, indicated that the Obama administration relations with Israel are deteriorating while its relations Middle Eastern nations improve.

On Television, Al Manar’s coverage of Obama’s visit to Iraq reported on Obama’s commitment to withdraw US forces as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s gratitude at Obama’s readiness to help Iraq. Online, Al Manar's coverage of Obama's visit to Turkey also had a positive tone, mentioning Obama's statements about improving relations with Muslim nations such as "we will listen carefully, bridge misunderstanding... We will be respectful, even when we do not agree." The article also mentioned Obama's strong support of Turkey's bid to join the EU as well as Obama's dedication to a two-state solution.

In addition to covering Obama's travels to Middle Eastern nations and suggesting improved relations with Muslim nations, Al Manar tried to emphasize the differences between Obama and the new Israeli government. Al Manar reported that the Obama administration is ready for a possible confrontation with Israeli leadership. While mentioning Obama’s commitment to the security of Israel, the article also reported that Obama has made it clear that his administration is dedicated to a two-state solution, despite statements made by Israeli officials. The article hinted that relations between the US and Israel are deteriorating by using words that evoke conflict: the title of the article is “Obama Team Readying for Clash with Netanyahu, Lieberman,” and the article also says that the “US hits back at Lieberman: the goal is two states.” Additionally, the article mentions that that neither Obama nor Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu have made plans to visit one another.

Another article on Al Manar’s website reported on US Vice President Biden’s warning to Israel not to attack Iran, which featured Biden’s statement that Israel would be “ill-advised” to attack Iran and also mentioned the Obama administration’s willingness to launch a new dialogue with Iran. The stance of the Obama administration was contrasted with that of the Israeli government, as the article mentions that Biden’s warning to Israel was in response to Netanyahu referring to the Iranian government as "sophisticated and devious" in their ability to hide their nuclear program from the world. I believe that Al Manar's coverage emphasizes conflict and declining US-Israeli relations because this is important prerequisite to improved perceptions of Obama for Al Manar's audience.

Sudan: Still in the Spotlight

Al Manar’s coverage of Sudan continued this week. Al Manar continued to cover Sudanese President Al-Bashir’s "defiance" via his travels abroad, reporting on his visits to Qatar for the Arab League Summit, Saudi Arabia for a pilgrimage to Mecca, and Libya for a meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. In addition to covering Al-Bashir’s travel itinerary, Al Manar also ran a story today about the US envoy to Sudan's visit to Khartoum and quoted the envoy, Scott Gration who said

"I come here with my hands open and it would be up to the Sudanese government to determine how they want to continue with that relationship.”

The article was brief but conveyed that the US government is eager for stronger ties with its Sudanese counterpart. Al Manar also reported the Sudanese government’s announcements that Sudan will hold its first general election in 24 years in February 2010. While the article did mention that the election was supposed to be held in 2009, it's tone attempted to provide the Sudanese government with more legitimacy as a regime dedicated to peace and progress.

In addition to reporting on actions taken by Sudanese leadership, Al Manar continued to cover leaders' rejection of Al-Bashir's indictment. For instance, in its coverage of the 2nd annual Arab-South American Summit, which was similar to Telasur’s coverage, Al Manar focused on Arab and South America’s rejection of Al-Bashir’s warrant, quoting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who referred to the ICC as "a judicial horror and a disrespect to the people of the Third World."

Al Manar also covered a meeting held for Arab foreign ministers in preparation for the Arab Summit where the ministers called for the annulment of Al-Bashir’s arrest warrant and urged Arab nations not to cooperate with the ICC. The Arab League's Secretary General said that the ICC’s case against Al-Bashir “shows the use of double standards” and called for objectivity from regional institutions such as the Arab League and African Union.

Al Manar Responds to Obama's Plan for Afghanistan

Today, coinciding with Obama’s announcement about his new plan for Afghanistan, Al Manar added a number of opinion pieces highly critical of the United States to its news homepage. These articles are both critical of US involvement in Afghanistan thus far as well as critical of US past actions and treatment of Muslim communities. All of these critical articles are written by Western authors, predominantly American liberals.

Among the new articles is a call to indict Dick Cheney for war crimes by Matthew Rothschild, who is the editor of American political magazine The Progressive as well as an article about Obama’s manipulative control over Afghan President Karzai by Ron Jacobs from the website antiwar.com. Additionally, there is an article by Canadian research institute Global Research detailing how the Western presence in Afghanistan is both failing and expanding, and a piece from the Christian Science Monitor about deteriorating relations between the FBI and American Muslim communities.


As for Al Manar’s own coverage of Obama’s plan for Afghanistan is less notable. The stories provide quotes from Obama as well as American officials and note that the governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan have welcomed Obama’s plan to root out extremists.It is interesting that Al Manar has thus far refrained from criticizing Obama’s strategy regarding Afghanistan but instead allowed proxy communicators to provide critical information. This critical information is not directly addressing Obama’s new plan but instead looks at America’s past efforts in the Middle East, as well as the Bush administration’s legacy of human rights abuses and tensions with Muslims. I believe that the op-ed articles are consistent with Al Manar's spirit of resistence to Western dominance and attempt to cast American presence in the Middle East in a negative light. Al Manar is trying to shape audience response to Obama's plan indirectly by providing the audience with stories reminding readers of American misteps in the Middle East and mistreatment of Muslims on American soil.

Al-Bashir Joins the Resistance

Al Manar has continued its coverage of Sudanese President Al-Bashir, reporting on his travels to other African nations as “defiance.”
On March 23rd, Al Manar covered Al-Bashir’s first trip outside of Sudan for a one-day visit to Eritrea. A similar story ran today about Al-Bashir’s trip to Cairo and meeting with Egyptian President Mubarak.

The articles shared a similar format. Both articles first featured quotes from the host nations about the illegitimacy of the ICC indictment. The story about All-Bashir’s visit to Egypt quoted Egypt’s foreign minister who said that many Arab and African states do not support ICC proceedings and that Egypt and Sudan must work together to

“secure the humanitarian situation in Darfur, so as not to allow any foreign party to claim that there is a humanitarian crisis in Darfur."

Similarly, the story on Al-Bashir’s visit to Eritrea featured the following quote from an Eritrean government document:

"The drama being orchestrated by the so-called ICC amply demonstrates the anti-people stance and defamatory conspiracy on the part of external forces. Eritrea sees the decision by the ICC as irresponsible and as an insult to the intelligence of African countries."

The articles then also quoted Sudanese officials who said that Al-Bashir’s ventures outside of Sudan were a deliberate show of defiance and that Al-Bashir would continue to travel to African, Arab and Asian countries. While both articles mention the charges Al-Bashir is facing, neither offers any details which would give the charges any credibility in the eyes of the reader.

Al Manar’s reporting equates Al-Bashir’s travel abroad with acts of defiance. As mentioned previously, I believe the repeated appearance of the word defiance in Al Manar’s coverage of Al-Bashir’s response to his indictment is meant to frame Al-Bashir as someone to be admired for his resistance to Western dominance. This notion of resistance is very important in Al Manar and Hezbollah’s rhetoric and I believe Al Manar is trying to frame Al-Bashir as part of this greater struggle against Western oppression in order to garner sympathy and admiration from its audience.

The Case of the Disappearing Cartoon

In an earlier post, I reviewed Al Manar’s online gallery of political cartoons. The cartoons express Hezbollah's political stance and some embody Hezbollah's criticisms of Israel and Western-dominated organizations such as the UN. The cartoon on the left appeared several days ago in the Caricature gallery and is the most emotionally charged image I have come across in the archives of political cartoons. Within hours of coming to my attention, the cartoon was taken down and replaced with the cartoon below, clearly a less dramatic criticism of Israel. Yesterday, however, the cartoon reappeared. I think it is noteworthy that Al Manar decided to remove such a powerfully suggestive image and then reversed its decision and re-released the cartoon later in the week.









While I am not in a position to understand the editorial decisions being made at almanar.com.lb, I noticed that the reappearance of the cartoon coincides with a new article about a U.S. army document that describes Israel as a nuclear power. The article has an ominous tone and reports that

“Israel is believed to be the sole nuclear entity in the Middle East with more than 200 nuclear warheads already in possession.”

Al Manar: Rallying Public Support for Al-Bashir

Over the weekend, the ICC warrant for Sudanese President al-Bashir continued to garner the most attention and audience involvement on alManar.com.lb. Four out of the five most commented stories are related to the ICC warrant and Al-Manar’s coverage continues to support Hezbollah’s rejection of the ICC proceedings against al-Bashir and is very similar to coverage on Iranian state-sponsored network IRINN.

An article on March 6th which detailed Al-Bashir’s intentions to travel to Darfur this week said that the Sudanese President “vowed to press ahead with peace efforts in Darfur despite the international arrest warrant against him,” implying that the ICC prosecution was hindering the peace process. The article also reported that the African Union is planning to send a delegation to the UN to “try to halt the warrant to give a chance for peace in Sudan.” While the articles do not take the additional step of directly saying that the ICC prosecution is intended to hurt the Sudanese peace process, quotes from al-Bashir fill in the gap. Al-Manar quotes al-Bashir who refers to ICC prosecution as a “neo-colonial plot” and says

“If someone wants to fight us, then they should not come with resolutions from the United Nations Security Council or the ICC. They have to come to our land to fight us themselves."


The article also detailed Sudanese protests of the ICC warrant where Sudanese nationals burnt American flags and stomped on photos of ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo attempting to illustrate that Sudanese popular will is supportive of al-Bashir.

There were several articles covering Al-Bashir’s visit to Darfur, which was repeatedly referred to as a “act of defiance.” I believe that this expression is meant to resonate with readers who admire organizations and individuals who are seen as standing up to America. The tone of audience comments was supportive of Al-Bashir and skeptical of the motivations of the ICC, which is seen as a tool of the West. For instance, an audience member from Trinidad and Tobago posted the following comment.

“It does not mater how far one goes to appease the White Man, he forever thinks that his station here on earth is god-like and we are all bound to his self anointed authority. Africa and the Middle East must come together and establish an impregnable block that no Authority or foreign entity shan't penetrate or influence.”

Rather then serving a news function and informing its audience about unfolding events in Sudan, Al Manar is seeking to color its coverage to rally its audience to support Hezbollah's stance of supporting Sudanese President Al-Bashir.

Al Manar Follows Hezbollah's Lead

The biggest story for the past two days on Al Manar’s website has been the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue a warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir. Al Manar’s online coverage of ICC proceedings against Al-Bashir has changed remarkably since Hezbollah came out publicly condemning the ICC decision.

On March 3rd, in anticipation of the ICC warrant, Al Manar covered ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s statements on his strong case against Al-Bashir. The story, entitled “ICC Has 'Strong Evidence' against Sudan's Beshir: Prosecutor,” covered both Ocampo’s statements and Al-Bashir’s reaction, as well as a concluding remark about the death toll in Darfur and a quote from Desmond Tutu where he says it is shameful how many African leaders are supportive of Al-Bashir. The report also refers to the protests staged in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum as “an apparent show of support for the president who seized power in a coup.” This article appears fairly even-handed, with slight tones of support for the ICC.


On March 4th, the day the warrant was issued, there was a lengthy story at the top of the news homepage, “ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Beshir; Sudan Dismisses Move,” which explained the situation and provided a wide range of perspectives, including the African Union, the Sudanese government, the ICC, and human rights groups. While the story gave more coverage to viewpoints dismissive of the ICC decision, it did expose readers to viewpoints supportive of the ICC.


However, today, Hezbollah has taken a stance and declared itself strongly opposed to the ICC proceedings against Al-Bashir, so Al Manar’s online coverage has changed to reflect Hezbollah’s viewpoint. The top story today was entitled “Hezbollah Denounces Arrest Warrant Against Beshir” and the story detailed Hezbollah’s vehement denouncement of the ICC decision, which Hezbollah feels is

“an obvious suspicious attempt to blow up the situation in the province and to threaten Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity through the promotion of separatism."

The story only offered Hezbollah’s viewpoint and provided multiple reasons why the ICC proceedings are illegitimate, by drawing into bigger themes such as distrust of the U.S. and Israel.

Additionally, the second most prominent story today was also a rejection of the ICC warrant for Al-Bashir, entitled “Arrest Warrant Draws Global Scorn, Beshir Joins Mass Rally,” details all of the nations and organizations opposed to ICC proceedings and concludes that the legal basis for the ICC proceedings are undeveloped. The article implies that the rejection of the ICC decision is common among Arab leaders and is part of a show of Arab unity with Sudan’s Arab President and is trying to gain legitimacy for the cause it is championing by showing the array of voices both in the Arab world as well as outside of it who share Hezbollah’s perspective.

Al Manar Reacts to John Kerry

There was quite a lot of coverage of the United States across all forms of Al Manar’s media over the past two weeks in response to John Kerry’s visits to Lebanon and Syria and his request that Syria help disarm Hezbollah. In response to this perceived attack on Hezbollah, Al Manar carried stories about U.S. interference in Lebanon’s political affairs on television and in both the Arabic and English websites.

Al Manar TV ran an interview with Hezbollah MP Husayn Al-Hajj Hasan on February 20th where Hasan said that John Kerry’s recent trip to Lebanon was a violation of sovereignty. The interview addressed Kerry’s meeting with Syrian officials where he asked that Syria help to disarm Hezbollah, of which Hasan said:

“What is noteworthy in this issue is that the Americans have asked for a Syrian interference in Lebanon, while those who falsely allege to be concerned with sovereignty, freedom, and independence in Lebanon have not denounced the US demand of a Syrian interference in Lebanon. Why? Because it seems that this demand suits the US and Israeli interests, and no one of them can harm the US and Israeli interests regardless of the Syrian response, which was clear that Syria does not accept this, and is not a tool for the US policies."

A similar story was featured on Al Manar’s Arabic website February 24th, where Al Manar interviewed Vice-president of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan who blamed the lack of consensus on a budget for the Council for South Lebanon on the inference of the American embassy. Qabalan accused the U.S. of trying to interfere in every Lebanese detail, obstructing all political and diplomatic values and norms, saying:

"They are interested in knowing all details, they want to know even the salaries paid to the martyrs' families as well as to the former detainees and wounded people.”

Al Manar’s English website ran comparable stories, including a story on February 20th where Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Shaykh Na'im Qasim called for the U.S. to stop interfering in Lebanese elections, saying:

"We want the US to stop interfering in our elections, to stop supporting the criminal Zionists, to stop conspiring against our country and people, and to stop all the crimes it commits with its policies and positions.”

Al Manar English complimented these stories about American interference in Lebanese affairs with op-ed pieces about American weakness from Western voices: an article warning the U.S. not to treat Afghanistan like Iraq by Irish journalist Patrick Cockburn and an article arguing that the U.S economy is designed to fail by U.S. federal government analyst Richard C. Cook.

Al Manar's Online Audience

Al Manar’s television programming has either been banned or has simply not been made available in many nations so the website if the primary medium for many in Europe and the Americas. The site offers content in English, French and Arabic.

According to Quantcast, which provides statistics on Americans’ online activity, only about 7,000 Americans access Almanar.com.lb each month. These site visitors are primarily young and male. For more insights into Al Manar’s audience, I reviewed several features on the website which provide for audience engagement.

POLLS


For the past two weeks the poll question on Al Manar has been, “Do you see the Zionist public’ inclination to the right as an expression of fear following the outcome of the Lebanon and Gaza wars?” Of the nearly 10,000 participants in the poll, over 90% responded in the affirmative.





AUDIENCE COMMENTS

Al Manar allows website visitors to comment on news articles, asking that they provide their name and country of origin. Al Manar lists the most read and most commented news. Even for the stories included in the most commented news group, there are only several visitor comments, but the few comments are highly vehement. For example, in response to the article I mentioned in a previous post, “Jesus Abused by Spiteful Isrealis, Hezbollah Condemns,” one reader from Pakistan responded with “I am not surprised at all. Zionists do not have any religion, they do not have any God, they don’t have any prophet. Their God is Money.” This comment is reflective of most comments. The other typical component in audience comments is quotations from religious scripture. Those who post are both from Western nations such as the US, UK and Belgium as well as Middle Eastern and North African nations such as Pakistan and Algeria. A sample audience post is provided below.

Al Manar Can Take a Joke

Al Manar has a page on its site called Caricature with a gallery of political cartoons. A new cartoon is added to the gallery every day and even though the words are in Arabic, the imagery makes the messages very clear.

Political cartoons have been accredited with being able to capture complicated political situations with visual metaphors and can be a persuasive form of communication. In my opinion, Al Manar's cartoons successfully capture Hezbollah's worldview and it is worth noting that Al Manar has added humor to its arsenal of persuasive tactics.

Al Manar Gets Emotional

Yesterday, my daily visit to almanar.com.lb was different. The most prominent story of the day was entitled, “ Jesus (pbuh) Abused by Spiteful Israelis; Hezbollah Condemns.”

This was a far cry from last week’s coverage of Israeli elections, which were characterized by some semblance of dispassionate neutrality. The article details a comedy program on Israeli TV, which made fun of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. The author, Hussein Assi infuses his opinion of Israel thorough the story and argues that this television program shows that Israel degrades and disrespects other prominent religions. For instance, the article begins with “It’s the same Israeli ‘spite’ that has proved itself since the ‘creation’ of the so-called Zionist entity that reveals itself once again.”

This article is the most blatant expression of opinion from an Al Manar journalist on the website that I have seen. As mentioned previously, Almanar.com.lb had seemingly established a pattern of limiting its own staff to less partial news reporting and providing passionate opinionated pieces by posting articles from writers and activists not affiliated with Al Manar. These proxy voices have worldviews match Al Manar’s assumed biases but Al Manar was able to separate itself with a disclaimer:

“Al-Manar.com.lb is not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.”


The decision to post such an opinionated piece and jarring headline as news seriously erodes Al Manar’s attempt to be a credible news source. Today, a new story about the Vatican’s response to the Israeli television show illustrates the resumption of the traditional division of labor, as the news piece refrains from passing judgment and allows quotes from the Vatican about the blasphemous nature of the television show to suffice. It will be interesting to see what other issues spark this lapse in journalistic composure.

Al Manar: Radically Objective?

My initial impression of the English page of the Al Manar TV’s website is that it is does not match the extremely negative image of Al Manar. Hezbollah describes to Al Manar, its 24-hour satellite television network as “psychological warfare against the Zionist enemy,” and Al Manar has been banned in much of Europe and the Americas. I will discuss Al Manar TV’s Arabic programming in the following weeks but first wanted to delve into the website’s English content.

There are certain obvious features of propaganda: throughout the website, Israel is referred to as the Zionist entity. Additionally, at the very top of the page, website visitors are greeted with the words “Our Martyrs are Great Men” along with images of fallen leaders of Hezbollah. There are also peculiar polling questions, asking website visitors loaded questions about their opinion about the situation in Gaza.

However, much of the site content is characterized by balance and some semblance of neutrality, particularly when reporting on U.S. current events. Articles about Obama’s economic plan, the closing of Guantanamo, and the appointments of Hilary Clinton and Richard Holbrooke all provided multiple opinions when needed and lacked any obvious insertion of opinion. Even articles about Israel’s parliamentary elections are highly detailed and informative, with multiple viewpoints such as direct quotes from Israeli politicians as well as exit poll data.

In light of the fact that Al Manar’s English content is more moderate than expected, I will continue to monitor the English website to compare it with Al Manar’s Arabic television programming.