The other day I started writing about the Arab politics of the Iran issue. Al-Hayat had an interesting piece today comparing the coverage of the Iran issue by the major Gulf TV stations.
According to al-Hayat, al-Jazeera has treated the Iran issue as the topic of a lot of wide open talk , asking whether Iran threatens the region rather than assuming that it does. Al-Hayat sees al-Jazeera's position as reflecting the official Qatari position, which wants to find a middle ground between the Iranian and the American positions. Dubai TV and Abu Dhabi TV are also trying to find a middle ground, choosing language which doesn't favor either the American or the Iranian side.
Al-Hayat sees al-Arabiya's coverage as unabashedly, enthusiastically pro-American on this issue, hyping the Iranian threat, criticizing Iranian behavior, and giving full voice to Gulf fears of Iran. MBC, according to al-Hayat, is dealing with the issue with a cold, calm professionalism in contrast to its sister station al-Arabiya.
This sounds about right based on the research I've been doing into exactly the same question (comparing coverage of Iran on the various stations) - though I would phrase some things a bit differently. I think al-Jazeera's position goes beyond just reflecting Qatar's official position, important as that might be, and has as much to do with trends in Arab arguments about power and identity. But that argument will have to wait until another day.
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