What if Al Jazeera shuts down?
Who could benefit from the open market?
In early June, four Gulf states––Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates––announced that they would cutting ties with Qatar. The states accused Qatar “of backing radical Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS.” Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, Qatar relies a lot on imports. After the announcement, people started stockpiling food in the Qatari capital, Doha.
It’s there that the network Al Jazeera is based. The news channel and website has been reporting on the diplomatic ties between Qatar and the other countries, but they’ve now found themselves in the news. The four Gulf states agreed to restore the diplomatic ties if Qatar respects 13 demands. Of those 13 demands, one is the closure of Al Jazeera.
It goes without saying that Al Jazeera was controversial at times. In 2002, for example, Saudi Arabia “recalled its ambassador from Doha in 2002 after Al Jazeera broadcast comments that were critical of its ruling family.” Nonetheless, Al Jazeera served a purpose in a region mostly populated by state-run channels (although Al Jazeera has been accused of being one by some). In 2006, “more than 75 percent of Arabs called the network their favorite or second-favorite news source.”
Since the announcement that the closure of the network was part of the 13 demands, the network launched a campaign to demand press freedom. The network employs a lot of journalists from around the world so the closure would likely be a massive blow to journalism in the Arab world. But there will still be over 350 million people in the Arab world, looking for information.
If Al Jazeera closes, someone will benefit instantly: VICE media.
VICE’s expansion
I don’t want to go into the whole Vice-started-in-Montreal-then-became-huge thing. Much has been written about that. Instead, I want to talk about the Shane Smith empire’s new landing: Dubai.
This, from a Fortune article published in March 2017:
Vice, which is aiming for 50 staff in Dubai by the end of the year, will launch a website and digital channel this summer and is in active discussions about a 24-hour regional cable channel to be broadcast from the emirate.
That sounds a lot like Al Jazeera. If the latter leaves, that would leave space fot the now corporate-like company to establish itself in the country. I’m 100% sure that some (or many) of the 50 newly-hired Vice reporters in Dubai will come from Al Jazeera. VICE media obviously likes Al Jazeera. Sebastien Walker, a correspondent for VICE’s news broadcast on HBO is a former Al Jazeera staffer, so is Brian Wheeler, a producer for VICE News, Noran Jameel, Head of Foreign News, and Gianna Toboni one of the network’s burgeoning stars.
I certainly do not hope for the closure of Al Jazeera. I love the content they’ve produced over the years. But if it happens to shut down, someone will take over, and it’s VICE Media.
