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Media Lens :: View topic - al jazeera
For all those who are looking for the web address for Al Jazeera Tv channel.
The correct address is www.aljazeera.net
Thanks
Tariq al Mali Thu Nov 24, 2005 11:38 am
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Can this site be translated, do you know?
My knowledge of Arabic ends with the direction of the words:)
cheers,
derek Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:30 pm
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Http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
David Cromwell
co-editor
Media Lens
www.medialens.org Thu Nov 24, 2005 12:37 pm
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Thanks david - I already use that site, just wondered if there was a difference between the stories on the arabic version and the english.
cheers,
derek Thu Nov 24, 2005 2:14 pm
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The english website and arabic are run independently of one another.
The selection of news items differ and the English site is not a translation of the Arabic site.
Tariq al Mali Fri Nov 25, 2005 12:00 pm
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Thanks Tariq,
do you know if there is any way of finding translations on the differing stories?
Its a pity I can't speak the language - the only friend I have who can read Arabic does not speak it (he speaks urdu).
derek Fri Nov 25, 2005 12:16 pm
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My Kurdish friend (former Peshmerga who fled to London after then Anfal) at work tells me that the Arabic site is far more biased than the English site.
Then again he is very happy about the whole Iraq invasion (understandably) so I'm not 100% if its true.
Tue Nov 29, 2005 11:38 pm
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Hi Steve - I just indulged in a little what if - to try to understand the seemingly standard Kurdish response.
Its a tricky one - because the Kurds are such a minority it seems they have been oppressed a lot further than any other group in Iraq, Turkey, etc.
I thought - what if the US invaded Australia (where I am from) to depose our 'dictator' - John Howard?
I can't see minorities (and oppressed groups - aborigines) in Australia being any more impressed with the subsequent damage to the country and the people than they are with the current situation.
Its hard to understand - they may be killing old enemies of the Kurds, but they are also killing the land (depleted uranium, cluster bombs etc).
Nevertheless, it makes sense that aljazeera cater to the majority in terms of empathy - as in, it happens this way in most places in the world.
The striking thing is, in the west (re Iraq) we attend only to the minority in our media coverage - the USUK troops, the invaders.
I guess the other question is, why do they change it for the english version?
I would like to see what they see.
To be honest, I sometimes think aj is too pro-West in its view.
derek Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:32 am
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What we really need is some kind of online Arabic translation tool.
You can do it with altavista or Google for European languages and even Chinese, but not Arabic.
There must be an online tool somewhere.
The translations are never that good, but it should give the general gist of an article.
Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:25 pm
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The results are a big Gobbledegooky, but...
http://www.systransoft.com/index.html Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:55 pm
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Just received this response from aljazeera confirming the differences:
Quote: : Dear Mr Lane
Thank you for your e-mail and your interest in Al Jazeera.
You are right in that the English version of the Aljazeera.net website is not a direct translation of the Arabic website, and it never has been.
It is produced in English by English-speaking journalists based in the Middle East.
While some of our news is sourced from news agencies around the world, we also take take translated content from the Arabic website and the Arabic television channel.
As a result we have the "western tactics" fused with the most fiercely independent journalism in the world giving the view of the world that is unique and unbiased, in English.
To also provide a direct translation of the Arabic site would be expensive and for the most part, would not provide much that is not already reflected on the English site.
If it had been a viable option I am sure Al Jazeera would have done it years ago when they set up their web services.
Without wishing to sound glib, the other alternative is for you to learn Arabic.
I can speak from personal experience as someone who is doing just that - I would recommend the experience to anyone.
Kind regards
Russell Merryman - Editor-in-Chief - Aljazeera.net/english
PO Box 23127, Doha, Qatar.
I asked if there was a difference and expressed interest at being able to view the arabic v in english.
I also said I would like to see the news from an arabic perspective.
derek Wed Dec 07, 2005 10:13 am
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>To also provide a direct translation of the Arabic site would be expensive >and for the most part...
It does make me a bit suspicious.
What we need is a few examples.
It's possible I can persude my Kurdish college.
I'll have a go. Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:31 pm
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That would be good - I would like to see some examples.
derek Wed Dec 07, 2005 1:36 pm
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Ok. I just got him to do an article at lunch.
The original is here:
[url]http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0A12140F-E789-483F-9AF2-343AF058449C.htm
[/url]
And here is the translation, with some boring bits omitted (we were in a hurry).
Quote: : Scores killed and injured in 2 bomb blasts in a Police Academy in Iraq.
The US army announced that one of their marines was killed in a mine blast against their armoured car in the west of Baghdad.
The announcement said that the marine died while they launched an offensive against gunmen, near Habbaniya yesterday.
This comes after a short time when three policemen were killed and six were injured in an assault by gunmen on a hospital in Kirkuk (north of iraq) to liberate a prisoner who has been accused of carrying out plans to assasinate a judge in Saddam Hussein's trial.
The prisoner who is a member of a cell related to Alqaeda is accused of planning to assasinate judge Ra'id Juhi.
He is being treated in hospital because of injuries caused by a bomb which he was trying to plant on the roadside a day before.
The gunmen also kidnapped the son of one of Saddam Hussein's court guards in front of his home in Baghdad.
The son is only 8 years old.
In another raid one iraqi was killed and another three were injured who were working in an advertisement company.
They were hanging a poster for the Iraqi shia alliance in the south of Baghdad.
On another site an American official declared that an ex-primeminister of Iraq named Muhhamad Zubadie (who had cancer) one of Saddam's deputies died in an American military hospital on 2 Dec.
But they didn't declare where he was prior to hospital [He was one of the wanted men on the playing cards]
In a new announcement the interior ministry said that 40 volenteers and policemen were killed and 70 injured in 2 suicide bombings on the police accademy in Baghdad.
Previously the US Army announced that 2 suicide bombers carried out the assault and they say that they were both males.
But the first american announcement said that 2 women with explosive belts entered the ranks and detonated.
In the meantime a source from the defence ministry announced that a new military operation between special forces within the Iraqi police supported by American forces has been launched in 3 areas north of Baghdad.
In another announcement, the American army said that Amen Subawi (step nephew of Saddam Hussein) was sentenced to 15 years in prison because he tried to illegally cross the border between iraq and syria.
Nothing too radical there.
After hearing that the Arabic and English sites were different, I was half expecting some rabid denouncement of the west or something.
We still need more articles though.
I'll try to get some more done in the coming days.
Wed Dec 07, 2005 2:49 pm
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Yes, definitely need to look at a few more, but this is definitely a good start - nothing adverse in that article - I was expecting more of the type of exceptional bias we see in western media so often - based on this one their[ aljazeera's] claims of impartiality aren't too hard to believe.
But obviously this is just one article.
cheers,
derek Wed Dec 07, 2005 6:08 pm
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I am originary from Algeria and I am fluent in Arabic.
I don't have enough time to translate any material but I can confirm - you will have to believe me on this - that what Russell Merryman said in his reply to Derek is very accurate.
The Arabic version is almost the mirror image of the English one.
The content of the articles I read is rather 'objective' (if there really is such a thing as "objectivity" in journalism): I mean, the tone is very neutral, it's hard to detect personal preferences or bias in there.
The topics, with very rare exceptions, are the same on both sites.
As an example, for today, the headlines are about Israeli missiles on Gaza, Sharon and his upcoming heart operation, demonstrations in Baghdad against the partial results of the last elections, the anniversary of the tsunami, the recent UNICEF report, the accusations of Chad against Sudan, etc.
That's pretty much what you can read on the Guardian website.
There are all these translations from Arab media that circulate on the Internet originating mostly from the website www.memry.org.
The articles they translate are the equivalent of the worst things you can read in the Murdoch press in English.
They make their readers believe that what they translate is representative of the Arab media.
It's very far from being the case.
In regards to several Algerian newspapers, both in Arabic and French, Medialens would find hardly anything to criticise.
Just a word about that comment on Steve's Kurdish colleague and the way the Kurds react to the occupation.
I belong to the Algerian Berber community - the natives of North Africa - and there is no exaggeration in my saying that we are the Algerian Kurds in terms of the discrimination we suffer from the Arab-speaking majority, except that we have never been gassed by our government (probably because it doesn't have chemical weapons).
However, I don't know many Berbers who would be happy to see their country occupied by a foreing army.
Thanks
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"I don't know many Berbers who would be happy to see their country occupied by a foreing army."
Cheers Daniel - that's what I would expect - coming from Australia, I know the aboriginal population would take no more kindly to a foreign invasion than they do to the original invasion (of Brit colonials), or to their subsequent oppression.
In WWII, many joined the armed forces for that reason;
Protecting their country from the Japanese invasion, despite the fact that they were simultaneously being persecuted by Australians.
I do actually believe it regarding aljazeera - from what I read on the english version it shows more restraint than I have come to expect from any West-based news corporation - I think Asia online (I think that's the one) also reflects this - the journalists are from a different age, I believe, where they are still taught to be either objective or intelligently subjective, but never overtly so.
I think the issue is not even how they tell the news, but the fact that they insist on telling news that other corps suppress.
That's why the US don't like them, and why the UK is gearing up their own middle-east channel(via BBC).
cheers,
Derek Tue Dec 27, 2005 9:43 am
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Well, I think his view is that Iraq should break into 3 different countries.
That way Kurdistan could be a real country finally (well, at least the Iraqi part).
He is well aware that the US supported Saddam and the Turks while they were attacking the Kurds, but for now he is happy with them.
They got rid of Saddam and the Kurds are now stronger.
I recently watched "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" about the attempted coup on Chavez.
I would recommend it to everyone who is concerned about media distortion.
Speaking of Algeria, I recently went on a business trip Algiers.
They told me that the French sent Algerians to fight against the Vietnamese.
One oppressed people being forced to fight another oppressed people.
My Vietnamese collegue tells me that the Algerians were unfortunately not treated well by the Vietnamese.
One thing that struck me about Algiers was the number of cats.
They're everywhere.
I think I looked a bit of an idiot chasing them around trying to stroke them.
Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:23 pm
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"Speaking of Algeria, I recently went on a business trip Algiers.
They told me that the French sent Algerians to fight against the Vietnamese.
One oppressed people being forced to fight another oppressed people.
My Vietnamese collegue tells me that the Algerians were unfortunately not treated well by the Vietnamese."
This is true and it's not an isolated case.
Tens of thousands of young Algerians were also consripted to fight alongside the French in the two World Wars and an untold number of them died in European battelfieds with not a single word of recognition from our previous imperial masters.
During the Algerian revolution against these same French, whole regiments of Senegalese conscript soldiers were sent to Algeria to fight against their oppressed brothers.
"One thing that struck me about Algiers was the number of cats.
They're everywhere.
I think I looked a bit of an idiot chasing them around trying to stroke them."
Are you sure they were cats?
What I notice when I walk in the streets of Algiers is the number of rats!
Many of them are much bigger than cats so you might have confused them.
You were right about your feeling: we are not very cat-friendly people.
Most Algerians refrain from caressing their partners even in the dark let alone stroking stray cats in broad daylight.
You are right Derek about Asia Times Online (www.atimes.com).
It's one of my favourite websites for getting news and political commentaries on a wide range of issues.
Cheers
Daniel Wed Dec 28, 2005 12:23 am
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