© 2024
NPR News, Colorado Stories
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A News Reporting Balancing Act

Al Jazeera, the satellite news network that reaches 40 million people in the Arab world, is the Middle East's most successful news network -- but it's not without its critics. The network's graphic coverage of events in Iraq and elsewhere has repeatedly angered the U.S. government.

The news network, based in the small Persian Gulf nation of Qatar, has also drawn fire from nearly every government in the region, from Iran to Saudi Arabia. Now, nearly a decade since Al Jazeera broadcast its first news bulletin, the network is changing the way it covers news.

In the first of a five-part series on the Arab media, NPR's Eric Weiner reports on the network's new code of ethics -- promising, among other things, to "avoid the pitfalls of speculation and propaganda." The network is also facing competition from rival Al Arabiya, bankrolled by the government of Saudi Arabia.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eric Weiner
Eric Weiner is a national correspondent for NPR.org. Based in Washington, DC, he writes news and analysis for NPR's website.