By Press TV,
The Doha-based Aljazeera no longer promotes change, and has become a propaganda tool serving the Qatari monarchy, a former journalist working for the news channel says.
Quoting reporters and anchors, who worked for the network, a report published by Der Spiegel said that Aljazeera is being used to serve the political agenda of Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.
“Before the beginning of the Arab Spring, we were a voice for change, a platform for critics and political activists throughout the region,” former Aljazeera employee, Aktham Suliman, said, adding, “Now, Aljazeera has become a propaganda broadcaster.”
Another former journalist noted that the network does not base its decisions on “journalistic priorities,” but rather on the interest of the Qatari government.
The report further points to the network ignorance of anti-regime protests in Bahrain.
Aljazeera’s biased coverage of the events taking place in the Middle East, in particular in Syria, has cast doubt on the Qatari-owned network’s claims that its journalistic work is independent.
Aljazeera is accused of fabricating whole stories about Syria and is also said to be forcing editors to give the stories a twist in line with Qatar’s political stances.
It is widely believed that the Emir of Qatar has a direct influence on the nature of the programs broadcast by Aljazeera.
The network’s biased policy towards Bahrain and Syria has also caused disputes among the employees of the news network.
“The facts are totally different with the reports in the media, extremely different,” Moussa Ahmed, a former producer for the network’s Beirut Bureau, said in April.
Ahmed said the channel concealed many facts, with editors’ opinions becoming the so-called facts, adding, “I’m so sorry that we concealed facts for so long a time.”
The Aljazeera network, which went on air in 1996, has recently paid USD500 million for Current TV owned by Al Gore in a gamble to enter the US market.
