Qatar is a small non-democratic gulf state that has been much in the news recently for the role that it is playing in the geo politics and conflicts that are going on in the region. As a small country whose military presence is negligible, Qatar projects its power in the region principally through its gas based revenues and through its ability to influence the information environment notably as the home of Al Jareeza.

As a funded institution of an autocratic state, Al Jazeera is more than an information source; it is an active player in the geo-politics of the region. Its role has been much discussed in the Arab world. In fact in that context Al Jazeera is considered such a problematic entity that it was a key component of a 2017 controversy that led to other Gulf states blockading Qatar.

This article looks at the issue of Al Jazeera and examines how it disseminates information and in an African context. One way it does this is through its dual narrative approach to news reporting.

Its English language service often reports on issues fundamentally differently to its Arab language counterpart. The English edition is strategically edited, with high production values and has globally trained anchors from other parts of the world. When reporting in English Al Jazeera often focuses on issues of importance to progressive parts of the political spectrum in western societies and reports on them sympathetically.   This differs from the Arab language service of the channel, where progressive issues are either not covered, or actively undermined in ways that support Qatari state interests.

An example can be seen in the issue of Feminism in Egypt. In 2021, the Egyptian feminist writer and activist Nawal Elsaadawi passed away. She wrote numerous books on the subject of women in Islam, focusing on the practice of female genital mutilation in her society. She was described as "the Simone de Beauvoir of the Arab World".

While Al Jazeera in English portrayed her as “women's rights icon”, Al Jazeera in Arabic told its viewers that “She attacked religions and demanded the legalization of prostitution and questioned the Qur’an”. While Al Jazeera in English sought to address Western progressive audiences about the politics of a conservative state that competes with Qatar - the Arabic version sought to appeal to regional Islamist voices inside and push back on the idea of women's rights in the Arab world.

Another tactic was used by Al Jazeera, the focus on exposing issues of human rights and democracy in countries, for the purpose of Qatari state interest. This despite the fact that such rights may not be recognised in Qatar.

Take for example the Benin’s elections in 2019. The elections were presented by Al Jazeera with the headline of “No opposition candidates as Benin votes in general election”. At face value, the headline is correct. Until 2019 Benin was considered a relatively stable African democracy.

The crackdown on the Benin opposition in the elections sent the measures of Benin's democracy plummeting and caused the country to be downgraded from being characterised as “Free” by democracy monitoring group Freedom House to a rating of “Partly Free”. What is notable however is that on the Freedom House ratings Qatar is considered “Not Free” as a hereditary emir holds all executive and legislative authority which controls the judiciary and all opposition politics; Qatar is a full 41 points behind Benin on the same ranking. Al Jazeera has a comparatively little criticism when it comes to the lack of democracy in the Qatari political system.

The same attitude appeared in the issue of political protest and free speech in African nations. In August 2024 the protests in Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, were portrayed as a “protest-led revolution”. Inside Qatar, however, Organisers of protests need to get permission from the Ministry of Interior. In 2018, Al Jazeera published a story arguing that “denouncing God can be a dangerous thing in Nigeria”. However, just one year prior, Qatar’s blasphemy laws themselves were criticised.

Al Jazeera is also part of the South African political information environment and is considered an important source of news for many South Africans. Due to their media skills and English proficiency , South African journalists and professionals have picked up work at the channel. The journalists are slotted into Al Jazeera English and many are interested in progressive agenda issues.  

They have used the channel to pursue these agendas which intentionally or not also support Qatari state interests in its relationships with countries in the region. Notably Al Jazeera becomes an important site of criticism of countries with which Qatar is in competition. Examples include Kenya, United States, Syria, Israel and India.The inclusion of these reporters by the channel not only gives it credibility for covering African and “Global South” related issues but also enhances its reputation amongst South Africans.

These examples illustrate that Al Jazeera is not merely another state broadcaster in Africa. Given its non-democratic Qatari political agenda, combined with its prominence and in-depth coverage of African issues, Al Jazeera wields outsized influence on the continent.

Therefore, when consuming news from the network on African affairs, it is prudent to consider how Qatari state interests might shape the information environment for African countries. It also requires that African media practitioners invest in finding sustainable media models that can help African citizens develop their own information platforms.

Ariel Admoni, Qatar researcher and PhD candidate at Bar Ilan university,

Benji Shulman is the Director of the Middle East African Research Institute (MEARI).