QATAR CRISIS AND AL JAZEERA: THE FUTURE OF LIBERAL MEDIA IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Being an alternative news source with its Arabic and English stations, Al Jazeera has become a part of a regional crisis due to its news policy. The ongoing crisis between Gulf states, Egypt and Qatar since June 2017 hasn’t yet resolved. Gulf states imposed on Qatar to close Al Jazeera and all of its associations in return for the cancellation of the sanctions. Although refused by Qatar, this unprecedented demand of censorship in the history of media demonstrates that public broadcasting will possibly be a part of international conflicts in the future. In this paper Al Jazeera’s role as being a part of a diplomatic crisis is examined as a case study in the context of Qatar conflict. The research questions constructed with respect to the literature on Al Jazeera and public broadcasting, and also to the news covering the crisis are subjected to inquisition in the study. Amongst the findings it is evaluated that cricitism for Al Jazeera’s editorial policy can’t be a legitimite cause to the request of the channel’s shut down and such request would initially harm the free media ecology at the global level. Thus, it is expected to start a debate on the future of current public broadcasting models and objective news reporting in the Middle Eastern states which are ruled by authoritarian regimes following to the Qatar Crisis