Inside Al Jazeera [NY Times Sunday Mag Interview with American who Made Documentary Film]

NY Times Sunday Mag ^ | April 25, 2004 | Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON

[Pharmboy]

JEHANE NOUJAIM

Your new documentary film, ''Control Room,'' presents a highly sympathetic view of Al Jazeera, the Arab-run television news network based in Qatar.

Sure. I saw the people who work at Al Jazeera as human beings who are caught up emotionally in the war in Iraq.

Do you think they have been misrepresented here by those who have accused the station of breeding anti-Americanism?

I do think they have been misrepresented in certain ways, just as the American military has been misrepresented in the Middle East.

As an Egyptian-American, it sounds as if you have divided loyalties. But Al Jazeera, which is government-financed, is not just the Arab version of CNN. Some stations spin more than others.

Al Jazeera did get caught up in a lot of Arab nationalism. They might be the only remaining base of Arab nationalism that exists. You see the Arab League get together, and certain members can't even have a conversation. They're all standing on tables fighting with one another. Al Jazeera is one entity that everyone across the Arab world watches. Arabs are proud of that.

But doesn't Al Jazeera pander to its audience with violent imagery? At one point, their reporters were kicked out of the New York Stock Exchange after the station broadcast very disturbing footage of our P.O.W.'s.

That was embarrassing. I was embarrassed as an American, because everyone in the Arab world started to question whether the United States really stands for freedom of speech.

Sometimes one wonders.

I really didn't go there to prove any political point. I was just curious about Al Jazeera. I don't have strong political views.

You're taking refuge behind the stance of the detached artist.

Yeah, being a filmmaker is kind of like being a glorified spy.

But what, exactly, led you to Qatar if not your political convictions?

I wanted to be in the center of news creation. I wanted to be in Qatar, where you had this channel Al Jazeera that was reaching the Arab world, and 15 miles away you had Central Command, the military base of the United States. I thought, What a weird place to be!

How did you raise the money for the film?

I raised about $60,000, and I did the film as cheaply as I could. I carry my own camera. I shoot my own footage. I asked favors from five million people. I called my boyfriend and asked if he would come help me. Boyfriends are the only kind of people who will come and work for free and agree to sit in the guards' office of Al Jazeera, where we sat for a week before we had access.

You grew up mostly in Egypt, until you went away to school. What was it like as a girl being raised there?

When I was growing up, I would be one of the only girls in a group of about 100 guys, which is why I was sent to boarding school when I was 16. Now when you go out in Cairo, it's like Europe. The women are in tiny miniskirts, which I never would have been allowed to wear. My mother is from Indiana, and my father was originally from Lebanon. My friends describe me as half Egyptian, half WASP.

Tell me about the WASP part. Did it involve sleep-away camp?

I spent a lot of summers at a camp in Vermont. I tried to catch up as much as possible on pop culture when I came in the summer. I remember going back to camp, and kids would be saying, ''Where's the beef?'' It puzzled me the whole summer, where the beef was. I still don't know what it means.

It was a commercial for Wendy's. What film are you making next?

I don't have any of those ambitions. I should probably quit working in film and just find a husband. It would be nice to be in one place for a while and have a social life again and get a job. But I'm not qualified to do anything. That's the problem.

Perhaps you can get a job as an anchor with CNN or Al Jazeera.

I don't think so. I don't wear enough makeup.

[Pharmboy]

Perhaps you can get a job as an anchor with CNN or Al Jazeera.

She's waaaay to far to the right for CNN.

[Peach]

NYT interviews Al Jazeera. That's like the UN auditing itself.

[Pharmboy]

D'oh! That's too far to the right...

[weegee]

PING

The "revived" public Media Schadenfreude and and Media Shenanigans lists

[Rummyfan]

Another Arab (Arab-American?) complaining about lack of free speech in the US when there is absolutely NONE in the Arab world - other than in Iraq. Spare me.

[DoughtyOne]

While our press prostitutes itself for Arab, read that any anti-American interests, this girl sees Al-Jazeera as fufilling the same role our press does in the U.S. Perhaps she could point to one single instance where Al Jazeera even marginally equals in the Arab mindset, what the U.S. press does constantly, thousands upon thousands of times in ours.

I do not see this young woman as way too right for CNN. Frankly, I think she's just dilusional enough to fit right in over there.

Our press rakes U.S. policy over the coals. The European press rakes U.S. policy over the coals. Al Jazeera rakes U.S. policy over the coals.

Yes, thanks for the report hon. You certainly opened my eyes. lol

[DoughtyOne]

btw, I am so sick of hearing people describe themselves as (fill in the blank) Americans. If they feel the need to fill in the blank, I wish they'd go back home to where their loyalties essentially are.

I am a U.S. citizen. I'm damned proud of it. No other qualifiers are needed.

[Pharmboy]

Excellent point.

[Pharmboy]

And ANOTHER excellent point...you are on a roll!

[tet68]

At one point, their reporters were kicked out of the New York Stock Exchange after the station broadcast very disturbing footage of our P.O.W.'s.


That was embarrassing. I was embarrassed as an American,...

I cannot be embarrassed as an American, I CAN be embarressed
that SHE is an American.

[DoughtyOne]

Thanks bud. Mistakes will happens. Har. Take care.

[Miss Marple]

How did you raise the money for the film?

I raised about $60,000, and I did the film as cheaply as I could. I carry my own camera. I shoot my own footage. I asked favors from five million people. I called my boyfriend and asked if he would come help me. Boyfriends are the only kind of people who will come and work for free and agree to sit in the guards' office of Al Jazeera, where we sat for a week before we had access.

So, how DID she raise the money for the film?

[macrahanish #1]

I smell the putrescence of Soros.

[Former Proud Canadian]

But what, exactly, led you to (the al-Jazeer headquarters in) Qatar if not your political convictions?

I wanted to be in the center of news creation.

Huh? Networks create news? I thought they were supposed to report the news. Silly me.

[I_saw_the_light]

" At one point, their reporters were kicked out of the New York Stock Exchange after the station broadcast very disturbing footage of our P.O.W.'s.

That was embarrassing. I was embarrassed as an American, because everyone in the Arab world started to question whether the United States really stands for freedom of speech."


I read that line and I am now sitting here with a fistful of my own hair in each hand. AARRGGHH. I cant even believe the reply went with the question.