Defining Freedom, Defending Responsibility in Media

I’m at the second Al Jazeera forum in Doha, the base of operations of the Arabic news broadcaster that is about to launch an international network in competition with CNN, BBC and others. Later today, I’m speaking on a panel about blogs and other grassroots media.

My Berkman Center colleague, Ethan Zuckerman, another speaker here, is blogging the conference. He types faster and more accurately than I can manage, so I recommend that you read his blog if you want to get a feel for this gathering. (Like Ethan, I do not agree with some of what I’m hearing from the stage, but the range of views is remarkable and educational nonetheless.)

At several press conference yesterday, Al Jazeera officials put on display — albeit diplomatically — what is obviously a ferocious internal debate over the positioning and independence of the new international operation. It’s clear to me that they haven’t reached a conclusion on how to handle this, which is not surprising.

The conference subtitle, “Defending Freedom, Defining Responsibility,” is a generic one for journalists. I’ve reversed the verbs and subjects in the title for this posting, and have noticed that it would apply well to these discussions, too.

The journalists present here, from around the world (the network covered the cost of this trip), are passionate about their craft. And they are, for the most part, ready and willing to listen to each others’ ideas. (At a side debate, asking if Arab journalists could learn anything from Americans, a significant majority said yes.)

These are first impressions. More to come…