More people across the world trust Al-Jazeera than Western press, said Josh Rushing, star of the documentary "Control Room" and a correspondent for Al-Jazeera English, during a speech in Mary Graydon Center Tuesday.
"It's critical to understand that there are different perspectives about how the world works," said Bill Gentile, a professor in the School of Communication, whose class hosted Rushing. "[People] have to understand that there is more then just the American way of seeing the world."
Gentile said it is critical to understand that "the world is not CNN and most certainly is not FOX News."
As a result of these networks and "part of this administration's narrow vision of the world, an increasing part of the world rejects the American vision of the world, [and] this is very, very dangerous," Gentile said.
Rushing, a former marine lieutenant, was made famous in "Control Room," a film produced by AU graduate students that won the CDS Filmmaker Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004.
Rushing served as a spokesperson at Central Command in Doha, Qatar, during Operation Iraqi Freedom and was not expecting to be a star of the documentary film, he said. The producers, unknown to him, cast him in a starring role, expanding a 15-minute conversation to the entire length of the film.
Due to his role working with Al-Jazeera in Qatar as their military spokesperson, Rushing was offered a job for their start-up English network, based in Washington, D.C.
Both Rushing and Gentile said many people have an incorrect view of Al-Jazeera.
They also explained the difference between Al-Jazeera.com and Al-Jazeera.net. According to both, the two Web sites are separate news sources. Al-Jazeera.net is the news organization, while Al-Jazeera.com is not. Al-Jazeera, a Qatar-based network, is named after the Arabic word for peninsula.
"Everybody thinks - even some faculty - that Al-Jazerra is where you go to see people getting their head chopped off," Gentile said. "But that's just not true."
Students said they enjoyed Rushing's speech.
"I found it very intriguing to listen to a person whose views changed so much over a short period of time," said Summer Simpson, a second-year graduate student in the master's of arts in film and video program, in an e-mail. "I think Mr. Rushing represents a role model American citizen, one who is informed and stands up for his views, but can be diplomatic about his views."
Rushing explained how Al-Jazeera is an international media station that has headquarters in Washington, London, Qatar and Kuala Lumpur.
Joseph Alfred, a sophomore in the School of Public Affairs, said the speech changed his view of Al-Jazeera.
"It changed my perspective because I thought it took only an Arab viewpoint, instead of a plurality of viewpoints," he said.
