Al Jazeera Cafe An interesting experiment not to deabate but engage in a global conversation

The Al Jazeera Cafe was an interesting journalistic experiment run by Al Jazeera in 2012. The Cafe brought people together around a table, from all backgrounds, all walks of life, in different corners of the world, not to debate but to engage in a global conversation.

Mehdi Hasan described the Café like this in 2012.

The Al Jazeera Cafe is about bringing people together around a table, from all backgrounds, all walks of life, in different corners of the world.

Crucially, the show is always set, as the name suggests, in a cafe – whether in Amman, Jordan, Bradford England, or Mexico City, Mexico. There are no television studios, no invited audiences. Just a relaxed yet robust discussion on the key issues of the day in an intimate, everyday setting.

I travel across the globe, to talk with people on the ground about economic inequality, democratic reform, sectarian conflict and national identity.

The show is a democratic forum for ideas; the perfect platform for discussing global themes. And my guests range from ministers to bloggers, Islamists to secularists, Democrats to Republicans.

You will see passionate people arguing over controversial issues.

Whether it is the war on terror or the war on drugs, the death of multiculturalism or the rise of Islamophobia, The Cafe cuts through the spin and gets right to the heart of the subject.

Because The Cafe is not just a debate. It is a conversation. A global conversation.

Credit: Slightly adapted from: Mehdi Hasan on The Cafe (no longer available)

I loved this idea, but to my mind, it was somewhat flawed. Watch the so-called “conversation” above. It is not a conversation in a real sense.

Notice how Mehdi Hasan is really in charge. He is driving and controlling the conversation. He asks questions of an individual participant, and they reply. It is a series of monologues.

It’s so close to being a unique piece of journalism, but there is that need to control the conversation all the time.

Maybe I expect too much; maybe the control is necessary to keep the focus and extract the intellectual entertainment value out of the conversation.

I wish that at least once, they would relax the controls and let it become a real conversation—a conversation of equals.

Some of the Cafes’ are a little better – this one on Kenya’s unwinnable war, for example:

while this one is still tightly controlled:

The Al Jazeera Cafe closed down in 2013. Please do not confuse it with the Al Jazeera Media Cafe.

I don’t know why Al Jazeera closed the Café, but it was unique. There are plenty of debates on TV but few conversations.  I hope some media organization or another restarts the format.

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