Jazeera in English

Aljazeera English approaching bbc's John Simpson

2011-11-18T11:46:00.001Z

Well informed sources told us that AJE is approaching bbc's all time senior international correspondent John Simpson to head the Qatari channel's reporting teams and produce and present a weekly program from the field.

Murder and stolen passports?

2010-02-18T12:37:00.000Z

By Clayton Swisher in Middle East on February 17th, 2010

Could the passports used by the alleged killers of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh be a key piece of forensic evidence?

Update : It is not clear whether this was passport or identity theft. The 7 dual Israeli citizens claim their passports were never stolen or "lent" to anyone else.

As I earlier blogged, the passports used by the alleged killers of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh would be a key piece of forensic evidence. I must first admit some bias in my thinking as I got some experience investigating passport fraud in my first three years out of college.

In training we were taught the passport was Holy Grail. The ultimate identity document, a passport proves you are a lawful citizen of the country stamped on the booklets jacket, entitled to full protections, privileges, and bilateral treaties between the traveler's home and the country being visited.

Press reports are now hinting that a group of unsuspecting Israelis with dual citizenship had their identities hijacked to carry out the state's dirty business.

Operating on the assumption that the UK, Ireland, Germany and France did not give those passports to Mossad (or whomever did it) for intelligence purposes, it's already clear to me that a couple of people dropped the ball.

If any of the 11 passports were stolen, the victims may have erred. They had a duty to inform their respective Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) that their passport were gone. They would have typically been asked to make a sworn statement providing any available details (when it was lost, circumstances, copies of a local police report, etc.)

MFA investigators would then in theory register the lost/stolen passport numbers into Interpol's database, which has an estimated 11 million passports reported. That would render the missing documents expired while at the same time flag it for suspected fraud.

This could be either contributory negligence on the part of the "victims" who had their documents taken (by failing to report it), or by the States in question who failed to pass that information along to Interpol. This presumes, of course, the "victims" did not "donate" the books to their governments for intelligence purposes, which can never be ruled out.

Had the above described steps been followed, the Dubai immigration officer on duty who swiped the traveler's documents would have noted the passports were not supposed to be in use, and saw a flag on his/her computer reading "contact Interpol," which in turn would notify investigators from the relevant country MFA.

The computerized exchange would go something like this: "Hey, someone is at our airport using a passport reported as stolen--what should we do?" A duty officer or investigator from the country in question would be contacted.

Whether immigration agents take this step can be the difference between whether or not they've had a cup of coffee, but in most cases they do. Airport officials would then invite the suspected fraudsters into secondary for a long and fun interview.

Had all those steps been missed, the last measure would be the careful examination of the document being presented.

Swapping photos on a passport is not so commonly used anymore since most passports bear flat, digitally printed photos bearing holograms. It also presumes that forged booklets were not used, which is a more difficult and risky undertaking, but not impossible. There are millions of printed pages made for passports that are in theory controlled items. But it would not be impossible to find a corrupted employee to donate the pages to a foreign intelligence service.

Most countries adopted tougher fraud reducing measures following the September 11th attacks, which required countries to move to machine readable passports. But there are still plenty of old school booklets in circulation. I suspect low-security passports (that were still valid) were sought after by whoever intended to carry out the crimes.

In most countries, gone are the days of old where photos are supplied by passport applicants so they can be laminated by a machine inside these traveling booklets.

A professional counterfeiter, however, the kind one would expect to be employed by a first-world intelligence agency, would make it hard to detect a photo swap as they are able to unseal lamination in ways that conceal the fact it had been tampered with.

Who knows why these steps were missed. Maybe there was a long line and a bunch of screaming kids standing at the counter.

But I do find revealing my conversation a few days ago with an Irish Ministry of Foreign Affairs official. I contacted him on background to see whether UAE police had notified them of the possibility that their passports were misused.

This individual told me that no one from the UAE police had requested their help. In fact, the official told me, the Irish actually took the step of contacting the Dubai police out of their own concern over media reports that Irish documents had been used.

If Mossad was involved, as they have been in other attacks against Hamas outside its border, the Israeli citizens who may have had their identities stolen would have little recourse against their own government.

No government speaks on intelligence matters, including Israel, and it will be mighty difficult for them to prove that they had been victims of passport or identity theft without looking like a crackpot.

Tough luck for those folks if they were not involved. They may want to skip Dubai on their next vacation abroad till it all gets sorted.

Al Jazeera breaks outside the box

2010-02-17T23:46:00.000Z

As the first Arab broadcaster to become a global brand, Al Jazeera has become synonymous with its original medium, satellite television.
So it was significant that there were no satellite boxes in sight earlier this month, when the network’s top brass gathered in Dubai to launch Al Jazeera’s first series of globally distributed DVDs. Instead, there were clusters of iPod-wearing teenagers and briefcase-bearing businessmen browsing the shelves of the Virgin Megastore in Mall of the Emirates, where Al Jazeera’s newest offering is now on sale. Yes, Al Jazeera – broadcaster of Osama bin Laden videos, famously contrarian champion of “the opinion and the other opinion” – has entered the retail DVD business.

“It’s the first time for this sort of retail, and it’s part of the mission to broaden our audience reach and increase the knowledge of the brand,” says Al Anstey, the director of media development. “Obviously the retail market gives us a chance to be seen in a different form that will give our existing audience the ability to choose as and when they want to view, and obviously it does give us the opportunity to reach new viewers.”

In particular, the retail platform will give Al Jazeera a chance to reach viewers in the large and lucrative US market, which both the Arabic and the English channels have so far failed to crack with a national distribution deal. Although a landmark local cable deal in Washington DC last year gave Al Jazeera English the opportunity to access the airwaves of a major metropolitan area for the first time, and last year it won approval from Canadian regulators for satellite distribution there, the broadcaster still lacks the US distribution deal that would make it commercially viable.

In the past few years, the network has sought wider viewership through a popular YouTube channel and its own digital channels, but the retail option opens up another vista.

Although the four DVD documentaries, produced in Arabic and English on topics ranging from the 1948 Palestinian catastrophe to the biography of the founder of Hamas, will initially be sold only at retail stores in the Middle East, the network’s Dubai-based distribution partner, Viva Entertainment, plans to roll out sales in American and European stores in coming months. More importantly, the documentaries are now available through online stores, including Amazon.com.

Al Jazeera’s adoption of this model of content distribution comes just as the network faces renewed resistance to its satellite programming closer to home.
Last month, Arab ministers of information met in Cairo to discuss a joint proposal by the Egyptian and Saudi governments to create a regional office to regulate Arab satellite TV stations.
The proposal was partly a response to a bill passed by the US House of Representatives in December calling for restrictions against broadcasters deemed hostile to the US.

But it was also a continuation of a proposal drafted by the Arab League in 2008, which stipulated that satellite TV channels “should not damage social harmony, national unity, public order or traditional values”. At the time, the Al Jazeera director general Wadah Khanfar slammed the proposal, saying it “contains very general and ambiguous statements that could be used at any time to close a channel down or take it off the air”.

The fears that followed that proposal have largely subsided, as the Arab League does not have legislative or executive power. Nonetheless, the media rights group Reporters Without Borders issued a warning last month against the revival of this proposal to create what it deemed a “super police” to censor Arab satellite TV.

“It seems that Riyadh and Cairo hope to ride a current that supports the reaffirmation of traditional values,” Reporters Without Borders said. “The main TV stations targeted by the proposal are Al Jazeera, the Hamas station Al-Aqsa TV and the Hizbollah station Al-Manar.”

Dr Abdul Aziz al Horr, the director of Al Jazeera’s corporate development bureau, declined to comment directly on the outcome of the latest meeting of the ministers of information last month.

“I don’t want to go into the conspiracy theory and the speculation of this act [by the ministers of information], but hopefully Al Jazeera and all the other channels who really stand for freedom of speech, for transferring the facts and the truth to the people, will not be harmed by these acts,” he said. “We will continue our way of doing things. We stand for the opinion and the other opinion. We are an international network appealing to the world, standing for transparency and credibility.”

Al Jazeera officials are hoping that more platforms for distribution will help erode some of the prejudices against the station in the US and parts of the Arab region.

“The States has got a very large audience base, and it’s got a lot of people who would really like to see us,” Mr Anstey said. “Because of the various issues and challenges that we have faced in order to penetrate that market, we are still an unknown quantity. But the more we are known, the more that we will be welcomed.”

The Fourth Al Jazeera Forum

2009-03-05T00:22:00.000Z

As the political and social landscape of the Middle East continues to become more complex in the context of a changing multi-polar world there is a need for media to better understand the realities on the ground.Al Jazeera’s Fourth Annual Forum will explore the dynamism behind these changes along with their impact on the region and beyond, and examine the ways in which the world of journalism can better reflect and report on these changes.
The 2009 Forum will build on the success of past Al Jazeera Forums to debate, discuss, and extend the discourse on the critical dynamics of the Middle East in the context of the globalized world. We will host an international mix of journalists, analysts, academics, and intellectuals to help bring these issues into focus as well as leading thinkers and strategists to explore and understand the changing face of the region, its place in the global landscape, and how to report it in depth.

AJE Under Financial crisis

2009-03-02T20:12:00.003Z

The Qatari based channel seems to be under financial crisis amid ending the contracts of number of its journalists.
According to well informed sources in the network, the board of directors called on the english news channel to bring down its expences around 30% and made it clear there is no budget available for new recruits.
Its not known wether these dramatic events will affect the channel's ambitions to lead the market specially after the success it gained around the globe amid the Gaza war earlier in january.

Gaza, African coverage and tonight’s RTS awards - breakfast table chat with Al Jazeera

2009-02-28T00:20:00.001Z

This morning Al Jazeera English’s managing director, Tony Burman, held a breakfast meeting in London and invited journalists along to ask about latest developments at the channel.
Burman is in town for tonight’s Royal Television Society Awards (2007/8), for which the channel has been nominated for the ‘News Channel of the Year’ award - and it’s up against BBC and Sky.
Burman was, however, not overly optimistic and said that he thought it would be the BBC’s win. However, “next year will be the Gaza year and we will be here again,” he told the group. We’ll report back with an update tomorrow.
Burman’s message was clear: the channel is increasingly strengthening its reputation (that includes within the US, he said) and he emphasised that the fact it broadcasts to nearly 140 million households, after two years on air (it launched in November 2006) was a feat he considered very impressive. Getting Al Jazeera onto the satellite and cable networks in North America is a priority, he said.
The real topic of the morning was the crisis in Gaza: the two correspondents, Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros, who had been on the ground prior, and during the 22 day conflict were also there to answer questions.
It was again confirmed that Al Jazeera English was the only English-language broadcaster to report from the Gaza strip before the press ban was lifted (see a previous interview with the channel’s head of new media, Mohamed Nanabnay).
So, here a few of the things that were discussed. Journalism.co.uk will be following up in more detail on these and other points raised, in due course.
Gaza:
Tony Burman said that ‘coverage was really very comprehensive’ and that the reaction to the channel’s output ‘was a reminder that there is a hunger in the world, to get a sense of what is going on’.
The Al Jazeera site had, at times, seen a 600 per cent increase in traffic during Gaza coverage, he said.
Because Israeli, as well as other international media couldn’t access the area either during parts of the conflict, Al Jazeera was watched by a bigger Israeli audience too, he said.
Sherine Tadros, who said it was just ‘chance’ that she ended up reporting from the ground (she is normally the Jerusalem correspondent) said that ‘everything was a risk’. ‘There was no green zone,’ she added. She ‘wasn’t meant to be there’ she joked.
Tadros was asked to go and do a feature from the region before the media clamp-down became apparent, and she hadn’t even packed clothes to take, thinking that her stay would be brief.
To be the only English channel on the ground could be a ‘one-off experience’ during her career, she said. While she thrived on being part of the only English-language media team on the ground - ‘everything we did was exclusive’ - Tadros was aware of the responsibility to cover as much as possible for an English speaking audience.
There was no way they could go away and ‘Google’ for additional information, for example, she said. All the information from the ground had to be gathered by themselves directly. While Tadros said she was already quite familiar with the region, she also had to adapt very quickly to the surroundings and context, she said.
Ayman Mohyeldin described how other international broadcasters were eager to use their material and how he did then feed back to US networks. One of the main differences between the Arabic and English coverage was the level of detail in the reports, he said.
Reports can’t assume context for an English-language audience, whereas an Arab audience has grown up very aware of 60 years of history, he said. As a result, English coverage must supply more detail and background. So while the English and Arabic channels worked closely via multimedia channels (there is a joint new media team) and shared information and sources in their newsrooms, the output can vary.
The style of English reporting is also different, Tadros added. Whereas an Arabic channel might do one hour of footage inside a hospital, that wouldn’t be something they would necessarily do on the English channel.
Expanding into Africa:
With a good presence in Nairobi, Zimbabwe and Johannesburg they’re keen to meet the needs of a ‘growing’ African audience, Burman said.
In regards to whether a full bureau would be opening in Nairobi (to add to bureaux in Washington, Doha, London and Kuala Lumpur), Burman was hesitant. In the current economic climate he ‘can’t talk about expansion,’ he said. For now, little is being said about big investments he explained, adding that Africa is a very important region for them and more correspondents would be added around the continent.

Put Al Jazeera on air

2009-02-25T22:52:00.001Z

Feb 23, 2009 04:30 AM

Canadians have a world of cable and satellite TV information at their fingertips. There's the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., CTV and Global. The American networks including CNN and Fox. The British Broadcasting Corp. Even TV5 from France.
So why not a major news source from the Middle East? Al Jazeera television, funded chiefly by the pro-American Emir of Qatar, is the most respected broadcaster in the Arab world. Its English service, managed by Canadian journalist Tony Burman, is received in 130 million households in 105 countries, including Israel. But not here.
Yet every Canadian has an interest in a region into which we have poured peacekeepers and aid, which millions of Christians, Muslims and Jews revere as the holy land, and which is a perennial political flashpoint. There's an abiding thirst for news and views from there.
Al Jazeera English, with its unique perspective from the developing world, delivers the goods. During the fighting in Gaza, for example, AJE was the only international English service that covered both Gaza and Israel. It routinely airs Israeli views.
For these reasons, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission should approve AJE's current bid to air programs here, as its parent Arabic service does in the U.S.
Five years ago Al Jazeera Arabic, founded in 1996, sought approval to broadcast here. At the time the Canadian Jewish Congress criticized it for airing material that was anti-Semitic, denied the Holocaust, and exalted terrorists. Even so, the CRTC gave it the green light, but with so many conditions that cable companies chose not to air it.
The English service, launched in 2006, has sparked no comparable controversy. So the CRTC has good reason to grant approval on a trial basis, subject to review, but this time without onerous conditions.
AJE's code of ethics promises credible, honest, balanced coverage. Canadians should be able to see and judge for themselves.

A former Denver newsman on why America should give Al-Jazeera English a chance

2009-02-25T22:49:00.000Z

By Michael Roberts in More Messages
Wednesday, Feb. 25 2009 @ 9:33AM
"New Gig," an October 2005 Message column, introduced readers to Gabriel Elizondo, who decided to leave his job as an assignment editor at Channel 7 in favor of an opportunity to join Al-Jazeera International, a new English-language spinoff of the controversial Arabic network. Over three years later, the operation is still struggling to establish itself in the U.S., as noted in a National Public Radio story about the service, now called Al-Jazeera English, that was broadcast this week. The report opens with the story of correspondent Josh Rushing, who wasn't exactly welcomed by locals when he set up camp at a Golden watering hole around the time of last fall's Democratic National Convention. "We reported live from the bar, but it meant having police snipers on top of the buildings, undercover cops around me," Rushing recalled.
For his part, Elizondo has been based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, for the past two years -- and he continues to see Al-Jazeera English as a worthy and credible news organization that's been unfairly demonized in the American press. The net is attempting to change its reputation via a website called IWantAJE.com, which provides viewers with an opportunity to sample its fare and to demand that it be made more widely available. Elizondo is fully supportive of this goal, as he makes clear in a wide-ranging e-mail update accessible below. Also included: two complete reports from Elizondo, reporting in recent weeks from Brazil and Venezuela.
Click "Continue" to get the scoop on Al-Jazeera English from an enthusiastic insider.
What have I been up to?
I have been based in Sao Paulo, Brazil for AJE for a little over 2 years now. In August of 07, I was in Lima, Peru editing a documentary when a huge earthquake hit Peru. It was immediately an international story. I started reporting on-air, and continued reporting from Peru for several days. Within 24 hours, I was live from the epicenter of the quake in the town of Pisco. After this terrible event, I returned to Sao Paulo and have pretty much been reporting ever since. I mostly cover Brazil. It's a huge country (about as big as the US) and an important country (largest economy in Latin America), so I am on the road a lot. I spend a lot of time in the Amazon region of Brazil, and recently did a series of stories from the Amazon related to our coverage of the World Social Forum, which was held in Belem, Brazil last month. One of the stories can be seen here:
I was in Venezuela for the constitutional referendum Feb 15. So far this year, I have spent only about 6 days in Sao Paulo. Next week (March 1-7), I go back to Peru for several stories, and then to Doha, Qatar for some training before coming back to Sao Paulo.
Lack of availability in the U.S.A.
When I left Denver, in late 2004, to move to Washington DC to work for Al Jazeera English a lot of people told me it could turn out to be career suicide. It's been just the opposite for me. The channel has developed into one of the premier English language news channels in the world. The channel is received in over 120 million homes around the world. It's too bad most people in the U.S. still do not have that ability. People in places like Denver, Colorado should not be obligated to watch Al Jazeera English, but Coloradoans should at least have the freedom to watch Al Jazeera English on their television. Every time I go to the U.S., I flip through the channels and I am amazed at all the junk on cable TV. The bad, mind-numbing television outnumbers the good programming 3 to 1. There are endless channels devoted to home improvement and reality TV. Those channels are fine, too. But being able to watch AJE's serious journalism from underreported corners of the globe is still not available, which is sad given all the space on cable devoted to other arenas I would deem less important to understanding issues around the world that affect the U.S.
AJE Continues to Grow
I am very fortunate right now, because as media organizations cut back on global newsgathering, AJE continues to show a commitment to expansion and covering important stories around the world. This is not lost on me. Now, more than ever, it's critical that people see AJE. Just to give you an example, on Feb. 15, Venezuela held a constitutional referendum that would allow Hugo Chavez the ability to run for office again. Given the strained relations between Venezuela and the U.S.A., I would think this would be an important story for people in the U.S. But Venezuela is an expensive country to do journalism. But that did not stop AJE. My bosses wanted to show in-depth coverage that went beyond the soundbites. So we had one correspondent in Caracas and another one (myself) far outside of Caracas in a different state reporting for an entire week. There were two producers from Washington DC, two cameramen, and even a web editor from http://english.aljazeera.net/ reporting for the web site from Venezuela.
One of my Venezuela reports can be seen here:
This is just one example, of many, of the coverage AJE provides.
I look back at that story you wrote in 2005 and there was a lot of unspoken speculation about what Al Jazeera English "wanted" to be, or what it "strived" to be. That was to be expected, as at the time it was an unproven entity. But that is no longer the case. There are over 7,000 videos uploaded to the AJE You Tube page and hundreds of articles on our web site. My friends who travel abroad a lot often e-mail me saying stuff like, "Hey, when I was in XYZ country, I got AJE on the TV and saw your story about this or that." The rest of the world is watching. If I was living in Colorado right now, I would be asking myself, "Why can't I?"

Finally! Some national love for Al Jazeera English

2009-02-25T22:48:00.000Z

You know I've gone on (and on) about the English-language channel from the Arabic news giant al-Jazeera for more than two years. I did a big blowout on it in the summer of '07 and was thrilled when it started streaming 24/7 on Livestation, where I monitored its unparalleled coverage of the Gaza situation.
Today my buddy David Folkenflik at NPR devoted a segment on "Morning Edition" to a story about AJE, prompted by an awareness campaign the channel has been running to get people to call their cable or satellite operators and yell, "I Want My AJE!" (Besides featuring yours truly in a couple of places on that website, I notice they use a picture of the Kansas City Royals' John Buck at Yankee Stadium trying to tag out Robbie Cano. Thanks for the shout-out, guys!)
As nice as all the media attention is, I'm not sure it's enough, though. Here's why.
Back in 1996, I reported a story for the New York Times about the fledgling new channel from Rupert Murdoch called Fox News, as part of a wider profile of cable news channels. (Now there's a fun memory -- especially the part where then-private citizen Michael Bloomberg buttonholed publisher Arthur Sulzberger at a party and demanded to know why his Bloomberg TV hadn't been included in the profile ... which led to a nervous phone call to me from my editor ... to which I replied, "Well, Jane, because you didn't ask me to do a profile of business news channels." A story devoted to Bloomberg and CNBC soon appeared in the Times.)
And it was while reporting that piece that I learned Murdoch had done the reverse of what a cable programmer normally does. In the usual scheme of things, a cable operator pays a programmer for the right to carry its channels. Murdoch paid the operators to put his Fox News Channel on their systems. He reportedly made a one-time payment of as much as $7 per subscriber, which would work out to more than $2 million to get Fox News on in Kansas City alone.
Murdoch wasn't alone in paying for placement; as I wrote in a subsequent piece for the Times, the people running HGTV did the same at that channel's launch. The subscribers did the rest. Within a year I was hearing from readers out in the boonies wondering when the liberal media was going to let them have their Fox News. Soon cable operators not so fortunate to have Murdoch showering money on them were negotiating with him to carry his channel. Needless to say, the money train was no longer going in reverse by then.
I've thought about that story when considering Al Jazeera English. The emir of Qatar has spent a lot of money to get that channel on the air. AJE has doubled its coverage in the past two years and now reaches nearly 140 million homes worldwide. But almost none in the U.S. and Canada. Two exceptions are Toledo and Burlington, Vermont, and I think it speaks damningly to the nature of corporate-owned media in this country that the two cable systems in the U.S. that carry Al Jazeera English are locally owned and operated. (Some inside-the-Beltway locales also get AJE piped in -- notably the Pentagon.)
Tony Burman, the new chief of AJE, is determined to overcome this, and other than dispensing the occasional insult about the audience he's trying to woo, seems to be doing the right things. He replaced some of the British executives whose stereotypes about Americans caused its highest-profile anchor, Dave Marash, to quit in protest. He launched the IWantAJE website and media campaign to speak to the corporate cable media in a fashion they understand.
But I think he may still have to pay to play. The world news TV market is a stubbornly slow-growth market here in the U.S. It's not just AJE struggling for carriage; BBC World and France 24 would like to be carried coast to coast, but they just can't get corporate cable operators interested. And let's face it: Money is tight in that business right now. So I would encourage him -- and will when I talk to him in an interview -- to bring this matter up with the emir and see if he can't shake loose a few mil to get AJE in some big-city markets, even if only on digital cable.
It's a good channel. And no matter what the Israelis say, their spokesmen are fixtures on AJE, and more importantly -- it's carried all over Israel! People there watch it. Would that Americans watched this channel that they seem to already know so much about.

Al Jazeera's new-media department: news as conversation

2009-02-20T12:21:00.001Z

"Using ... latest trends to broaden and engage the audience of Al Jazeera’s Arabic and English news channels and websites is the mandate of the broadcaster’s new media department, which was established in 2006 under the leadership of Mohamed Nanabhay. ... The department tends to see news as more of a conversation than a speech, and pushes the larger organisation to make its content free as much as possible. One of its first projects was to upload full-length Al Jazeera Arabic-language programmes to YouTube – itself an innovation back when other broadcasters such as the BBC put only promos on the free video service – and then record a YouTube appeal by the show’s presenter for viewers to send in their thoughts. They received 150 videos on the first try, and aired some of the responses during the next broadcasts of the show." The National, 17 February 2009. "Al Jazeera Labs, the home of the multimedia team's experiments in beta, has allowed users to see ... developments in progress before they are turned into 'actual products', Al Jazeera head of new media, Mohamed Nanabhay, tells Journalism.co.uk. ...'We're in perpetual beta. We've had a lot of positive feedback, talking about how it is a very positive development. While it's quite rough, it's in a very useable form.'" journalism.co.uk, 16 February 2009

Al Jazeera English examines Israeli war crimes

2009-02-20T12:11:00.001Z

20 February 2009Doha - Al Jazeera English releases a new programme, A Crime of War? as part of its weekly programme Focus on Gaza. The programme comes as human rights investigators continue to look into allegations that Israeli soldiers may have committed crimes of war during their Gaza military campaign. A Crime of War? will premiere on Al Jazeera English at 14:30 GMT today, and run through the week.
The programme will focus on the story of an alleged war crime that occurred during the war on Gaza in the small village of Khuza'a, approximately 500 metres from the Israeli border. Interviews with village residents tell the story of a Gazan woman who was killed with a single shot to the head while waving a white flag as she led children to safety. A Crime of War? will also examine the aftermath of the incident, including interviews with experts on International Humanitarian Law who offer their evaluation of whether a crime of war was committed. "Al Jazeera's coverage of the War on Gaza was unparalleled and, as a network, we remain committed to reporting on every facet of life in Gaza," said Mike Dillon, Head of Current Affairs for AJE.
"The war may be over, but human suffering continues on a massive scale. I believe that our programme, A Crime of War?, will provide a thorough investigation into these war crimes allegations."

Al Jazeera boss: "Americans, God love them, are the most uninformed people on the planet"

2009-02-20T12:10:00.000Z

Tony Burman was at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for years. Now he's running Al Jazeera English, and gives a long interview to a blog from due North. AJE is proving to be a pretty popular brand everywhere but North America, and Burman with his deep understanding of the Canadian system seems poised to get it landed there as well. That would leave us.
And judging from this money quote, Burman knows it's going to be a tough sell here:
"Societies that see news media as a central part of their political and cultural lives do not trust market forces, commercial forces, to exclusively provide media. There's only one country that does that now, that effectively has no public system, and that's the United States. It's got a very small public television presence in PBS and a somewhat larger radio one with NPR. But there's a pride in the U.S. in saying most of our media is due to commercial companies. The result of that is that you have a lot of awful journalism being done in the U.S. Throughout Europe, Canada, in Britain, you have strong public broadcasters. The people of those countries have the opportunity through their taxes to ensure that at least there's one broadcaster that's working on their behalf.
"If the people of any country rely solely on private companies to provide essential information, the lifeblood of democracy, then you're really risking it. I think countries like the U.S. have done that to their peril. Americans, God love them, are one of the most uninformed people on the planet. A lot of it has to do with the failure of their media to keep them informed. Canadians should be very proud of the historical origins of public broadcasting. I think from afar that Canadian politicians are dropping the ball. Many of them think the American model is one to be emulated."
I still think that if the emir has a few million to spare, he should really think about paying to get AJE placed on cable systems in the U.S. Ten years ago, my readers were bellyaching for the Fox News Channel. But all the complaining in the world wouldn't have done much good had Rupert Murdoch not decided to pay the piper.

Al Jazeera “Dining with Terrorists” screens in NZ

2009-02-19T10:35:00.004Z

Al Jazeera’s six-part series “Dining with Terrorists” screens in NZ .
News about a New Zealander being arrested in Pakistan this month suggested he was in the Taleban and al Qaeda stronghold region to make contact with terrorists.
Mark Taylor, 35, has not been able to seen by New Zealand authorities yet, but further reports suggest he may be a journalist. If that proves to be correct, he will not be the first journalist to attempt to “get inside” and learn about what motivates “terrorists”.
New Zealand TV channels Stratos and Triangle screen from tomorrow (Friday February 20) “Dining with Terrorists”, a six-part series that sees author and journalist Phil Rees travel to South Asia, the Middle East and the Americas to meet – and even eat with – men and women accused by others of terrorism and to try and understand their point of view.
Rees meets Basque separatists, Serb nationalists and their Kosovar Albanian foes, Colombian coca farmers, Irish Republicans and Tamil Tigers as he seeks to discover what motivates those who commit terrible violence.In the first of the series he asks if the old adage that one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter still applies.
“Dining With Terrorists” is served up via Stratos and Triangle’s link with Al Jazeera TV, and as a result screens at a variety of times that may encourage some to record it for later viewing. Screening times can be found on www.stratostv.co.nz or www.tritv.co.nz. NZ’s Triangle is the only free-to-air TV channel in the world to broadcast Al Jazeera English.
Rees graduated from Oxford in 1982 and started his career at the BBC. He has won numerous international awards for coverage and documentaries of conflict throughout the world and he now writes and reports for a variety of international organisations.
This TV series comes from his book “Dining With Terrorists” published in 2005. It was lauded by the critics and recommended by the British Journalism Review as “compulsory reading for every editor, journalist and politician – before it is too late."

British lawmakers slam Al Jazeera

2009-02-18T20:03:00.000Z

British lawmakers condemned the Al Jazeera network for broadcasting a Muslim cleric's sermon in which he allegedly celebrates the Holocaust and prays for the killing of all Jews.
Sheik Yusuf al-Quaradawi, who hosts the popular program "Shariah and Life" on the Arabic language international news network, described the Holocaust as "divine punishment" and prayed to Allah to kill Jews "down to the very last one."
The Muslim cleric, 82, who is no stranger to controversy, said in his sermon, "The last punishment was carried out by Hitler." He went on to say that "This was divine punishment for them. Allah willing, the next time will be at the hand of the believers."
John Whittingdale, chairman of the House of Commons Media Select Committee, called on Al Jazeera to apologize for screening the anti-Semitic sermon and to ban al-Quaradawi from appearing in the future. But the network refused to apologize, claiming that it cannot control the content of live broadcasts.
"I would hope that anyone who watches is or is aware of it may change their attitude towards Al Jazeera," Whittingdale told the Times. "I would've thought it is very damaging. Al Jazeera should apologize."
Al Jazeera gained popularity in Britain when it launched its English-language network alongside the Arabic language network, which has more than 50 million households watching in 100 countries.

Al Jazeera fights "myths" in North American push

2009-02-18T11:19:00.002Z

Al Jazeera is starting a public relations campaign to dispel what it calls myths and misperceptions that have prevented it from reaching more U.S. and Canadian viewers, the international television news network said on Tuesday.
Al Jazeera's English-language service is starting a website called IWantAJE.net, offering news the Qatar-based network produces and a list of "Hits and Myths" knocking down statements about the network that it says are untrue.
It is launching a similar site for Canadians, IWantAJE.ca, as it prepares to seek permission from the Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in Canada to offer its service through cable and satellite providers there.
The websites will ask people to e-mail to their cable and satellite providers asking them to carry the channel. Viewers can also watch the channel live on the website and read bulletins with the day's top stories.
Along with the website, Al Jazeera said it would buy print and online advertisements in newspapers such as the Globe & Mail in Toronto, The New York Times, and the Huffington Post. It follows a campaign that ran last month in the Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy and Politico.com.
Al Jazeera, whose Arabic-language channel is available in the United States through the DISH satellite TV network, is available in English through a small number of cable operators in the United States. Worldwide, about 130 million households have access to the site.
Al Jazeera has said that gaining access in the United States has been hampered by what it calls misperceptions that it supports al Qaeda and its leader Osama bin Laden, that it is anti-Semitic and anti-American, that it shows beheadings, and that it has an anti-Western agenda.
"We don't wear horns. Osama bin Laden does not have a weekly interview show," said Tony Burman, managing director of Al Jazeera English and former editor in chief at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
When former U.S. Marine Corps Captain Josh Rushing, now a reporter for Al Jazeera, went with a TV crew to Golden, Colorado, to cover the Democratic presidential convention last year, Al Jazeera's presence sparked protests from local motorcycle gangs.
"People who have never watched it have a super-strong opinion about this thing they've never seen and don't want it on their airwaves," Rushing said.
Nonetheless, Al Jazeera English is close to announcing a deal with a major cable provider, Burman said, but he declined to name the company because the talks are ongoing.

Al-Jazeera English ban in Canada smells of fear

2009-02-17T19:45:00.000Z

A Canadian cable company is applying to the CRTC for the right to broadcast Al-Jazeera English. Although controversial, the station should be allowed in Canada - you may not agree with all their views, but that should be possible in a free society. In addition, since the station is already available on the Internet, the discussion is essentially moot.

Al-Jazeera is reviled by some and exalted by others - sometimes due to the person’s viewpoint, sometimes because the coverage shows the other side of the story, and sometimes due to purposely inaccurate accusations - like the accusation of affiliation with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. Many feel that their coverage of the war in Gaza may be their debut (in the west) as a legitimate and balanced news station. Gideon Levy from Israel’s Haaretz newspaper has praise for Al-Jazeera English and especially forAyman Mohyideen - the war correspondent from Al-Jazeera.
With the likes of Avi Lewis, Ayman Mohyeldin, and Tony Burman in their ranks, Al-Jazeera is primed to reach Canadian audiences who have the ability to dissect their news and form individual opinion. Others will continue to suppress fact, speech and opinion by using fear.

AJE's New Recruit: BBC Strand Editor

2009-02-17T16:32:00.000Z

Hisham Al Deeb an ex BBC editor is AJE's new recruit.
Hisham who worked before for Arabic networks AlJazeera and Alarabiya joined AJE lately coming from BBC's newly launched Arabic Television.
The new editor will liaise between the English channel and other parts of the Jazeera network.

Al-Jazeera drew US viewers on Web during Gaza war

2009-02-16T22:30:00.000Z

(AP) — American viewership of Al-Jazeera English rose dramatically during the Israel-Hamas war, partly because the channel had what CNN and other international networks didn't have: reporters inside Gaza.
But the viewers weren't watching it on television, where the Arab network's English-language station has almost no U.S. presence.
Instead, the station streamed video of Israel's offensive against Hamas on the Internet and took advantage of emerging online media such as the microblogging Web site Twitter to provide real-time updates.
During the 22-day conflict that ended last weekend, the station and its Arabic language sister, as they often do, aired far more graphic pictures than U.S. networks of dead and injured Palestinian children and women.
The images, viewed widely across the Mideast, generated enormous sympathy for Gazans in the Muslim world.
"Gaza ... was a breakthrough opportunity to make an impact with people who are less aware of Al-Jazeera than we'd like," said Tony Burman, managing director of the English-language channel in Qatar.
"There is an alternative perspective our channel provides, and Gaza was a good example," Burman said.
Al-Jazeera had another draw: Its reporters were inside Gaza while international networks such as CNN were barred by Israel from sending reporters in throughout the entire war. Israeli TV focused mostly on Israeli casualty reports and Hamas rocket barrages.
"Having reporters in Gaza — which others did not have — that's what made Al-Jazeera stand out and that's important on the Internet," said Jeff Jarvis, who teaches journalism at the City University of New York and writes about media on his Buzzmachine.com blog.
Overall, the station's Web video stream saw a 600 percent jump in worldwide viewership during the Gaza offensive — and about 60 percent of those hits came from the United States, according to the station's internal numbers.
Outside figures also point to big gains in U.S. online interest, suggesting the war gave the Arab station its first significant chance to break into the American market.
Traffic to Al-Jazeera's main Web page, which includes both the English and Arabic sites, spiked once Israeli airstrikes began on Dec. 27, according to Amazon.com Inc.'s Alexa Web tracking site.
Those figures show the share of Internet users visiting the site shot up about 22 percent over the last three months, with most of the gains coming since the start of the Gaza conflict.
The jump in viewership reflects wider trends in global media, where the Web increasingly is the place where viewers go to watch video and social networking sites and citizen journalism are merging with traditional news coverage.
Al-Jazeera English and Arabic are both bankrolled by energy-rich Qatar, a U.S. Arab ally that also supports the militant Hamas rulers of Gaza and which recently suspended its low-level ties with Israel to protest the Gaza offensive.
Feisty and sometimes graphic coverage of global carnage is an Al-Jazeera specialty, as is bracing commentary that has shaken up the Arab world and rattled the West.
Since Al-Jazeera English went on the air in November 2006, it has struggled to gain a spot on traditional American airwaves. The station says only three small cable operators offer the network in Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
None of the biggest U.S. cable systems carries Al-Jazeera English, claiming viewer interest is not sufficient.
The former Bush administration had accused Al-Jazeera's Arabic station of anti-American bias. Some members of the administration criticized the network after the Sept. 11 attacks because of its access to and willingness to air tapes of Osama bin Laden.
A frustrated President Bush even talked of bombing the Arabic-language channel's headquarters in 2004, according to a leaked British government memo.
The publicly owned cable system in Burlington, Vt. that carries Al-Jazeera English, has faced pressure and even calls for a ballot initiative to remove the channel by a group that claims the station is anti-American.
But the Internet has made it possible for the network to reach American viewers despite the limitations of its cable television broadcasts.
The English channel has a different staff and separate budget from the Arabic network. Its executives say they have no political agenda in coverage of the Mideast.
Politics aside, there is little question that the Gaza war gave the station a viewership boost — similar to what CNN got on cable in the 1991 Gulf War.
From its start, Al-Jazeera English has offered grainy, low-resolution access to the same broadcasts shown on cable television through its Web site. Higher-quality transmissions were also available for a price.
A few months before the Gaza offensive began, the network began the same broadcasts on a new Web-based platform known as Livestation, which allows users to watch high-quality broadcasts online live and for free.
The service, which is being developed by a London-based technology company partially backed by Microsoft Corp., has also signed up a number of other news networks, including Bloomberg Television and BBC World.
Livestation said Al-Jazeera English footage viewed on its site jumped to 17 million minutes worldwide over a two week period during the Gaza conflict, up from 3 million minutes in a similar time period before the conflict began.
The service did not break down those numbers by specific country. But it said that over one full week of the Gaza conflict, the number of U.S. viewers to Al-Jazeera English on Livestation surged by six times the usual level.
The boost in viewership was also reflected on YouTube where viewers can watch individual television reports. Over the past month during the Gaza crisis, Al-Jazeera was the most viewed English-language traditional news channel on YouTube's "News and Politics" category.
The network, like its global rivals, is pushing aggressively into other online media. It set up a page dedicated to Gaza coverage on the "microblogging" site Twitter and is experimenting with interactive maps. It also actively seeks photos and other eyewitness accounts from viewers.
Ayman Mohyeldin, the network's 29-year-old correspondent who reported on Israel's military offensive live for 22 days, became a well-known figure to many viewers.
Dressed in a bulletproof vest and helmet, the U.S.-educated journalist of Egyptian descent described in great detail life and death during Israeli air raids. He now has at least one fan club on Facebook.

Posting...

2009-02-16T21:05:00.000Z

Two years or so passed since i last posted here. I stopped the day i started working for AJE, but though i left the channel still i halted posting, but now here i am again.
The past years many things changed at AJE, managers went and came, journalists too, but the channel is still there giving its best.
From today on i will keep you posted..

Blair faces questions over alleged US plan to attack al-Jazeera

2007-05-13T18:09:00.000+01:00

London, May 12(IRNA) The British government is to be questioned in parliament next week over what discussions Prime Minister Tony Blair had with US President George W Bush about plans in 2004 to bomb the Arabic television satellite station al-Jazeera in Qatar.

According to the Guardian newspaper Saturday, former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle is to table questions after repeated allegations that Bush made the threat at a meeting with Blair in the White House in April 2004.

Kilfoyle said he would also ask Blair about what Bush wanted UK troops to do in Iraq outside the area of initial deployment in the south-east of Iraq when the US was planning to attack Falluja at that time.

The questions come after two British aides were jailed this week for breaching the country's Official Secrets Act by leaking a memo allegedly about the April 2004 talks, which some reports suggested primary discussions about possibly bombing al-Jazeera.

The Guardian said it is known that al-Jazeera was criticised by the Bush administration and US generals because of its coverage of American military tactics. It was understood the US military also threatened to close down al-Jazeera in Baghdad, it said.

It has also been widely reported at the time that an American request was made for British troops to help support the Falluja operation. Soldiers from Britain's Black Watch regiment were subsequently deployed to help the US south of Baghdad.

According to the Guardian, British commanders were privately critical of US military tactics in Iraq but officials said at the time that Blair was not prepared to criticise US forces.

Kilfoyle, who served in Blair's first government, was quoted as having said there remained unanswered questions about the Washington talks on the attack on Falluja and what he called "the subsequent deaths of several hundred civilians."

Danish Foreign Minister prefers Al-Jazeera

2007-05-08T23:20:00.000+01:00

The foreign minister's first choice for international news is Al-Jazeera in English

The preferred choice of evening news for Per Stig Møller, the foreign minister, is the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera, which he feels provides the most thorough and impartial international news coverage.

In addition to making the English language Al-Jazeera channel a part of his home satellite TV package, he has instructed the foreign ministry to react to the channel's coverage the same way it does to CNN and the BBC.

'I watch Al-Jazeera's news programme every day at 6:03 p.m. if I have the time,' he told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. 'They are fairly neutral and provide a lot of international news that we otherwise wouldn't hear. They're better than Denmark's DR and TV2 and also better than CNN and BBC.'

Møller believes that Al-Jazeera is especially good in its coverage of the Middle East, Africa and South-east Asia.

'Some people may well think what happens in the Solomon Islands, for example, is unimportant, but it isn't for the people who live there. On Al-Jazeera I get news, see footage and hear new angles on many issues that I otherwise would rarely or never hear on other channels.'

Al-Jazeera was launched in 1996 by the Emir of Qatar as a satellite station and quickly became popular amongst the Arabic population as the only internal news source not controlled or censored by the region's governments.

Al Jazeera Trial Continues in London

2007-05-08T23:04:00.000+01:00

British civil servant David Keogh and political researcher Leo O'Connor are on trial in London, charged under the Official Secrets Act. The case follows the leak of a memo about a meeting between George Bush and Tony Blair in April 2004.

In November 2005 the Daily Mirror, a mass circulation newspaper in the U.K., reported that the memo showed Bush wanted to bomb the offices of Al Jazeera in Qatar. The same report quoted Peter Kilfoyle MP as saying: "It's frightening to think that such a powerful man as Bush can propose such cavalier actions. I hope the prime minister insists this memo be published. It gives an insight into the mindset of those who were the architects of war."
Peter Kilfoyle MP has recently been told by the special prosecution unit of the Metropolitan Police that no further action will be taken following an interview under caution last year. In a letter, DC Jasper Bartlett said: "I am writing to you regarding the police investigation into the leak of a classified government document, for which you were interviewed under caution. The Crown Prosecution Service has advised me that no further action shall be taken with regards to this investigation due to insufficient evidence."

Kilfoyle told the Liverpool Post: "I think the case has been dropped for political reasons, because they did not want me to discuss the memo in open court.

"They knew that's what I would do, even if it breached the Official Secrets Act, because I wanted to ensure the information got out. Thousands of people died at Falluja, which must be considered a war crime, and there has been a cover-up of what happened there."

Rob Merrick's report for the Liverpool Post includes some background, suggesting that the memo records that Tony Blair "apparently argued against missile strikes on Al-Jazeera's Qatar headquarters."

"The two leaders also discussed the American assault on the Iraqi city of Falluja, in which up to 1,000 civilians are feared to have died. Pictures were shown on al-Jazeera, infuriating U.S. generals."

The original Daily Mirror report pointed out that at the time of the meeting "the U.S. was launching an all-out assault on insurgents in the Iraqi town of Fallujah. Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims."

The Mirror report by Kevin Maguire and Andy Lines included the comment that "al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and highly trained technicians and journalists. To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq War itself."

"The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over U.S. claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors."

In 2001 the station's Kabul office was knocked out by two "smart" bombs. In 2003, al-Jazeera reporter Tareq Ayyoub was killed in a U.S. missile strike on the station's Baghdad center.

The BBC has reported that prosecuting QC David Perry has told the jury that issues around Iraq are not relevant to decisions about guilt.

"For all I know you may be opposed to the government's view or you may support it wholeheartedly or you may be neutral. It does not matter.

"Similarly you may approve or disapprove of what the United States does.

"The real point is that there are British troops in Iraq risking their lives on a daily basis and trying to install order and calm."

Mr Perry said the publication of the memo would have posed a significant risk of making the situation in Iraq worse and British soldiers would have "borne the brunt of it."

In earlier evidence Keogh said he had "very strong feelings" when he first read the document. as reported by Richard Norton-Taylor in the Guardian, "when he started to explain why, the trial judge, Mr Justice Aikens, imposed a contempt order preventing journalists from reporting Mr Keogh's remarks to the jury."

Mr Keogh told the jury the consequences of disclosure of the document would be "purely embarrassment" and would not pose a significant risk to any British individual, civilian or in uniform.

Previously Life Style Extra reported evidence by Tony Blair's senior foreign policy adviser Sir Nigel Sheinwald.

"Sir Nigel told the court that the breach of security came at a difficult time for the coalition as a new Spanish government announced it was withdrawing its troops from Iraq following the Madrid train bombings.

"Also violence was increasing and Westerners and contractors were being targeted by kidnap gangs and the leak would have 'raised international tensions.'"

Charges laid include clauses in the Act which prohibit the "damaging disclosures" of information relating to defense and covers disclosing information which endanger the interests of the U.K abroad and the safety of British citizens abroad.

The Official Secrets Act can be argued to include not only operational secrets but revelations of actual policy. As Peter Kilfoyle is a member of parliament a prosecution against him would have probably been more publicized than the current one. His statement about why he thinks the case against him was dropped has not been widely reported.

etisalat's mobile TV service receives huge response

2007-05-04T22:13:00.000+01:00

Abu Dhabi: The mobile TV subscriber base of etisalat has crossed the 100,000 mark in just two months, a company official said.

The company recently launched several value-added services including mobile TV, as one of etisalat's star services.

Essa Al Haddad, etisalat's chief communication officer told Gulf News that the customers have responded very well to this service and the service has met their expectations.

"Achievement of 100,000 subscribers to this service within the first two months reflects a high demand."

He added that etisalat offers 11 Arabic and English channels to mobile TV service users including Abu Dhabi Sports, Dubai Sports, Abu Dhabi TV, Al Arabiya TV, BBC World, CNBC Arabiya, Emirates, MBC, Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera International and Sama Dubai.

"The Sharjah channel and two cricket channels have been recently added to the list which brings the total number of active channels to 14," he said.

Al Haddad said the channels selected consist of sports, news and entertainment channels.

Channels are selected according to studies combined with the customer's needs and interests, he added.

Mission

"Our mission is to extend people's reach and by launching mobile TV service, customers have the freedom to access information and watch their preferred programmes on the move.

etisalat offers subscription to the mobile TV service through SMS by typing "r mtv" and sending it to 1010. The monthly fee for this service is Dh 39.

Customers can access the mobile TV service through the Weyak link sent to their mobile using Ewap.

Service available on 3G enabled handsets

The Mobile TV service is one of the most advanced services available for both GSM postpaid and prepaid customers. It allows mobile users with 3G enabled handsets to watch popular news, sport and entertainment channels live on their phones.

Uruguay president visits Al Jazeera

2007-05-04T22:08:00.000+01:00

Doha • President of Uruguay Dr Tabare Vazquez visited yesterday the headquarters of Al Jazeera satellite channel in the context of his current visit to Qatar.

During the visit the Uruguay president was briefed by the channel's officials on the information mission being carried out by Al Jazerra and the strides it has taken to become a network comprising Al Jazeera International, Al Jazeera Documentary as well as the children and sport channels.

He toured the channel's premises to get acquainted with its different sections and was also briefed on plan to expand its offices worldwide.

President Vazquez, meanwhile expressed his admiration of the channel and the distinguished role it plays, noting that Al Jazeera is widely watched in many world countries especially after the English language Al Jazeera international was launched.

Egypt: Prison for Al-Jazeera Journalist Who Exposed Torture

2007-05-04T22:01:00.000+01:00

(Cairo, May 3, 2007) ? The sentencing of Al-Jazeera journalist Huwaida Taha Mitwalli to six months in prison for her reporting on torture in Egypt makes a mockery of World Press Freedom Day, Human Rights Watch said today.

Mitwalli, an Egyptian national who also reports for the London-based daily Quds al-Arabi, was convicted by a Cairo criminal court on May 2 for "possessing and giving false pictures about the internal situation in Egypt that could undermine the dignity of the country" in connection with an Al-Jazeera documentary about torture in Egypt. The court also fined her 20,000 Egyptian pounds (US$3,518).

"Egypt's sorry record of torture is only made worse by its practice of punishing journalists who dare to speak about it," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.

On January 8, 2007, security officers at Cairo airport prevented Mitwalli from leaving the country and confiscated her videotapes and computer as she tried to board a flight to Qatar, where Al-Jazeera is headquartered. On January 12 she received a summons to appear at the Supreme State Security Court the following day, where security officials held her overnight for questioning and then released her on bail. Mitwalli then returned to Qatar, where she remains pending appeal of her conviction.

"Mitwalli's prosecution is the latest in a recent series of egregious government violations of freedom of expression," said Stork.

On April 14, 2007, security officers arrested television journalist and blogger 'Abd al-Monim Mahmud at Cairo airport as he tried to board a plane for Sudan to work on a story about human rights abuses in the Arab world for the London-based Al-Hiwar satellite channel. Mahmud, who is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, had recently written in his blog about his experience of torture in 2003, and prior to his arrest he spoke out about torture in Egypt at conferences in Doha and Cairo and in interviews with journalists and human rights organizations. He is currently in Tura prison, outside Cairo, awaiting trial on charges of "membership in a banned organization."

On March 12, 2007, the Alexandria Court of Appeals upheld the four-year prison sentence against 'Abd al-Karim Nabil Sulaiman, a blogger who had criticized Islam and President Hosni Mubarak. And on March 10, secular activist and blogger Mohammad al-Sharqawi ? himself a victim of police torture ? returned home to find that his laptop, which he said contained an unreleased video depicting police abuse, had been stolen. Cash and other valuables in the apartment were untouched.

Human Rights Watch said that the charges against Mitwalli and other journalists underscore the urgency of reforming Egypt's laws governing the media. Amendments in July 2006 to the Press Law left intact article 102(bis) of the Penal Code, which allows for the detention of "whoever deliberately diffuses news, information/data, or false or tendentious rumors, or propagates exciting publicity, if this is liable to disturb public security, spread horror among the people, or cause harm or damage to the public interest."

"Instead of addressing the abuses journalists report, the Egyptian government has once again used laws that violate basic freedoms to silence its critics," said Stork.

As a state party to key international and regional human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, Egypt has pledged to protect the right to freedom of expression.

Al Jazeera – friend or a foe?

2007-04-27T08:47:00.000+01:00

Rageh Omaar, acclaimed journalist on the recently launched Al Jazeera English channel, talks about what makes it so different.
Al Jazeera, with its headquarters in Doha, Qatar, often covers topics most other 24/7 news operations, such as CNN, Sky News or even the BBC, do not. But the contents are a well-tested mix of hard-hitting news, documentaries, interviews and lighter material. Al Jazeera Arabic was launched in 1996 as a news and current affairs satellite TV channel. It rose from the ashes of the BBC World Service’s Arab TV service, closed down after the co-owner, the government of Saudi Arabia, demanded it to be censored.

The Emir of Qatar, who regards Al Jazeera as his country’s greatest export, provided an initial US$150m grant to help launch the channel, and has continued financial support since. Today Al Jazeera provides a whole network of TV channels, including a sports and a children’s channel.

From the Middle East in English
Launched in November 2006, Al Jazeera English is broadcast via satellite and internet to bring news from a Middle Eastern perspective to a global audience. The launch can be seen as taking on “the big boys” of global rolling news at their own game. Many of Al Jazeera’s employees have come from other big news agencies. Sir David Frost is perhaps the biggest name among the many BBC recruits. The 66-year-old has interviews with seven US presidents (including the first post-Watergate interviews with Nixon) and six British prime ministers under his belt.

Rageh Omaar is also one of the channel’s top recruits. An Oxford-educated journalist, who moved to Britain at the age of six from Somalia, he previously worked for the BBC as its Iraq and Africa correspondent. “Our newsroom is by far the most diverse newsroom I have ever worked in. Other broadcasters have very global audiences as well. But if you broadcast to 30 different cultures and 80% of your newsroom is British, how can you speak to those people?” he asks.

The objectives of Al Jazeera English are to emphasize news from the developing world, reverse the North to South flow of information, and set the news agenda. It is the first ever channel to be broadcast from the Middle East in English, with a bold mission “to introduce nations, cultures, and civilizations to each other”. It is aiming to become the “last great 24-hour news network”.

“The BBC and CNN would say we are their main competitors. They enjoyed a nice situation, like Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. But now the audiences have somewhere else to go, and they have to improve, which is good for everyone,” says Rageh Omaar.

”We are covering the Nigerian presidential elections live. This is the country where one in four people of Africa live, 15% of America’s oil comes from there, yet nobody is bothering to cover the elections.”

Political target
For many people in the West - especially in the United States - the name Al Jazeera first sprang into consciousness after the September 11th attacks that felled the twin towers in New York. Al Jazeera Arabic was sent tapes by Osama bin Laden, some of which it broadcast, demeaning the US and praising the attacks that killed around 3000 people.

Considering that most Americans do not pay much attention to foreign news, the fact that they heard about Al Jazeera for the first time in this context hardly did the channel any favours. Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defence at the time, accused Al Jazeera of telling “vicious lies” and becoming the “distribution method of choice” for Osama bin Laden, and al-Qaeda.

Al Jazeera has gained a reputation as an unusually independent voice in the Middle East. In 1999, Jordan ordered the closure of the Al Jazeera bureau in its capital Amman, accusing it of “intentionally attacking the Jordanian people and regime”. Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Egypt also have complained about the channel’s coverage.

Rageh Omaar admits that the channel has an image problem to overcome in the US. He emphasises that, contrary to rumours, Al Jazeera has never shown kidnappings or beheadings. He defends showing the Bin Laden tapes. “You have all seen them on Finnish television. Al Jazeera makes them available but every news outlet in the world ran the same things.”

Al Jazeera English is not yet broadcast nationwide in the US, as no cable network provider has included the channel in its programming. It has been available via You Tube since April 16. Fox News is the most watched cable news channel in the US. It regularly has the Stars and Stripes flag decorating its news studio.

Omaar, however, is optimistic about Al Jazeera’s prospects in the US. “We in Europe think America is so much behind but they have the most powerful anti-war movement. Bloggers, protesters, alternative media ... even actors in Hollywood. They are far ahead of Britain.”

Controversial circumstances
Over the years, Al Jazeera’s operations have encountered some serious attacks. In November 2001, a US missile destroyed Al-Jazeera’s office in Afghanistan. In 2003, journalist Tareq Ayyoub was killed when the network’s Baghdad bureau was struck during a US bombing campaign. The US claims both attacks were mistakes.

Last year it was revealed that Tony Blair talked George Bush out of bombing the firm’s Doha headquarters during a meeting between the two leaders in April 2004.

Al Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj has been held by the US as an ‘enemy combatant’ in Guantanamo Bay since 2002, even though his treatment has been widely condemned by international human rights and press freedom groups. He is believed to be the only journalist from a major international news organization held there.

Al Hajj, who has reportedly started a hunger strike recently, responded to the allegations: “With all due respect, a mistake has been made because I have never been a member of any terrorist group.” This married man is likely to mark his fifth anniversary in Guantanamo this June, with his wife and son in Qatar. The US military has said he faces at least one more year at the detainment camp. Reporters Without Borders cited his case when it dropped the US to 53rd place in its 2006 Worldwide Press Freedom Index.

Taysir Allouni, the only journalist to have interviewed Osama bin Laden post 9/11, was arrested in Spain in September 2003. Allouni was sentenced in September 2005 to seven years in prison for being a financial courier for al-Qaeda, despite his own and Al Jazeera’s protestations of his innocence. He was set free in October 2006 and placed under home detention due to ill health.

Diverse audience
Al Jazeera English is watched by an exceptionally diverse audience. It is worth remembering that most Muslims do not speak Arabic. For example, Pakistan has a population of nearly 170 million, whereas Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world. A BBC study of viewing patterns among Asians has found a “deep lack of trust” of the broadcasters’ coverage of Islam and relations between the Middle East and the West.

Witness, the show Rageh Omaar presents, “always tries to do fresh stories that haven’t been told, by filmmakers from societies in Africa, Asia and Middle East – not forgetting Europe.” For example, the story of a girl from the Masai tribe in Kenya who, after various ups and downs, gains a scholarship to a university in Chicago. And no, Uncle Sam is not always bad, nor is Masai culture always the best.
Al-Jazeera was awarded the prestigious Index on Censorship prize for upholding freedom of expression in 2003. The judges said: “Al Jazeera’s apparent independence in a region where much of the media is state run has transformed it into the most popular station in the Middle East. Its willingness to give opposition groups a high-profile platform has left it with a reputation for credible news among Arab viewers. But that same quality has enraged Arab governments and the US – which have sought to have the station more closely controlled.”

When news is not enough
When talk turns to Iraq, Rageh Omaar’s voice grows stronger and optimism fades. The country from where he reported live during the second Gulf War, and where he made many friends, “has been completely destroyed”.

“Four million [mostly well educated] people have left Iraq. It is the largest movement of people in the Middle East since the creation of the state of Israel. American soldiers, 160,000 of them, cannot protect themselves. So how can they protect 24 million Iraqis?”

What he finds interesting is that the politicians are now starting to blame the Iraqis, saying things like maybe the Iraqis are not ready or do not want democracy. “I don’t think we have accepted our responsibility in the West. This will come back to haunt us. Iraq has strengthened al-Qaeda.”

To decide for yourself, go to youtube.com or see Al Jazeera English as a part of Welho’s Forte package, if you have cable. Otherwise you can receive it for free from the satellite dish Hotbird.

FIVE MONTHS OF AL-JAZEERA IN ENGLISH

2007-04-25T21:22:00.000+01:00

Is Al-Jazeera International more anti-American than its sister station? The company's English-language operation is one of the most talked-about broadcasters in the world right now. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, US media expert Mohammed el-Nawawy discusses its strengths and weaknesses.

Nawawy: Yes, absolutely. Many people asked why we need another global English network if we already have CNN? But I think there are major differences. Al-Jazeera International is the first non-Western network to challenge the Western networks' control over the global news flow. It offers a fresh perspective in reporting on world affairs, it has reversed the flow. Instead of the information coming from the West to the rest of the world, it has established a platform from which they can appeal to people in other parts in the world. That's also what they are claiming: We are giving a voice to the voiceless.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Nigel Parsons, managing director of Al-Jazeera International, promised a "decidedly different tone than on established Western channels." Has that promise been kept?

Nawawy: Yes. They are, for example, covering parts of the world that have traditionally been neglected by the Western media -- not necessarily in the Arab or Muslim world, but also Latin America and Africa. Nor do they relay as much on headline journalism. They have reduced the number of news stories and increased in-depth coverage at a time when Western channels are more focused on soundbite culture.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How does Al-Jazeera International deal with the most sensitive issues? What wording do they use, for example, to describe suicide bombers?

Nawawy: What they do supports my concept of "contextual objectivity," which means that different networks have to appeal to their target audiences. And that's what Al-Jazeera International is doing. It is not using a term like "martyrs" in the context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They are using "suicide bombers." Al-Jazeera International understands that they have to appeal to a non-Arab target audience as well.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: So there are differences between Al-Jazeera International and the Arab original?

Nawawy: Absolutely. It's the same company, but they have a totally different editorial board.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Would you say that Al-Jazeera International provides quality journalism? Or are there severe shortcomings?

Nawawy: There are always shortcomings, there is no perfect channel. But the nice thing about Al-Jazeera is its spirit of self-reflection. They criticize themselves even before anybody else does. But there are areas that have been neglected -- and perhaps they have run more documentaries than they needed to. Still, they have only been broadcasting for five months now. We need to wait a bit longer.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Does Al-Jazeera International have religious programs like its Arabic sister channel?

Nawawy: Recently they had a documentary on women in Hezbollah. But the Arabic channel really only has one religious program, "Sharia and Life." But again you can see here that the two channels are targeting different audiences.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Some people have said they found Al-Jazeera International to be more anti-American than the original. Is that true?

Nawawy: I don't think so. The problem starts with the framing of Al-Jazeera by the US Administration after 9/11 in very negative terms. People need to understand that because a channel is non-American it doesn't mean it has to be anti-American. Why would Al-Jazeera by anti-American? In the Middle East there are very anti-American channels like al-Manar, but are they as successful as Al-Jazeera? No. Besides, Al-Jazeera International isn't really anti-American.

Nawawy: I think their coverage is more comprehensive. They don't focus on this issue as much as Al-Jazeera Arabic does.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: How are the prominent Western-trained journalists fairing who have been hired by Al-Jazeera International, like former BBC correspondent Rageh Omar and former CNN anchor Riz Khan?

Nawawy: And also David Marash (the network's chief Washington anchor). I think Al-Jazeera made a wise move. I used to question this, but I think this way they achieved more of a balance. They need to address the Western mentality as well. And the fact that they hired big shots from the Western journalism world makes sense because people listen to them. It gives Al-Jazeera credibility.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Al-Jazeera International is said to have a strong viewership in Europe, Australia, parts of Asia and even Israel. Still, no major satellite or cable provider in the United States carries it. Why?

Nawawy: Many providers do not want to alienate their viewers. They don't want to be framed as the carrier that offers a "terrorist network." That is narrow-minded. People have a right to be exposed to different perspectives. When I taught a class in Middle Eastern media last semester, I let them watch Al-Jazeera and many subscribed to it because they found it interesting.

SPIEGEL: Can the success of Al-Jazeera International be quantified?

Nawawy: It is currently hard to quantify its success among viewers, especially given that the Arab world does not have specialized rating companies like America's AC Nielsen and Arbitron.

Interview conducted by Yassin Musharbash.

New Jordan - AlJazeera crisis

2007-04-24T07:47:00.000+01:00

Media outlets have been reporting about a new crisis between AlJazeera TV and Jordan. The new scandal started after Jordanian authorities confiscated the videotape of an interview in which the former crown prince slammed the United States and Saudi Arabia for pursuing "destructive" Middle East policies.
The row has escalated as the Doha-based television aired a discussion on alleged Jordanian king's remarks suggesting the problem of Palestinian refugees could be resolved through paying "compensations" to refugees by rich Arab states. These comments were first published by an Israeli newspaper and drew sharp reaction from Palestinian groups. Jordanian officials, however, denied the monarch made such remarks.
This is not the first time, that AlJazeera is involved in such a deep crisis with an Arab regime. In Saudi Arabia, alJazeera is banned. The Saudi regime disliked the Qatar-based channel for often giving a voice to the monarchy’s opponents.
AlJazeera was banned in early February 2004 from covering the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Most recently, the popular pan-Arab news channel was not even permitted to cover the Arab League summit, held last month in Riyadh. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has been preventing Saudi companies from advertising on the Doah-based station. Instead, the Saudis back al-Arabiya, AlJazeera's main competitor.
In the current affair, AlJazeera claims Jordanian security agents confiscated a tape of an interview with Prince Hassan Bin Talal saying it included comments that would harm Jordanian relations with Saudi Arabia.
AlJazeera called the seizure "an offence and insult" to the TV station and to press freedom. Gassan Ben Jeddou, Al Jazeera staff member, and one of the prominent figures in Arab media, said the interview at the Royal Court was not aired live because of the Prince's commitments. In the interview, Prince Hassan said there are reports allegedly claiming that Saudi Security Adviser Prince Bander Bin Sultan supports "jihadist" groups against the Lebanese Shiite movement Hizbullah, the Al Jazeera journalist conveyed.
Additionally, Prince Hassan added some Arab parties are cooperating with the US to attack Iran and Hizbullah besides trying to instigate a regional Sunni-Shiite strife, Ben Jeddou added.
Now it remains to be seen how the current crisis will develop. About five years ago, Jordan shut down the local office of the Qatari TV station. The move came after the airing of a show considered an affront by the kingdom's royal family.

Al-Jazeera named an agent of democracy, not terrorism

2007-04-24T07:45:00.000+01:00

By Dahr Jamail

DOHA, Qatar (IPS/GIN) - The Al-Jazeera television network is gaining international respect for defending its journalistic mission and press freedoms, despite harassment from U.S. officials who call it a “terrorist network.”

“I support Al-Jazeera because Al-Jazeera has done more to propagate democracy in the Middle East region than anybody else, certainly more than the American government has done,” media specialist Hugh Miles said. “It’s strange to me that people refer to Al-Jazeera as a ‘terrorist network’ because that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Mr. Miles spoke to IPS at the third annual Al-Jazeera forum, which took place Mar. 31 to Apr. 2 in Doha. The forum highlighted the successful recent expansion of the network while also addressing difficulties that reporters face in the Middle East hot spots.

Mr. Miles, author of “Al- Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World” and an award-winning freelance journalist, said former U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld had got it wrong on Al-Jazeera.

“Al-Jazeera has been called a ‘terrorist network’ or ‘the voice of (Osama) bin Laden,’ but this just demonstrates deep ignorance of its history and the channel,” he said.

The 10-year-old Al-Jazeera network weathered a U.S. military attack on its Baghdad office during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in April 2003. It faced accusations from Mr. Rumsfeld that it promoted terrorism by airing beheadings and other attacks.

Al-Jazeera editors say the channel has never aired a beheading, nor does it support terrorism.

Other leading voices at the forum spoke in support of the channel, which has been under frequent attack of all kinds. The forum, titled “Media and the Middle East: Going Beyond the Headlines” brought journalists, international media leaders and scholars from around the world to discuss critical issues facing the media, with a focus on in-depth journalism.

Abdul Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al- Arabi said, “journalists should unite and raise our voices to say ‘no’ to this kind of brutal treatment by the leader of the free world, by people who are representing freedom. We should stand united against the new wave of embedded journalism because this is censorship.”

Many other journalists are detained without fair trial. Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese national, was detained by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in December 2001. He has yet to be charged, and continues to be held as “enemy combatant” at Guantanamo Bay.

On Aug. 7, 2004, the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government led by former CIA asset Iyad Allawi, shut down the Iraq office of al-Jazeera, claiming that it was presenting a negative image of Iraq, and charging the network with “fueling anti-coalition hostilities.”

That makes it similar to the Inter Press Service (IPS/GIN) news agency, said IPS director-general Mario Lubetkin. Al-Jazeera has much in common with IPS because the Arab network “goes for the news behind the news,” and “because they cover the south,” he said.

The forum addressed several issues such as parachute journalism, journalism of depth and the new media. But the dominant theme remained attacks on journalists in an increasingly difficult global environment.

Variations in Reporting Al Jazeera Trial

2007-04-24T07:41:00.000+01:00

Reports about a U.K. trial under the Official Secrets Act have varied in the amount of background explanation and in reference to previous stories suggesting that a leaked memo may record discussion about Al Jazeera. The report by David Stringer for Associated Press is headlined "Al-Jazeera Memo Trial Starts in London," (Dispatch Online). David Keogh, aged 50, and Leo O'Connor, 44, are accused of violating secrecy laws by disclosing a document relating to talks between U.S. President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair in Washington on April 16, 2004. Stringer cites the earlier report by The Daily Mirror newspaper that Blair had argued during this meeting against Bush's suggestion of bombing Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Reports by the BBC and The Times make no mention of Al Jazeera. Their reports do repeat the prosecution case as made in court. There has been evidence so far from Matthew Rycroft, who wrote the original memo. He has explained that it was distributed to David Hill, Blair's director of communications, and to Tom Kelly, his spokesman, not to use the information in their work briefing the press, but so that they had a more complete knowledge of the policies the Prime Minister was putting forward to Bush. It was reported that the meeting lasted about two hours and was also attended, on the British side, by Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the Prime Minister's foreign policy adviser, and Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff. Bush was accompanied by Colin Powell, then U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, then his National Security Adviser, and Dan Freed, special assistant to the president.
There was concern at the time about the original Daily Mirror report, especially when the Attorney General used the Official Secrets Act to prevent further publication. For example Boris Johnson, now a Conservative shadow minister, announced he would be prepared to publish the memo. He wrote in his blog that "the Attorney General's ban is ridiculous, untenable, and redolent of guilt... we now have allegations of such severity, against the U.S. President and his motives, that we need to clear them up. If someone passes me the document within the next few days I will be very happy to publish it in The Spectator, and risk a jail sentence."

Christopher Hitchens, often a supporter of Bush policy on Iraq, was also concerned about threats to journalism and became involved in the story. Writing in Slate in January 2006 he considered reasons to think the memo may be authentic. These included the strong reaction of the U.K. Attorney General and a quote in the original story from an unnamed spokesman for Blair saying that Bush's remark was "humorous, not serious." Hitchens concluded that "This is as much as to concede that some such conversation did in fact take place." Hitchens also questioned Powell's claim not to remember what was said at the meeting.
”I am not the world's greatest fan of Powell or of his secretaryship, but the chief steward of American foreign policy might be expected to remember a proposal to bomb the territory of a friendly neutral that is the site of U.S. Central Command, as well as a sharp dispute about it between his president and his country's chief political and military ally. If he doesn't feel confident enough to say: 'That is too absurdly untrue to deserve even a comment from me,' then he is not doing much better than stalling.”
So far there has been no U.K. reporting linking the trial and the public concern at the time of the Daily Mirror publication. The fact that it is now clearly stated that Colin Powell was present at the meeting may have an implication for the Freedom of Information Act in the U.S. Steve Wood has reported on the U.K. Freedom of Information blog about repeated efforts to find out more about the memo in the U.K. In July 2006 he quoted a response from a request to the U.S. State Department, "no records responsive to your request were located." Wood found this surprising as he believed then that Colin Powell had been at the meeting based on statements by Peter Kilfoyle MP, who has seen a copy of the leaked memo.
"The other problem is that if a record is held at the White House, 'the President's immediate personal staff or any part of the Executive Office of the President whose sole function is to advise and assist the President' are not subject to the U.S. FOIA (the reason I directed my request to the State Dept). Requests for records originating from the White House are also subject to special treatment."
So there may be no State Department records of meetings held at the White House.

It has been reported that Peter Kilfoyle may face similar charges, but there has been no update on this. As reported in the Sunday Times, papers were passed to the Crown Prosecution Service last year and senior lawyers were in the final stages of consulting on whether to press charges against Kilfoyle and former MP Tony Clarke . “A decision on Kilfoyle and Clarke is expected soon,” a spokesman said. This was in February. A case against Peter Kilfoyle would get more media attention than the current trial. He is already known as a critic of the Iraq war and the Telegraph has reported a recent comment on Gordon Brown's meeting with George Bush. "This is Bush's administration saying it can do business with Gordon, as it could with Tony Blair, and this worries me."

So far there has been no comment on the trial in the U.S. that can be found through Google News. At the time of the Daily Mirror story, there was some questioning in the White House as reported by Dan Froomkin. He was interested in the nature of the denials.

First there was an email from Scott McLellan: "We are not interested in dignifying something so outlandish and inconceivable with a response." Froomkin suggested that "nothing arouses White House reporters more these days than a non-denial denial," but then added, "I apparently overestimated the mainstream press corps' baloney detectors. By contrast, the corps was downright dogged yesterday when it came to rooting out the details of Bush's summons to jury duty in Crawford. Now there's a big story."

There may be more comment later. The trial is expected to last for two or three weeks.

Al Jazeera have reported the connection with the Daily Mirror report, but have also included statements from the prosecutor, David Perry.

"We live in a democratic society, not the Wild West," Perry told the court. "It is not for people to decide they are going to be the sheriff in town."

Jordanian authorities confiscate Al-Jazeera TV tape interview with Jordan's Prince Hassan

2007-04-22T00:58:00.000+01:00

AMMAN, Jordan: Jordanian authorities on Saturday confiscated the videotape of an interview with the country's former crown prince by the Al-Jazeera Television, the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster and a Jordanian official said.

The tape was confiscated as an Al-Jazeera reporter, Ghassan Ben Jeddou, was about to leave the kingdom. No further details about the circumstances of the seizure were immediately known.

Nasser Judeh, the chief Jordanian government spokesman, confirmed the videotape's confiscation but said it had nothing to do with the content of the interview with Prince Hassan, the uncle to Jordan's King Abdullah II and one time heir to the Jordanian throne.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera aired a statement by Ben Jeddou, the network's bureau chief in Beirut, Lebanon, who interviewed Prince Hassan in Amman and who said the tape contained remarks by the Jordanian royal citing U.S. reports, such as the Brookings Institution, that allegedly claim a national security adviser in Saudi Arabia was financing Sunni militants to fight the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

The network identified the Saudi official as Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former Saudi ambassador to Washington.

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In the interview, Prince Hassan also sharply criticized U.S. policies in the region as "destructive," Ben Jeddou said.

Ben Jeddou said that the Jordanian authorities informed the channel's office in Amman that the seizure was "an official measure by Jordanian authorities" and that they have "no problem with al-Jazeera."

Ben Jeddou said the confiscation was a "mistake" by the Jordanians. The reporter also cited the Jordanians as telling him that there were "higher interests for the country than dealing with what you reporters call freedom of journalism."

Hassan was the brother of King Hussein but was dismissed as crown prince in a 1999 royal shake-up by Hussein shortly before his death that year. He is a moderate who does not hold any official role in Jordanian politics but is has considerable influence among decision makers.

A spokesman for Prince Hassan declined to comment the incident.

City-owned cable system offers Al Jazeera, Arab-run news network

2007-04-21T18:42:00.000+01:00

Published: Saturday, April 21, 2007
By Sam Hemingway
Free Press Staff Writer

The face of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, flickers across the television screen as a reporter fills in viewers on the latest in the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales story.

Meanwhile, a news ticker streams headlines across the bottom of the screen: "U.S. says 24 Taliban killed in Afghan clash .... Nigeria election to go ahead .... U.N.: Sudan flying weapons into Darfur."

Squint your eyes, and you'd think you were watching CNN, or maybe BBC. Open them, and you'd see an Arabic-looking logo alongside the words "Al Jazeera" at the bottom of the screen. And it's all available to you in the comfort of your Burlington-area home.

Burlington, it turns out, is one of the very few places in the United States where the English language version of Al Jazeera, the Arab-backed television network criticized as pro-terrorist by the Bush administration, is available to local cable viewers.

Al Jazeera's Arab channel first came under worldwide scrutiny after it broadcast video statements from Osama Bin Laden in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorists attacks in the United States.

"We were certainly squeamish about it at first, given its reputation in the United States," said Tim Nulty, director of Burlington Telecom, the city-owned cable system, speaking of Al Jazeera. "But if you look at it, it looks like BBC. I think it's more mainstream and more objective than CNN."

Portions of Al Jazeera's English broadcast are occasionally featured on Channel 16, Comcast's education channel in the Chittenden County region, according to Scott Campitelli, Channel 16's executive director.

"It's got an Arab perspective, because it's from the Middle East," Campitelli said. "I don't see it as propaganda ... It's very credible journalism, very well done."

Even so, Burlington is one of the very few places in the country where Al Jazeera is available to cable subscribers. It also can be seen in Houston, Washington D.C. and parts of Ohio.

Worldwide, the English version of Al Jazeera network reaches 100 million households, about half the viewership of CNN. Despite its anti-Israeli reputation, Al Jazeera's English and Arabic channels are available to viewers in Israel.

"It's extraordinary that while the rest of the world is happy to watch us ... the U.S. stands in splendid isolation," Nigel Parsons, the Al Jazeera English network's managing director told The Associated Press recently.

Most of the network's programs are beamed by satellite from Al Jazeera's space-age looking studios in Doha, Qatar, a small, pro-American monarchy on the shores of the Persian Gulf.

The newscasts touch on American stories but have a heavier diet of news from Asia, Africa and even South America than American-based newscasts. Weather and sports reports are more worldly as well; a sports cast Thursday afternoon began with a report on a cricket tournament.

"The subject matter is stuff you can't get anywhere else," said Nulty, a globe-trotting economist before settling down in Burlington and taking the helm of Burlington Telecom.

Burlington Telecom began offering Al Jazeera in its cable packages to customers six months ago. The two-year-old cable system does not pay anything for Al Jazeera and has a contract to provide it until 2011.

Nulty said he has received little if any criticism about the decision to air Al Jazeera. Burlington Telecom has 1,200 customers in the city.

"One person called to complain vociferously," Nulty said. "Then we had two others call us who were obviously put up to it by the first guy. That's it."

Campitelli, at Channel 16, said he had received no complaints about Al Jazeera; Comcast reaches 34,000 households in Chittenden County.

Barbara Walters Takes ‘Some Time to Enjoy The View’ from the Middle East

2007-04-21T18:39:00.000+01:00

By Rima Abdelkader

The status of Middle Eastern women and their roles have often been undervalued and misrepresented in both the United States’ and Middle East’s mainstream television news media. In the former, their identity has been limited to the clothing they wear, misrepresented through on-air discourse and visually on screen and juxtaposed with the need for ‘liberation.’ In the latter, their identity has been limited to their domestic duties where few if not many female voices appear in domestic radio and television outlets.

These are just some of many perceptions of Middle Eastern women that were discussed and debated by female television reporters and journalists from the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Iran, in a New York panel discussion moderated by a female U.S. TV news journalist at The Museum of Television and Radio on Thursday, April 19th.

In a political, stereotypical context, the moderator could be seen as ‘one liberator’ and the panelists as ‘oppressed women,’ but this was largely not the case. The panelists and moderator spoke candidly on the need for advancement in looking beyond the hijab or veil and discovering shared needs in each of their host countries.

Let’s get real. This topic, predominantly, has not been on the agenda of TV mainstream news media in both regions although it has been frequently debated and discussed in both public and in private spheres albeit through Western orientalist discourse. This panel discussion, though a public sphere and did on occasion fall into this type of “us” versus “them” discourse, was nonetheless distinctive in its framing of these issues since it included representatives from the mainstream TV news media world from both regions.

It was moderated by ABC’s Barbara Walters and included an impressive panel of women, including MBC anchorwoman Muna AbuSulayman, Pakistani media specialist Tasneem Ahmar, McClatchy’s Baghdad Bureau reporter Huda Ahmed, LBC journalist May Chidiac, Al Jazeera English anchorwoman Ghida Fakhry, and Iranian human rights advocate Mehrangiz Kar.

Far from a kumbaya-type of social, these panelists, notably AbuSulayman, Ahmed and Fakhry, fiercely debated Walters on several of her initiated discussions on the perceptions of Middle Eastern women.

“Americans think of woman in Saudi Arabia as not having the right to drive and covered,” Walters said and questioned AbuSulayman on the perceptions of Middle Eastern women in Saudi Arabia.

Although not having this right to drive is challenging at times AbuSulayman explained, “it is not an inconvenience” as not having equal pay for women. She blamed the later on a male/female schism rather than a religious schism. On the subject of the veil in Saudi Arabia, AbuSulayman responded, “It is not about how much is covered, it is about modesty.”

AbuSulayman is an anchorwoman and woman’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia. She hosts an Arabic version of Walter’s The View in Saudi Arabia, labeled Kalam Noua’em (Arabic for “Speaking Softly”) that airs from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia.

Learning of this new TV program in the Middle East, Walters joked, “Perhaps, you have a similar exchange like Rosie [Rosie O’Donnell], then?” The audience laughed. (For those who may not understand this inside joke, Rosie is the new co-host of The View on ABC in the United States and has received quite a lot of controversy for her political views (For an example, click here).)

Divorced and living independently with one child, AbuSulayman does not fit the old/modern political stereotype of an Arab woman. Although she only lives fifteen minutes away from her family, she explained it is still a challenge for her given the harsh restrictions imposed on women in her host country. In her discussion, she referred to Prophet Mohammed’s (phuh) first wife, Khadijah, who she considers best exemplified an independent, Arab woman. At the age of 40 years old, Khadijah was both a widow and a businesswoman who ran her own caravan trading business. It was at that age when she married Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) who was 25 years old at the time and working in that business under her supervision.

Barbara then asked Ahmar, “In Pakistan, women are not ‘liberated,’ forgive me if I’m not using the right word. Is that true?” This question falls into the Western orientalist discourse I had mentioned earlier.

Ahmar disagreed with Walters on her description of Pakistani women and explained that it is more so about them being confined to domestic duties than liberation. “The men still believe that the women should not be allowed outside the home,” she said.

Ahmar is Pakistan’s Resource and Publication Centre on Women and Media director and said that in her country of Pakistan, “Women are being killed for honor if seen with another man.” She said progress is being made, however, and explained that four male witnesses are no longer required under Pakistani law to absolve women of alleged crimes against them.

In her work, she said, she tries “to sensitize the media on gender issues” to affect men’s thinking of women in Pakistan in hopes for change. She said she is a teacher and her hope is that her students will have different mindsets than those who currently hold misogynistic views.

McClatchy’s Baghdad Bureau Reporter Huda Ahmad, who asked that her picture not be taken for fear of retribution and imprisonment by Iraqi authorities, discussed her role on the frontlines in covering war and carnage in her host country. “Anywhere you want to write a story, you have to gain their [Iraqis] trust,” she said. Her main fear, she told the audience, is that her “name will be published by the militia and Al Qaeda.”

“One story can kill you,” and added that she and her colleagues “try to avoid the cameras” and wait for the cameramen to give them clues on when the camera is turned off, so they can pass through with ease.

When asked if she will return to Iraq, she answered, “My friend once told me that if I do, I would not live long enough to write the story.” The Iraqi citizens who are aware of this, she said, now get their news from the Internet and blogs.

AbuSulayman, adding to the discussion, said she does not watch television anymore, but instead watches YouTube. In Saudi Arabia, she said there are Internet cafes, which she believed is revolutionizing the way in which Saudi Arabians retrieve their daily news. Blogging, she said, is a form of citizen journalism and is growing in Saudi Arabia.

Iranian human rights activist Mehrangiz Kar, a visiting scholar of the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, discussed her role and plight living in Iran. She explained that she is banned from returning to her country ever since she spoke out for Iranian women’s rights. Her and her husband can not see one another due to Iran's resulting censorship, she explained. More troubling, she said, is that her husband is under house arrest for speaking on his and her behalf on camera.

“Promoting women’s human rights is impossible,” Kar said and added that “Women rights activists are working very hard through the Internet and email.”

LBC journalist May Chidiac, who lost her arm and leg in Sept. 25, 2005 in an assassination attempt in Lebanon, is determined to stay in her native country of Lebanon. “Even though we live in danger,” she said, “doesn’t mean we listen to our enemies.” There was shock and awe from the audience when she made them aware of her 26 operations.

On the subject of Middle Eastern women on Arabic television, Chidiac told AbuSulayman that she was shocked to learn from her Arabic version of The View that 99% of Saudi Arabian men are against having Arab women in the media.

Walters asked AbuSulayman why there are so many restrictions in Saudi Arabia. AbuSulayman countered that “there are mainly restrictions at the ministerial levels and at top positions in factories,” not in all employment levels. She explained that it is relative. She grew up looking up to her mother and her mother’s friends as role models as they were in top positions in the labor force themselves.

Fakhry responded to the generalization of Walters’ question of restrictions in Middle Eastern countries and said, “I think there is a tendency to generalize” [on the part of the United States].

On the subject of media, Fakhry thought it was “unfathomable” that Al Jazeera English is not shown in the United States. (However, worth noting, some of Al Jazeera English’s programming can be found on YouTube.)

Walters asked Fakhry, “Why is Al Jazeera International biased towards America?”

Fakhry responded, “The mantra of Al Jazeera International is to show two sides” and added that the network shows the “reality of what you see out there.”

Ahmad, agreeing with Fakhry, went further into the topic of generalization and told Walters, the United States government and soldiers only knew about the civilization of Babylon when they invaded her host country of Iraq. When the Iraqis learned the United States entered their country, she said, “At first, they thought they [United States] had information they [Iraqis] were not aware of.”

Walters responded, “We were ignorant not only in your country, but in other countries. We’re learning slowly but surely.”

Fakhry contested and asked Walters what is being done. Walters answered, “The big question is, what do we do about this?” Fakhry persisted, “That is not raised in the United States.” Walters then replied, “I can’t represent the whole media let alone ABC.” This is where the panel discussion became “a hot topic” as the cast of Walter’s The View would say.

These women, in the end, pointed out that what one fails to realize is that Middle Eastern women share the same need as any other woman: the need to affect positive change in their lives. Yes, there are differences in which they live their lives (from social, economic, political, educational, religious, etc.) and what ‘positive change’ may consist of, but that with which they share is relatively the same.

Following the forum, I asked Walters if she would consider having such a panel on her show, The View, in the United States. She answered that such a forum took much and energy on the part of MTR. I persisted then to ask her, then, why not have at least one woman from this panel share their views on the status and perceptions of Middle Eastern women in both media outlets? Considering that idea, Walters told me she may consider having AbuSulayman on her show given that she has an Arabic version of The View in her country.

Rima Abdelkader is a NY-based journalist and a graduate of Pace University in NY.

How I learned to love Al-Jazeera

2007-04-21T18:29:00.000+01:00

The Arab TV network is controversial for showing Osama bin Laden's videos, but it provides a real opportunity to help people understand each other

Ofir Gendelman
Citizen Special

Saturday, April 21, 2007

CREDIT: Caren Firouz, Reuters
The entrance to the Al-Jazeera studios is seen through a cactus garden in Doha, Qatar. The channel has become an unexpected means to build respect between Israelis and Arabs.

It is common to denounce Al-Jazeera, the wildly popular Qatari TV station, as a venue for anti-Israel and anti-American propaganda, and as the favourite channel of Osama bin Laden. As an Israeli, however, I prefer to think of Al-Jazeera (along with other emerging Arabic language TV channels) as a potential friend.

Until Al-Jazeera appeared in 1996, TV stations throughout the Arab world served mainly as the mouthpieces of their respective regimes. The newscasts dutifully reported on the daily activities of the ruling king or dictator -- whom he met, where he visited, how many people came from far and wide to greet him. It was deadly dull.

Then along came Al-Jazeera, which for the first time ever allowed criticism of these same Arab regimes (except, of course, the Qatari ruling family, one of whose members is the founder of the channel). Arab viewers were immediately captivated and ratings soared. So did profits, prompting other Arabic media to copy the new genre. The Arab media scene was changed forever.

Al-Jazeera was the first Arab channel to host Israelis, officials and pundits alike, a daring novelty that would normally be viewed as treason to the Arab Cause against the Jewish state. Again, ratings went through the roof, and the lesson was clear: Book an Israeli guest and Arab audiences will tune in. Other Arabic stations did just that, and suddenly the masses were being introduced to flesh-and-blood Israelis in their own living rooms.

The Israeli government seized the opportunity. Since 2001, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has used a special team to serve as Israel's face on the Arab TV screens. These individuals, all of them experts in Arabic culture and language, Islamic history and Middle Eastern politics, were prepped by the top TV trainers in Israel and the United States, in order to help them better pitch the Israeli message to their designated audience.

Think about it: For generations, Arabs have been told by their leaders what to think about Jews and Israelis, but now Israeli spokespeople are able to speak directly to the Arab street, in its own language and over the heads of its illiberal governments. Arabs for the first time could see that Israelis don't have horns and tails, that we are willing to talk about peace and co-existence, that we respect and understand Arab history and culture. Even those channels that were reluctant at first to host Israelis, for fear of "fraternizing with the enemy," could see that interviewing Israelis in Arabic brought ratings, attention and influence.

As the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs' first spokesperson to the Arab media outlets, I witnessed how the attitude toward Israel changed over time. At first, every time I was interviewed on the evening news of Al-Jazeera and its competitors, the anchors treated me rudely.

Although Arab culture is famous for its hospitality and manners, no one said "Good evening" or a simple "Hello, thanks for being with us." At the end of these interviews the anchors would cut me off and finish with a statement such as: "Surely, the Palestinian struggle will go on."

Slowly but surely, they got used to me and the discourse became warm. A friend of mine was killed in a terrorist bombing at the Hebrew University campus in Jerusalem, and 15 minutes after hearing the news I received a call from an Arab producer. I went on the show to give the official Israeli response to the attack but, grief-stricken, I also told the anchor that my best friend had died in the attack. Through my earpiece I heard my interviewer say, "May Allah's mercy be upon him. I'm sorry for your loss."

To me, that was a breakthrough. We were talking to each other as people to people.

To supplement this direct engagement with ordinary Arab citizens, the Israeli foreign ministry created an Arabic website, altawasul.net (altawasul means "making a connection"), featuring information not just about Israel's government and policies, but also a window into the "Israel behind the news."

When Arabs think of Israelis, they often think of soldiers, but we are a nation of poets, peaceniks, scientists, philosophers, even beach bums. The website is so popular now that writers from Arab countries which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel use it as a platform to publish their articles and to speak directly to the Israeli and Arab publics alike, calling for peace.

This idea of talking to the Arab world in its own language, using its own terminology, should be adopted by other democratic countries, especially those who feel the war on terror is at least in part a war over ideas.

It's astonishing to me the U.S. State Department has just one Arabic speaking diplomat, representing the entire Bush administration on highly important matters such as the war in Iraq and the situation in the Middle East.

The application to bring Al-Jazeera to Canadian television was controversial, but Canada, Britain and other G-8 members could learn a lot from the Israeli experience. After all, they enjoy a huge advantage of having diplomatic relations with all the Arab countries, something Israel sadly does not have.

Everyone likes to talk about winning the "hearts and minds" of Arabs, but that's impossible to do if you don't know their culture and background, and if you don't start talking to them in their own language.

Ofir Gendelman is a diplomat at the Embassy of Israel in Ottawa. He returns to Israel this summer to take up duties as deputy director of the Israeli foreign ministry's Arab media division.

Al-Jazeera channel offered locally, struggling nationwide

2007-04-20T21:01:00.000+01:00

Toledo Free Press Staff Writer
news@toledofreepress.com

Nearly six months after its debut, Al-Jazeera's English language television has gained strong viewership across Europe and in parts of Asia, Australia — and even Israel, according to station executives and local companies that carry it.

But no major cable or satellite provider in the United States is carrying the channel, a decision the network blames on political pressure. U.S. carriers, however, say there is simply no market.

Nearly 100 million households worldwide receive Al-Jazeera's English service, almost half as many as CNN, station executives say. Since January, it has been broadcasting news to 550,000 Israeli homes on Yes TV, the country's largest cable provider.

“It's extraordinary that while the rest of the world is happy to watch us ... the U.S. stands in splendid isolation,'' said Al-Jazeera English Managing Director Nigel Parsons at the station's headquarters in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

Station executives said they expected a dogged battle for American airwaves because Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel has been excoriated by the Bush administration as a mouthpiece for terrorists including al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden.

Al-Jazeera in Toledo
Buckeye CableSystem spokes-man Tom Dawson said the company offers Al-Jazeera English on channel 220 to area subscribers of its digital basic package. The network began airing through Buckeye on March 19.

Dawson said the cable service provider decided to carry the channel in part because of the large Middle Eastern population in the area.

“We think it helps add to the diversity of the channel,” he said.

Buckeye, which is owned by Block Communications, received some requests for the station prior to offering it, but not overwhelming demand.

Dawson said Al-Jazeera English differs significantly from the Al-Jazeera Arabic. He said it's a mainstream news channel such as CNN or the BBC.

Buckeye received several complaints when it first announced their intention to carry the station, but those have mostly subsided since it began airing, Dawson said.

“We've received as many compliments as complaints since it's been on,” he said.

Dawson said most of those who have complained haven't actually watched the channel.

Retired Oregon resident Yehia Shousher, the former president of the Toledo-based Lebanese-American Association, said he watches Al-Jazeera English. He said his impression is that most people in the area of Middle Eastern descent watch the channel, particularly those who are first or second generation Americans.

“They like to watch it and listen to the Middle Eastern news,” Shousher said.

Shousher said many local residents of Middle Eastern descent also watch the Arabic Al-Jazeera, which they receive via satellite.

Still, No. 1 U.S. cable provider Comcast Corp. was ready to carry Al-Jazeera English's November debut in the Detroit area, Al-Jazeera executives said.

But Comcast suddenly pulled out just before launch, Parsons said. He and Wadah Khanfar, managing director of Al-Jazeera Arabic, believed the decision was spurred by U.S. political opposition.

“We suspect there was outside pressure, including of a political nature,'' Parsons said. But he said he had no evidence of such pressure, and did not know whether pressure came from the U.S. government, elected officials or lobby groups.

A spokeswoman for Philadelphia-based Comcast, D'Arcy Rudnay, said scarce bandwidth and not political pressure was to blame.

“We looked at the local lineup and determined that the channel capacity would be better used to add other channels and services that our customers have been asking for, e.g. more (high definition) and HD On Demand programming,'' Rudnay said in an e-mail.

Al-Jazeera in Detroit
Detroit, home to a large Arab community, was considered an ideal market for Arab-focused news. Parsons said Comcast's Detroit affiliate was “pushing for an agreement'' to carry Al-Jazeera, which broadcasts in high definition.

Comcast's Detroit spokesman, Jerome Espy, said he wasn't familiar with the details of the Al-Jazeera negotiations. Espy said Comcast Detroit has bandwidth to spare for channels “that fit a certain niche.'' But he said there was already programming catering to local Arabs.

For now, Al-Jazeera's only U.S. carriers are Fision, a small provider in Houston; Globecast, a French satellite provider; and local providers in Ohio, Vermont and Washington D.C.

The station is currently negotiating with others, Parsons said.

Al-Jazeera faces questions about its marketability in America, however.

At one major cable carrier, an executive said Al-Jazeera's English programming was too similar to BBC World and there weren't enough likely American viewers to add another foreign-centric news channel.

The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss corporate strategy.

Al-Jazeera in Israel
Al-Jazeera English has found an audience in Israel for its mix of extensive African, Asian and Middle Eastern coverage. Viewers in Israel also have access to Al-Jazeera's original Arabic news channel.

“This is thought of as one of the best news channels in the world,'' said Yes TV spokeswoman Libi Zipser, speaking of Al-Jazeera English. “There are those who think that certain channels are less supportive of Israel, but we just let our customers see what they want to see.''

Jeanette Elmekis, 58, whose husband was killed in the 1973 Middle East war, said she thought it was “very important'' to understand what people perceived as Israel's enemies think — even if it appears unfair.

“But if I hate him (my enemy), that won't heal my wounds,'' Elmekis said.

Other analysts say it is not surprising Israel has accepted

Al-Jazeera English, given how aggressive and skeptical Israeli media are. That has conditioned Israelis to such coverage.

Al-Jazeera “is very critical of Israel, and biased and highly problematic. But you don't ban it,'' said Eytan Gilboa, a communications professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University.

YouTube deal finally makes Al Jazeera English available in the US

2007-04-20T14:26:00.000+01:00

By Jeffrey Blyth

Friday, 20 April 2007
The new English language version of Al Jazeera has finally found an outlet in the United States. It has signed a deal with YouTube which will carry the Qatar-based news channel.

One reason that Al Jazeera had difficulty securing a cable outlet in the US – despite signing up several top-name journalists including David Frost – was accusations that it was spreading anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda.

On YouTube Al Jazeera will be known as a "branded channel" – putting it in the same category as the National Hockey League and Capitol Records, which use the website to promote their products. A spokesman for Al Jazeera, Russell Merryman, who is in charge of the company's news service and website, said the deal with YouTube offers an opportunity for "people from all around the world to broadcast and express themselves by sharing videos in a safe and lawful manner".

The YouTube channel will run segments from such Al Jazeera English language shows as "Frost All Over the World", "Inside Iraq" a debate-style show that originates in Baghdad, a show hosted by Riz Khan, a former BBC and CNN journalist and a programme about the UN called "Political Bytes" hosted by UN correspondent Mark Seddon.

Al-Jazeera Memo Trial Starts in London

2007-04-18T19:52:00.000+01:00

By DAVID STRINGER
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) -- A British government official and a former political researcher went on trial Wednesday for allegedly leaking a classified memo in which President Bush reportedly referred to bombing the Arab television station Al-Jazeera.

David Keogh, 50, a cipher expert, and Leo O'Connor, 44, a lawmaker's aide, are accused of violating secrecy laws by disclosing a document relating to 2004 talks between Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair. Both defendants deny violating the Official Secrets Act.

Prosecutors allege Keogh passed the memo to O'Connor in May 2004, who in turn placed it in a file he handed to his boss, Tony Clarke, then a legislator who had voted against Britain's decision to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The Daily Mirror newspaper previously reported that the memo noted Blair had argued against Bush's suggestion of bombing Al-Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, Qatar. The Daily Mirror said its sources disagreed on whether Bush's suggestion was serious.

Blair said he had no information about any proposed U.S. action against Al-Jazeera, and the White House called the claims "outlandish and inconceivable."

In his opening remarks, prosecutor David Perry did not mention the memo's contents, but said jurors would see the document during parts of the trial that would be closed to the public because of the sensitivity of the contents.

The document, marked "Secret-Personal," was intended to be restricted to senior officials and was written by a Blair adviser, he said.

Keogh and O'Connor put the lives of troops in Iraq at risk because the memo contained defense data, Perry said.

Bush and Blair met in Washington on April 16, 2004, while the Coalition Provisional Authority was acting as administrator in postwar Iraq against what Perry said was "the background of the insurgency."

"We live in a democratic society, not the Wild West," the prosecutor told the court. "It is not for people to decide they are going to be the sheriff in town."

Keogh worked at a government communications bunker handling sensitive documents and intelligence, Perry said. The unit relayed information to diplomats overseas via encrypted or secure methods.

Perry said Keogh received a faxed copy of the memo to send on to an official, but duplicated it unlawfully before doing so and later passed the document to O'Connor.

Clarke, who is no longer a lawmaker, alerted authorities when he discovered the memo among the paperwork from O'Connor.

Britain's Foreign Office said Keogh is suspended pending the outcome of the case.

Prosecutors said the trial would likely last two to three weeks.

Calls for release of Gitmo cameraman

2007-04-18T19:39:00.000+01:00

Sudan's Justice Minister says US officials are responsible for the health of an Al Jazeera news network cameraman held captive in Guantanamo prison.

Mohammad Ali Al-Marazi's warning follows a 100-day hunger strike by the Sudanese-born cameraman, Sami Al Hajj, who was protesting his unlawful detention.

Al-Marazi condemned the cameraman's detention and called it an illegal act which runs counter to human rights.

He added that American claims of supporting human rights were "false" and that the US government has imprisoned scores of detainees without trial in the now notorious Guantanamo prison.

Sami Al Hajj was captured while in transit to Afghanistan in December 2001. Since 2007, he has been held without charge as an "enemy combatant" in Guantanamo's Camp Delta.

Calls for his release have come from around the world. Reporters Sans Frontiers has repeatedly condemned his detention and expressed concern over his imprisonment by launching an online petition calling for his release.

A NEW ERA FOR GLOBAL NEWS AND COMMUNICATIONS

2007-04-18T19:07:00.000+01:00

Mario Lubetkin

APRIL 2007 (IPS) - Al Jazeera's plan to win a section of the western market by launching an English-language channel last November set off a global battle for giant audiences by other international TV networks, writes Mario Lubetkin, director-general of the IPS news agency.

In this analysis, Lubetkin writes that although the spokespeople of BBC of London and France 24 do not attribute their entrance into the universe of television to competition with Al Jazeera's English channel, what is certain is that both have announced or begun this month a pilot phase of satellite channels in Arabic.

But without credibility, the new companies have no future, which was the case with the Arabic-language channel Al Hurra, promoted by the U.S. government. And respect for the local and regional culture is more important than the last technological advance or the deep pockets of investors.

Welcome to Al Jazeera English (You Tube)

2007-04-18T00:12:00.000+01:00

Did Politics Push Comcast to Pull Al-Jazeera HD?

2007-04-17T13:55:00.000+01:00

By Phillip Swann

Washington, D.C. (April 17, 2007) -- Comcast backed away from a commitment to launch Al-Jazeera in High-Definition due to political pressure.

That's according to Al-Jazeera executives who made the charge to the Associated Press. Comcast denies the allegation.

Al-Jazeera's new English-speaking channel launched in the United States six months ago but has been picked up by just a handful of small cable systems.

The Arab news network has sparked controversy worldwide for what some say is favorable coverage of terrorists including Osama Bin Laden. The network denies the charges.

Al-Jazeera English managing director Nigel Parsons tells AP that Comcast was set to launch the high-def Al-Jazeera in Detroit, which is home to many Arab-Americans. However, Parsons says the cable operator pulled out just prior to the launch.

"We suspect there was outside pressure, including of a political nature,' Parsons said.

However, Parsons said he did not have any concrete evidence that Comcast was pressured by government officials or anyone else.

Comcast spokeswoman D'Arcy Rudnay denies the allegation, saying that the cable operator decided instead to use the bandwidth for more popular services.

'We looked at the local lineup and determined that the channel capacity would be better used to add other channels and services that our customers have been asking for, more (High Definition) and HD On Demand programming," Rudnay told the wire service.

But Parsons says the Comcast office in Detroit was "pushing" for Al-Jazeera to be added.

Jerome Espy, the cable operator's spokesman in Detroit, said he didn't know the details of the negotiations.

Al-Jazeera's American Accent

2007-04-17T13:45:00.000+01:00

There is only one U.S. Marine in my Rolodex, and he can be found under the letter "R": Captain Josh Rushing. A telephone number follows, though I don't know if it's still in service. Certainly Mr. Rushing is no longer in service, at least as far as the Marines are concerned. He is now a reporter for Al-Jazeera English, and the face of Middle America in the Middle East.

Mr. Rushing entered a lot of Rolodexes in 2004 after the release of the documentary "Control Room," in which he appeared as a spokesman for CentCom while stationed in Qatar during the early days of the Iraq war. Soft-spoken and thoughtful, if unsophisticated, he was a refreshing contrast to the androids-in-fatigues usually wheeled out by the Pentagon to hurl jargon at reporters.

Mr. Rushing was willing to state that the civilian deaths shown on Al-Jazeera horrified him, and drew a parallel between Al-Jazeera and Fox News, saying that both stations played to the patriotic expectations of their target audiences.

Wittingly or not, Mr. Rushing had entered a zone of moral relativism or uncertainty — which is attractive in the cinema and anathema to the military — and his journalistic star rose as rapidly as his military one fell. Critics, gearing up for the divinely ordained overthrow of President Bush in the 2004 presidential election, gushed over the film's unlikely hero. Requests for interviews followed, but Mr. Rushing was silenced by his superior officers. Eventually he left the Marines and the drab world of five-figure salaries to join the Al-Jazeera offshoot, Al-Jazeera English. He has now produced enough reports (available on YouTube and through his Web site, www.joshrushing.com) to give us a sense of what he's up to.

Is he an important figure? I think he is. Although Al-Jazeera's absence from American airwaves renders him nearly invisible here, the channel's popularity makes him a considerable factor in the rest of the world. His book, "Mission Al-Jazeera: Build a Bridge, Seek the Truth, Change the World," will be published by Palgrave MacMillan in June, and American fascination with Arab media continues to grow. Tonight, the Museum of Television and Radio is hosting a panel discussion, "The War of Information in the Middle East," the first in a three-part series to focus on the region. ("Women, the Media, and the Middle East," moderated by Barbara Walters, will be held on April 19, and "Covering the World: Al Jazeera," on May 3).

On Al-Jazeera English, Mr. Rushing's role is to play an ordinary, earnest, patriotic Texan who has seen the light about his government's foreign policy — what Gore Vidal mockingly calls "perpetual war for perpetual peace" — and mended his ways accordingly. On air, he makes a point of referring to his past as a Marine, to his complicity in insisting on the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and he presents himself as a humble man still in the process of deprogramming himself so that he can report the news rather than spin it. But there is no doubt that, spin or no spin, the subjects he selects tend to present America in an unflattering light.

Mr. Rushing's ventures in longform reportage (a specialty of the channel) include "Hollywood: Casting the Enemy," about the image of Arabs in American movies, with a particular focus on their roles as villains. "Spin: The Art of Selling War," is a slick piece of counter-spin that paints every American military venture since Vietnam (with the possible exception of Kosovo) as based on lies, lies, and more damned lies. "The Other Washington" is a painfully aimless essay about an unemployed young African-American in Anacostia, a dangerous Washington D.C. neighborhood; finally, there's "Vanished," about Aban Elias, an Iraqi-American civil engineer who returned to Baghdad to help rebuild the country after its liberation, only to be kidnapped in mysterious circumstances. He remains missing (there was no ransom demand, nor any tape of his death), and Mr. Rushing suggests that the American government doesn't care about him because he is a Muslim and Arab-American as opposed to, say, Daniel Pearl.

None of these 15- to 20-minute documentaries is particularly well shaped or argued (although "Spin: The Art of Selling War" is cleverly asserted), and it seems unlikely they'd make the cut on CNN, regardless of their viewpoint. Yet Mr. Rushing's good press has only increased since he became a reporter. In a recent New York Observer profile, he was dubbed a "matinee idol," a "hunk of war," and — absurdly — compared to Peter Jennings, who was by far the most articulate network anchor in America until his death from lung cancer in 2005.

The segment about the role of Arabs in Hollywood movies includes interviews with actors Tony Shalhoub, Omar Sharif, Chris Maher, and Alexander Sadiq, among others. Overall, it's quite evenhanded, in part because several actors point out that, particularly since the attack on the World Trade Center, Hollywood has increasingly offered Arabs sympathetic parts and tried to make them more three-dimensional, even when they're cast as villains. But Mr. Rushing seems to believe that merely depicting a terrorist in a film is de facto to engage in "negative stereotyping." If this is truly a problem, then the only solution would be to eliminate all terrorists from films, and perhaps villains also.

When it was first announced that Mr. Rushing had signed up with Al-Jazeera, Fox's Sean Hannity reportedly posted a picture of him on screen with the word "Traitor" printed above it. In fact, Mr. Rushing seems willing to toy with the notion, at least for marketing purposes. On the cover of his forthcoming autobiography, he is photographed, unshaven, wearing a keffiyeh — a titillating suggestion that this former Marine has gone over to the other side.

But the lesson of Al-Jazeera English — for now, anyway — is that there are no sides, only an endless array of viewpoints. Some happen to be more fashionable than others, of course, and are more likely to sell books.

mediatenor: Jazeera deals with domestic affairs of wider number of countries

2007-04-16T21:56:00.000+01:00

Competing views

2007-04-16T21:46:00.000+01:00

Foreign-based bureaus give Al-Jazeera a run for the money

By ALI JAAFAR

With the Middle East rarely out of news headlines, the battle for the hearts and minds of Arab auds has taken on ever more importance.
The two top-rated pan-Arab newscasters, Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, have long dominated news coverage in the region, but a clutch of Western news orgs are trying to change the equation by entering the potentially lucrative Arab news market.

France 24, the country's first international newscaster, launched its first Arabic-language service April 2. The new channel will initially offer four hours of broadcasting a day before ramping up to 24 hours a day by the end of the year.

"Al-Jazeera has done a great job, but essentially it's offering the Arabic perspective. We need something more," says France 24 CEO Alain De Pouzilhac. "The role of France could be a special one thanks to its strong relationship with the Arab world in the last few decades, and because we weren't involved in the Iraq war."

Also joining the increasingly crowded marketplace is German pubcaster Deutsche Welle, which already offers Arabic TV programming for a few hours a day. Russia Today is launching its own Arabic-language channel later this year, to be dubbed Rusiya Al-Yaum. The Russian net will be headed by Akram Khuzam, formerly Al-Jazeera's Moscow bureau chief.

Beeb's bid

The most anticipated of all the new offerings, however, is likely to be the BBC's Arabic TV, set for launch in the autumn.

The Beeb's Arabic-language satcaster is being funded to the tune of £19 million ($35 million) by the Foreign Office.

"I don't underestimate the challenge or the competition in a crowded media marketplace, but BBC Arabic will be the only major international news provider in the Middle East offering a service in Arabic across TV, radio and online," says Salah Negm, who left his position as head of newsgathering at Al-Arabiya to head the BBC's new channel.

For all the desire by these Western news orgs to stake a voice in the debate, the less-than-stellar performance of Al-Hurra, the U.S. government-funded Arab-language newscaster set up in 2004 to address viewers in the region, has fueled skeptics.

"If Al-Hurra is anything to go by, then there's no chance for these new channels to steal audiences from the existing ones," says Jihad Ballout, who has served as spokesperson for both Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. "The BBC is different. It has a name and a culture, which is an asset. If anyone has a chance, it's them."

While execs at both Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya are keen to stress they're not afraid of the extra competition, it is reputed that Al-Jazeera has been offering its staff better pay packages and extra benefits to fight off potential defections.

Not that the flow of information is all West-to-East. Al-Jazeera finally launched its English-language operation in November, and rumors persist of MBC launching an English-language sister channel to Al-Arabiya.

"An English-language news channel is an idea on the table, but the business plan has to make sense. We're not going to issue a blank check just to be in the global news arena," says Mazen Hayek, MBC Group's director of marketing and PR.

Al-Jazeera English scores gains — except in US

2007-04-16T21:28:00.000+01:00

The Associated PressPublished: April 16, 2007

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: Nearly six months after its debut, Al-Jazeera's English language television has gained strong viewership across Europe and in parts of Asia, Australia — and even Israel, according to station executives and local companies that carry it.

But no major cable or satellite provider in the United States is carrying the channel, a decision the network blames on political pressure. U.S. carriers, however, say there is simply no market.

Nearly 100 million households worldwide receive Al-Jazeera's English service, almost half as many as CNN, station executives say. Since January, it has been broadcasting news to 550,000 Israeli homes on Yes TV, the country's largest cable provider.

"It's extraordinary that while the rest of the world is happy to watch us ... the U.S. stands in splendid isolation," said Al-Jazeera English managing director Nigel Parsons at the station's headquarters in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

Station executives said they expected a dogged battle for American airwaves because Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel has been excoriated by the Bush administration as a mouthpiece for terrorists including al Qaida's Osama bin Laden.

Still, No. 1 U.S. cable provider Comcast Corp. ,was ready to carry Al-Jazeera English's November debut in the Detroit area, Al-Jazeera executives said.

But Comcast suddenly pulled out just before launch, Parsons said. He and Wadah Khanfar, managing director of Al-Jazeera Arabic, believed the decision was spurred by U.S. political opposition.

"We suspect there was outside pressure, including of a political nature," Parsons said. But he said he had no evidence of such pressure, and did not know whether pressure came from the U.S. government, elected officials or lobby groups.

A spokeswoman for Philadelphia-based Comcast, D'Arcy Rudnay, said scarce bandwidth and not political pressure was to blame.

"We looked at the local lineup and determined that the channel capacity would be better used to add other channels and services that our customers have been asking for, e.g. more (high definition) and HD On Demand programming," Rudnay said in an e-mail.

Detroit, home to a large Arab community, was considered an ideal market for Arab-focused news. Parsons said Comcast's Detroit affiliate was "pushing for an agreement" to carry Al Jazeera, which broadcasts in high-definition.

Comcast's Detroit spokesman, Jerome Espy, said he wasn't familiar with the details of the Al-Jazeera negotiations. Espy said Comcast Detroit has bandwidth to spare for channels "that fit a certain niche." But he said there was already programming catering to local Arabs.

For now, Al-Jazeera's only U.S. carriers are Fision, a small provider in Houston; Globecast, a French satellite provider; and local providers in Ohio, Vermont and Washington D.C.

The station is currently negotiating with others, Parsons said.

Al-Jazeera faces questions about its marketability in America, however. At one major cable carrier, an executive said Al-Jazeera's English programming was too similar to BBC World and there weren't enough likely American viewers to add another foreign-centric news channel.

The executive spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss corporate strategy.

Interestingly, however, Al-Jazeera English has found an audience in Israel for its mix of extensive African, Asian and Middle Eastern coverage. Viewers in Israel also have access to Al-Jazeera's original Arabic news channel.

"This is thought of as one of the best news channels in the world," said Yes TV spokeswoman Libi Zipser, speaking of Al-Jazeera English. "There are those who think that certain channels are less supportive of Israel, but we just let our customers see what they want to see."

Jeanette Elmekis, 58, whose husband was killed in the 1973 Middle East war, said she thought it was "very important" to understand what people perceived as Israel's enemies think — even if it appears unfair.

"But if I hate him (my enemy), that won't heal my wounds," she said.

Other analysts say it is not surprising Israel has accepted Al-Jazeera English, given how aggressive and skeptical Israeli media are. That has conditioned Israelis to such coverage.

Al Jazeera "is very critical of Israel, and biased and highly problematic. But you don't ban it," said Eytan Gilboa, a communications professor at Israel's Bar-Ilan University.

Now on YouTube: The Latest News From Al Jazeera, in English

2007-04-16T05:52:00.000+01:00

By SARA IVRY
Published: April 16, 2007

YouTube may be best known for showing video clips from its users of hamsters’ pratfalls or attempts to don as many T-shirts as possible. Starting today, it will also become an easy way to view content from Al Jazeera English, the English-language version of the Qatar-based television news station.

Al Jazeera introduced its English language version in November but has been unable to secure a deal with a cable television company to broadcast nationwide. Critics accuse Al Jazeera, which is available in the United States through satellite television or the Internet, of spreading anti-American and anti-Israel propaganda.

But to YouTube, Al Jazeera English is just another “branded channel” that provides video content, much the way the National Hockey League, Capitol Records and the BBC do.

“Having a branded channel does not represent an endorsement of that channel’s content,” said Julie Supan, YouTube’s head of communications. She said in an e-mail message that YouTube strives “to provide a community where people from around the world can broadcast and express themselves by sharing videos in a safe and lawful manner.”

For Al Jazeera English, the real estate on YouTube offers “an opportunity for us to put our content in front of a whole swath of viewers watching around the world,” said Russell Merryman, the company’s editor in chief for Web and new media.

“We are aware of the reputation that we have, or the name,” Mr. Merryman said, “and we’re happy to counter that” by making programming more available for viewers to judge for themselves.

The YouTube channel will run segments from such Al Jazeera English shows as “Frost Over the World” with David Frost; “Inside Iraq,” billed as a weekly debate program offering opinions from guests on Iraq; and “Riz Khan,” a former BBC and CNN journalist who now works for Al Jazeera, along with new material produced exclusively for the venture, like “Political Bytes” featuring the network’s United Nations correspondent, Mark Seddon. It plans to add 10 to 15 new clips each week.

It remains to be seen how YouTube users will respond to Al Jazeera English, but some people close to the media industry said they welcomed an additional voice in political debate.

“The idea that people can click and watch English language programming on Al Jazeera is important because it’s an alternative point of view,” said John Stauber, executive director of the Center for Media and Democracy, a watchdog organization. He said he saw the arrangement as an encouraging sign about the diversity of news coverage that could increasingly find a home online. SARA IVRY

Offering Al Jazeera English provides opportunity to fulfill the civic duties of media owners in a democratic society

2007-04-15T08:21:00.001+01:00

BY: Courtney C. Radsch

April 14, 2007 05:53 PM

What do Vermont and Ohio have in common? And why does this particular commonality illustrate the more enlightened and democratic nature of certain citizens in these two states? Well, cable operators in both states have decided to offer access to Al

Jazeera English rather than being deterred by the narrow-mindedness of other satellite and cable operators who have focused on the potentially negative (or simple lack of) commercial consequences, either believing that only Arabs would watch it and that all other people would protest and cancel their subscription. They have not taken their role in a democratic society seriously, and instead of promoting public discourse, educated opinion formation, and transparency by showing the valid news programming of a station that focuses on a region of such vital importance, they have undermined the very nature and purpose of democracy, where rational discourse is supposed to form public opinion.

Voice of America news reports that Buckeye CableSystem in Toledo, Ohio has decided to carry Al Jazeera English because its chairman, Allan Block, saw a large potential audience in the large Arab American population there, the opportunity to educate people on the Middle East, and said that objections to the station were due to “Bias against anything that starts with 'al' and is clearly Arabic." The fact that he got a deal on the lease means he is offering it without additional charge in his cable packages, which is more than DishNetwork does for the Arabic version which costs a whopping $34.95 per month where I live. Block also highlighted his choice as a public service and part of what he can give back to the community in terms of encouraging investment in the Midwest:

"The Midwest that is in recession and has been going through economic decline could certainly use a different kind of relationship with the rich Persian Gulf… with the Persian Gulf that has capital to invest," he adds meaningfully.

Of course, according to the article, most people didn’t even know AJE was available on cable, though that didn’t mean they didn’t have an opinion.

Many echo the thoughts of Toledo an Ed Raymer, a truck driver who says he was passing through New York City on September 11th, when the terrorist attacks occurred.

At a downtown bar, he insists Americans don't need to hear the views of Arabs who are at war with the U.S. "I can see it being okay for the Arab community," he says, "but everybody else, with what's going on over there, shouldn't be subjected to it."

His friend Phil Lazuski predicts, "It's gonna cause a big chaos. If it comes here, it's gonna cause a big chaos."

The VOA news report actually does a really good job reporting why there is a need to for American’s to have access and explains, in a departure from most government perspectives, that:

“Americans generally see only excerpts of al Jazeera broadcasts, on U.S. news programs. They're usually scenes of Arab crowds mourning or protesting, or portions of videotaped statements, delivered to the Qatar-based station by al-Qaida or another terrorist organization.

That's led some Americans to associate al Jazeera with terrorism. Al Jazeera officials say they do not air terrorist videos unless they have legitimate news value. They say they want to change the network's negative image in America. So they decided to say it in English.

Too bad the officials, policymakers, think-tank analysts, and academics in Washington can’t hear what’s being said. If you want to see AJE on DishNetwork, which currently offers all the cable news channels as well as an Arabic package that includes Al Jazeera (Arabic) email them and suggest it. And while you're at it, you can email Buckeye to let them know we appreciate them fulfilling their civic duty (even if the media "watchdog" group Accuracy in Media mistakenly disagrees)

The War of Ideas

2007-04-15T08:21:00.000+01:00

By Elizabeth DiNovella, April 13, 2007

As part of its four-part special series, “News War,” PBS’s Frontline tackles the role of the Arab media. “The War of Ideas,” the last episode of the series, looks at “the media revolution sweeping the Arab world since the advent of Al Jazeera.” The episode is eye opening for what it reveals and perhaps, more importantly, for what it leaves out.

Reporter Greg Barker begins the story at the U.S. State Department’s new Rapid Response Unit. This group, started by the Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and close Bush ally, Karen Hughes, monitors what the international media is saying about America. It writes briefing reports in real time and develops a reply, which is then sent out to State Department offices worldwide. Barker says the Rapid Response Unit is like a campaign war room. These efforts aim to counteract the negative image of the U.S., or so the thinking goes.

Barker then goes to the Arab world and examines the myriad satellite channels that have flourished since Al Jazeera started broadcasting in the mid-1990s. What was so revolutionary about Al Jazeera was that, for the first time, Arab journalists were shaping public opinion outside of the narrow parameters of the state. For too long the media landscape in the Middle East was dominated by government. All of that has changed.

“The War of Ideas” delivers interviews with news directors from several different Arabic-language stations, but much time is spent looking at Al Jazeera .

The U.S. government is not alone in its criticisms of this channel. In Iraq, Al Jazeera was able to film inside the insurgency, including footage of attacks against U.S. troops. Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that the channel was anti-American and in cahoots with the insurgents. Though the U.S. army twice bombed Al Jazeera offices, once in Afghanistan and once in Iraq, it denied it was in retaliation for unfavorable coverage.

In 2004, the Iraqi government kicked Al Jazeera out of Iraq. But the documentary interviews one reporter who noted that Al Jazeera was not responsible for the increase in attacks. Just look at what happened after it left, the reporter says.

Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Israeli-Lebanese war of summer 2006 was criticized for being pro-Hezbollah. In response, an Al Jazeera correspondent said it was against the war itself. This point of view shaped coverage.<

What’s missing here is the obvious correlation in the U.S. press. The American press has finally admitted that its coverage in the run up to the Iraq War was not skeptical enough. Some stations were unabashedly pro-war.

A U.S. military spokesman based in the region says Al Jazeera is “like Fox News. It caters to its audience.” Al Jazeera’s Washington, D.C., bureau chief notes that the channel needs to reflect its audience, and that audience is getting more conservative.

Al Jazeera recently launched an English language channel. It broadcasts all over the world but is not available in the United States (though the State Department’s Rapid Response Unit does monitor it). So why can’t we see Al Jazeera English? Because a conservative group, Accuracy in Media, fought to keep Al Jazeera English out of our country. All satellite systems are refusing to carry the channel.

The U.S. military spokesmen in Dubai think it is “ludicrous” that Al Jazeera isn’t available in United States. Americans are becoming more isolated, they say. They add that Al Jazeera needs to stand and fall on its on merits. Americans, these military men say, should not be afraid of ideas.

Too often the Bush Administration portrays the Iraq War as a war of ideas. That view leaves out the fact that it is a war of cluster bombs and white phosphate. It is a war of human casualties and maimed civilians. Just look at the ACLU’s new database of civilian casualties, culled from U.S. government documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests with the Defense Department, to get an idea of the human costs of the war.

The State Department can fight a war of perceptions, but until the government stops bombing people, perceptions may never change.

“America is doing a charm offensive,” says the Al Arabiya bureau chief in Dubai. It’s an impossible job because, he says, “they are trying to sell an unsellable product.”

Aljazeera to host documentary film festival

2007-04-13T11:34:00.000+01:00

Journalists and documentary film fans can attend the third Al Jazeera International Documentary Festival in Doha, Qatar, scheduled from April 23 to 27.
Organized by the Al Jazeera television network, the festival will award three prizes: the Golden Prize, the Panel of Judges’ Prize, and a new prize for the best student film.

Films are divided into categories according to their length, and the first-prize winner in each category will receive QAR50,000 (about US$14,000).

The festival will also feature a book exhibition, lectures on documentary production, and an exhibition by production companies wishing to display their latest products.

The Essential Al Jazeera

2007-04-12T14:19:00.000+01:00

By: Antony Loewenstein
Wednesday 11 April 2007

The Arabic television station Al Jazeera recently hosted its 3rd annual forum in Doha, Qatar. The gathering attracted a wide range of speakers from across the journalistic world. Independent reporter Dahr Jamail reported the proceedings:

The Al Jazeera television network could be emerging as a freedom champion against US pressures on the channel, leading media figures say. ‘I support Al Jazeera because [it] has done more to propagate democracy in the Middle East region than anybody else, certainly more than the American Government has done,’ media specialist Hugh Miles told Inter Press Service (IPS). ‘It’s strange to me that people refer to Al Jazeera as a “terrorist network” because that couldn’t be further from the truth.’

Miles spoke to IPS at the Al Jazeera forum at Doha (31 March to 2 April). The forum highlighted the successful recent expansion of the network while also addressing difficulties that reporters face in the Middle East hot spots. Miles, author of Al Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World and an award-winning freelance journalist said former US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had got it wrong on Al Jazeera.

‘Al Jazeera has been called a “terrorist network” or “the voice of (Osama) bin Laden,” but this just demonstrates deep ignorance of its history and the channel,’ Miles said.

In the face of constant American aggression against non-Western media, Abdul Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi, told Jamail that, ‘ We [journalists] should stand united against the new wave of embedded journal ism because this is censorship.’

He continued: ‘Freedom of expression is said to be a part of Western values. The American Administration is destroying Western values by shooting journalists, by killing the messenger.’

One of the keynote speakers was the New Yorker’s Seymour Hersh, who delivered a characteristically defiant speech accusing his American journalistic colleagues of ‘collective censorship’ on matters of national security. During Hersh’s talk (audio available here) he praised the work of Jamail and challenged the journalistic profession to live up to higher standards:

As the world collapses around us, as leadership collapses, as we’re driven more by the price of oil than the price of integrity, we have a role [as journalists] to play. And to me, that’s what it’s all about. I complain bitterly … we have so many terrible shortcomings in our profession. We’re very bitchy to each other. We’re competitive. We’re very narrow.

There is a young journalist here, Dahr Jamail, whose stuff has been very prescient, and I’ve four or five times included the brave accounts of some of his work in my stories … It’s not just at the New Yorker , it’s [also] at the New York Times where I worked very happily for a decade — the first thing you [editors] cut out is any mention of anybody else. That’s such a disagreeable aspect of our profession, the competition. Rather than credit a competitor we’ll ignore the story. This is general. You all know what I’m talking about.

Hersh’s made various other statements at the forum condemning the Iraq War and expressing fear about the Bush Administration’s radical plans against Iran. He also spoke of his despair at the widening gulf between the East and West. This last point highlights one of the primary victims of the faltering ‘War on Terror.’

A great failing of the post-9/11 years has been the unwillingness of Western governments and their media courtiers to better understand Arab sensibilities. Perhaps the most laughable effort by the Bush Administration was the sight of former White House counsel, Karen Hughes, running America’s overseas public image program. The Washington Post ’s breathless 2005 report on the initiative read:

Former White House counselor Karen P Hughes will take over the Bush Administration’s troubled public diplomacy effort intended to burnish the US image abroad, particularly in the Muslim world, where anti-Americanism has fueled extremist groups and terrorism, a senior Administration official said yesterday.

Hughes, 48, who has been one of President Bush’s closest advisers since his tenure as Texas Governor, plans to return to Washington soon to rejoin the President’s team after a three-year absence and set up shop at the State Department, where she will work with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to reinvigorate the campaign for hearts and minds overseas.

Hughes will take over an operation that has been criticised as lacklustre by many analysts and, privately, even by some Administration officials, despite its mission of waging a war of ideas against Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist organisations. The last Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy, Margaret Tutwiler, left last summer after less than a year on the job. The post has remained vacant since.

The disconnectedness between American actions and words has never been so stark. The invasion of Iraq has made any American diplomacy in the Muslim world a virtual impossibility. The general population simply doesn’t believe their (predominantly US-backed) leaders when they’re told about ‘democracy’ and ‘human rights’ for the simple reason that they experience none of these essentials at home.

An interesting recent exception to the usual sight of Arab leaders kow-towing to Washington’s demands was Saudi King Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz’s direct attack on the US role in Iraq. He called it an ‘illegitimate foreign occupation.’ And one of the major reasons Iran has become Washington’s number one enemy is because the Islamic republic refuses to become a subservient Middle Eastern power (something Noam Chomsky has explained as the ‘Iran Effect’). Iran is currently paying the price for such brazen independence.

These new realities make Al Jazeera one of the most important media developments over the last decade. Its new English service continues this tradition. In Australia, the difficulty of watching the service, like in the US, suggests cable networks that are reluctant to promote a channel that has been shamelessly tarred with the brush of being ‘terrorists’ favourite network.’ In fact, the opposite is true.

When the New York Sun excitedly editorialises to encourage US Vice President Dick ‘Torturer-in-Chief’ Cheney to consider running for President in 2008, the moral bankruptcy of much conservative Western media is clear. Al Jazeera is not alternative media, it’s simply an essential anecdote to the dubious tendency of ‘our’ journalists to rely unquestioningly on ‘official’ sources.

Afghanistan orders to suspend broadcast of English Al-Jazeera

2007-04-10T17:50:00.000+01:00

The government ordered an Afghan TV station to suspend broadcasts of Al-Jazeera English language programs. The Ministry of Information and Culture did not provide reasons for the order.

Al-JazeeraThe government ordered an Afghan TV station to suspend broadcasts of Al-Jazeera English language programs, the station's director said Tuesday. A statement from Lemar TV said the Ministry of Information and Culture, which oversees media in Afghanistan, did not provide reasons for the order.

The station complied, but contested the order before the Supreme Court on Tuesday. The Lemar statement said the ministry sent a
letter to the attorney general's office stating that Al-Jazeera is "inflicting a killer blow to the cultural order and the legal authority of the government."

Lemar's director, Saad Mohseni, emailed a copy of Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Karim Khurram's letter to The Associated Press, but its authenticity could not immediately be verified.

Mohseni said the attorney general's office sent a letter on Sunday ordering Lemar to stop broadcasting Al-Jazeera. Lemar suspended the shows Sunday afternoon.

A spokeswoman for Al-Jazeera English in Doha, Qatar, said it also had received a letter from Khurram, which stated that the suspension was a licensing issue and has nothing to do with programming.

Pentagon TV airing Jazeera English

2007-04-10T09:20:00.000+01:00

By purpleXed

One after another, many professional institutions will realize and admire the value-added comparative perspective Aljazeera can bring to broaden an understanding of the state of world affairs.

The US Defense Department began airing Al-Jazeera on closed circuit Pentagon TV since early December 2006. Any body with even a casual exposure to typical media in the Middle East will not be surprised if soon all US missions will ask the State Department carry Aljazeera on its VOA-TV platform. That will happen as US diplomats find AJE's multi-regional coverage and multi-perspective insights so rich on AJE that they won’t afford to miss it.

To determine how effective this channel’s approach may watch any of its flag-ship programs i.e. Inside Iraq taking the act of balancing to a level of art while demonstrating its intellect, wit, and analytical strength.

It is fine to keep a watchful eye if any incorrect views or statements are aired and to take appropriate action. But gagging a channel which consists of acclaimed professionals like Dave Marash, David Frost and Steven Cole is like doubting intentions not backed by any sound evidence. The proof comes only AFTER seeing what AJE is or isn't about.

Another strength noted early on is the effort to cover "every angle-every side." Thus we see Shimon Peres: Deputy Prime Minister whose appearance on the channels launch proved the first drop of rain which follows almost daily feeds from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to cover Israeli opinion and views.

In terms of size and budget with CNN and Fox News, many call Aljazeera a 'little matchbox' but, when it comes to richness of representation, diversity of opinion and plurality of views AJE appears well prepared to take on the corporate news media on its merits.

Some media activist have decided to downgrade their potential from watchdog activism to lapdog cronism insist on not having any
alternate, pluralistic let alone any dissenting voices on news channels. For journalism schools, it is not an option to keep their sands buried in the sand.

Al Jazeera English Comes to Campus

2007-04-09T07:48:00.000+01:00

Macalester students will now be able to view Al Jazeera English on campus.

By Kayla Burchuk
Staff Writer

Al Jazeera English recently became available on television sets across campus.

Now, Macalester students weary of the U.S. newscasts that feature recent results of “Dancing with Stars,” domestic fear-mongering, and the insipid witty banter flooding local network news will have another option for serious international media coverage.

Although perhaps most strongly associated in the American cultural imagination with grainy video footage of Osama Bin Laden and blatant anti-U.S. propaganda, Al Jazeera offers much more for the discerning viewer. Al Jazeera English, which was launched in Nov. 2006, exists as a separate network broadcast in English out of Doha, Qatar and London, England.

Most importantly, its news coverage primarily focuses on breaking political developments and conflicts across the globe. Its footage depicts graphic images of the war in Iraq and other global crises that are filtered out of American news.

In one sitting, the Al Jazeera News Hour may cover a sewage spill in Gaza, partisan fighting in Congo’s capital, the rising death toll in Iraq, and a neo-Nazi demonstration in Germany.

Al Jazeera also broadcasts a varied array of non-news programming, such as “Everywoman,” “The Rise of the Right,” “Children of Conflict,” “The Fabulous Picture Show,” and “Assignment Earth.” These programs cover various topics from women’s perspectives, to entertainment, to environmental issues.

“A lot of people approach the channel thinking it’s just news about the Middle East,” said Elianne Farhat, ’07, co-chair of the Middle Eastern Students Association (MESA), the group responsible for the initial push to bring Al Jazeera to campus. “It will be interesting when you start watching it and you see that the world is being addressed, and how the world can be addressed in different ways.”

Al Jazeera has been made available thanks in part to Farhat and MESA’s vision, and the institutional footwork of Cem Ernaz ’07, the co-chair of the Muslim Student’s Association (MSA), and Erik Forman ’08 of the Grapevine Media Collective. The International Studies, Religious Studies, and Humanities and Media and Cultural Studies departments also co-sponsored the project.

When asked if procuring institutional support for the project was difficult, Forman replied, “Our administrators are very busy at this school and you need to be very persistent in order to help them realize that students want particular things.”

Leaders on the project hope the addition of Al Jazeera will offer students an alterative yet legitimate global news source from a different perspective. In light of the progressive attitudes of many Macalester students, the appeal of an alternative news source is apparent.

“Obviously, here at Macalester it’s a liberal spot so we’ll see what happens, but hopefully it will pick up,” speculates Farhat. “It’s a growing news source and it’s exciting for us…our generation to be able to see what I think will one day be a major news service at its beginning, and seeing how it changes.”

Harris Corporation Announces Major Order of its NEXIO XST Servers By Al Jazeera English

2007-04-06T17:00:00.002+01:00

Al Jazeera English, a new English-language news and current affairs channel, has taken delivery of the Harris NEXIO XS server platform for its new news headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

The NEXIO XS server platform at Al Jazeera English consists of four NXS3600HDX servers with more than 30 terabytes of storage. Al Jazeera English retains the video feeds in high definition on a rotating basis for up to one week as a means of backup using the NEXIO XS server. The NEXIO XS server allows Al Jazeera English to record four incoming 24-hour agency feeds simultaneously. The NEXIO XS server can record and output high definition and standard definition where required.

“We have had significant success in the Middle East across the whole Harris broadcast product range and particularly with our NEXIO servers, and the installation at Al Jazeera English substantiates that success,” said Dave Dougall, vice president of sales for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for the Harris Broadcast Communications Division. “This deal was won against stiff competition and demonstrates that our strategy to provide local sales and support for our customers in the region is a winning formula.”

NEXIO XS is a line of HD/SD transmission servers featuring integrated, software-based codec technology and software-driven up-, down- and cross-conversion to provide the ultimate in reliability, scalability and format flexibility. The NXS3600HDX servers connect to the NEXIO™ storage area network (SAN), providing broadcasters with a streamlined infrastructure for producing, processing, distributing and managing SD and HD content. The NEXIO XS family provides an extensive range of I/O types, integrated applications support and encode options, including Long GOP MPEG-2, DV25, DV50 and IMX. Front-panel access to boot and media drives, as well as USB and IEEE-1394 (FireWire) ports, makes NEXIO XS easier to use and service than other available options.

In addition to cable, ADSL, mobile platforms and satellite, Al Jazeera English is available as a live stream to the one billion users of the Internet worldwide.

Al Jazeera English is the world’s first English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Broadcasting from within the Middle East, looking outwards, Al Jazeera English sets the news agenda and acts as a bridge between cultures. With unique access as the channel of reference for Middle East events, and with broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington D.C., Al Jazeera English balances the information flow from south to north, providing accurate, impartial and objective news for a global audience from a grassroots level, giving voice to different perspectives from under-reported regions around the world.

Al Jazeera English is building on the groundbreaking heritage of its sister Arab-language channel, Al Jazeera, which was responsible for changing the face of news within the Middle East, now extending that fresh perspective from regional to global.

Harris Corporation Announces Major Order of its NEXIO XST Servers By Al Jazeera English

2007-04-06T17:00:00.001+01:00

Harris Corporation Announces Major Order of its NEXIO XST Servers By Al Jazeera English

2007-04-06T17:00:00.000+01:00

Al Jazeera TV Gets Toe-hold in Toledo

2007-04-05T23:30:00.000+01:00

By purpleXed

A few activists desperately looking for a cause have raised their voice to question if it is good viewers in Toledo to watch Aljazeera!

It can't be by a chance or accident that a campaign is pursued to deny the American viewers the opportunity to get the other side of the picture that doesn't make it on US media co-opted by corporations or corruption.

A media activist with a professed mission to mission is to educate the American people and to expose all myths surrounding American security has once again tried switching the Americans' attention from the real world issues to imaginary and concocted matters.

One would expect media activists to ask the major US channels draw adequate attention to matters that are of vital priority and concern for the protection and well-being of American lives. However, many are found silent on most occasions. Others are observed busy to attract attention on irrelevant and insignificant issues.

Instead of educating the American people and exposing myths surrounding matters of real American security, Why does Cliff Kincaid, President of America’s Survival wishes his compatriots NOT to have alternate sources to crosscheck facts so vital to Americans?

Media activist should encourage even wider access to channels like Al Jazeera that provides objective coverage of critical foreign policy and security issues, while many US media organs tiptoe around issues in fear of not to over step their boundaries. The following examples serve as a litmus test:

According to Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and Nobel laureate, so many soldiers are being injured that the costs of caring for them over their lifetimes is likely to be $350 billion, or up to twice that, depending on how long the war lasts. The high cost is the result of huge advances in military medicine that have greatly reduced the chances that a soldier injured in Iraq will die. As a result, the ratio of injuries to deaths 16:1 by his estimate is higher than in any other war in U.S. history.

The White House budget director, Rob Portman has asked, in the new budget, basically for another $365 billion over the next few fiscal years. This comes on the $433 billion that ’s already been spent, a total of nearly $800 billion.
And what a lot of people are asking: Is this good money going after bad given the current situation in Iraq? Senator Patrick Leahy, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the other day: It ’s doubly shameful because we’re trying to restore places like New Orleans and the Gulf Coast here in this country. That’s been held up, and this money’s being wasted in Iraq.

Media outlets ought to probe the cakewalk crowd who promised a casual march to victory in Iraq. Media activists should campaign for accountability of the likes of Ken Adelmen who misled the American media by claiming “measured by any cost-benefit analysis, such an operation would constitute the greatest victory in America’s war on terrorism.”

The Self-pronounced champions of accuracy, fairness and honesty in media should think hard why they remain indifferent and unwilling towards Americans getting a pluralistic picture on ground. Those who call for restricting plurality of opinion deny the option of diversity and deprive the US audience to judge the facts for themselves.

All Americans have a right to alternate opinion. More so, when owing to movement restrictions on US media in Iraq, security risks and language barriers for American expatriates and diplomats there is limited interaction to gather facts. This is for a country spending $8 billion a month to win hearts and minds in Iraq. The self-pronounced champions of accuracy, fairness and honesty in media should think hard why they remain indifferent and unwilling towards Americans getting a pluralistic picture on ground.

Those who call for restricting plurality of opinion deny the option of diversity and deprive the US audience to judge the facts for themselves. It is the absence of and NOT presence of accountable media that is injurious to American interest.

Freedom Fight Against

2007-04-05T08:32:00.000+01:00

By Dahr Jamail

05 April, 2007
Inter Press Service

DOHA, Apr 2 (IPS) - The al-Jazeera television network could be emerging as a freedom champion against U.S. pressures on the channel, leading media figures say.

"I support al-Jazeera because al-Jazeera has done more to propagate democracy in the Middle East region than anybody else, certainly more than the American government has done," media specialist Hugh Miles told IPS. "It's strange to me that people refer to al-Jazeera as a 'terrorist network' because that couldn't be further from the truth."

Miles spoke to IPS at the third annual al-Jazeera forum at Doha in Qatar Mar. 31 to Apr. 2. The forum highlighted the successful recent expansion of the network while also addressing difficulties that reporters face in the Middle East hot spots.

Miles, author of 'Al Jazeera: How Arab TV News Challenged the World' and an award- winning freelance journalist said former U.S. defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld had got it wrong on al-Jazeera.

"Al-Jazeera has been called a 'terrorist network' or 'the voice of (Osama) bin Laden', but this just demonstrates deep ignorance of its history and the channel," Miles said.

The 10-year-old al-Jazeera network weathered a U.S. military attack on its Baghdad office during the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in April 2003. It faced accusations from Rumsfeld that it promoted terrorism by airing beheadings and other attacks.

Al-Jazeera editors say that the channel has never aired a beheading, nor does it support terrorism.

Other leading voices at the forum spoke in support of the channel, that has been under frequent attack of all kinds. The forum, titled 'Media and the Middle East: Going Beyond the Headlines' brought journalists, international media leaders and scholars from around the world to discuss critical issues facing the media, with a focus on in-depth journalism.

The conference followed the launching of al-Jazeera English, a 24-hour English-language news channel that went on air in November 2006 with more than 80 million households viewing it worldwide -- an unprecedented launch in the broadcast industry.

"There has been a four, five, six-year campaign against al-Jazeera," said Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists at a panel discussion. "This is a prejudice we cannot ignore."

Abdul Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Quds al- Arabi told IPS that "journalists should unite and raise our voices to say no to this kind of brutal treatment by the leader of the free world, by people who are representing freedom. We should stand united against the new wave of embedded journalism because this is censorship.

"Freedom of expression is said to be a part of Western values," Atwan added. "The American administration is destroying Western values by shooting journalists, by killing the messenger."

"The largest perpetrators of murdering journalists are governments," Frank Smyth, Washington representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said at the forum.

Many other journalists are detained without fair trial. Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Hajj, a Sudanese national, was detained by the U.S. military in Afghanistan in December 2001. He has yet to be charged, and continues to be held as "enemy combatant" at Guantanamo Bay.

On Aug. 7, 2004, the U.S.-backed Iraqi interim government led by former CIA asset Iyad Allawi shut down the Iraq office of al-Jazeera, claiming that it was presenting a negative image of Iraq, and charging the network with "fueling anti-coalition hostilities."

Much of the difficulties governments have had with al-Jazeera have arisen because it gets stories other channels do not have.

That makes it similar to the Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, said IPS director-general Mario Lubetkin. Al-Jazeera has much in common with IPS because the Arab network "goes for the news behind the news," and "because they cover the south," he said.

Lubetkin added that "we are working with them, they pick up a lot of stories from us in Arabic."

The forum addressed several issues such as 'parachute journalism', 'journalism of depth' and the new media. But the dominant theme remained attacks on journalists in an increasingly difficult global environment.

Al-Jazeera TV, Al-Quds Newspaper Most Reliable News Sources - Public Poll

2007-04-03T22:44:00.000+01:00

JERUSALEM, April 3, 2007 (WAFA) - Palestinians view Al-Jazeera TV, Al-Quds Newspaper and as the most reliable sources of news, A public opinion poll said.

A public opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) during the period between 19 and 21 March 2007 asked the Palestinian public about the TV channel, newspaper and radio station they trust as the most reliable source of news.

The results of the poll conducted with a sample of 1,198 persons (757 in the West Bank and 441 in Gaza Strip) showed that 33% of the sample does not read any newspaper at all while a ratio of 29.4% said they don't listen to any radio stations. A ratio of 4.8% said they don't trust any TV station.

The JMCC media poll showed that a ratio of 48.4% of the Palestinian public who watch TV trust al-Jazeera TV as the most reliable source of news while a ratio of 52.7% of those who read newspapers classified al-Quds Newspaper as the first source of news. A ratio of 13.4% of the sample who listen to the radio trust Voice of al-Aqsa as the most reliable source of news.

A ratio of 10.4% of the respondents who watch TV (1,166 - 733 in the West Bank and 433 in Gaza Strip) said al-Arabia TV is the most reliable source of news they trust while 19.8% of those who read newspapers (803 - 548 in the West Bank and 255 in Gaza Strip) trust al-Ayyam Newspaper as their most reliable source of news. A ratio of 12.2% of those who listen to the radio (846 - 498 in the West Bank and 348 in Gaza Strip) said Voice of Palestine "the Palestinian official radio station" is their most reliable source of news.

A large ratio of the Palestinian public (33%) does not read newspapers at all and the results showed that the Palestinians in the West Bank read newspapers more than Palestinians in Gaza Strip. A ratio of 42.2% of the sample in Gaza Strip said they do not read newspapers at all compared with 27.6% in the West Bank.

The results show that the majority of listeners to Voice of al-Aqsa which got the highest rating in terms of popular trust are from Gaza Strip - a ratio of 23.8% of them were from Gaza strip compared with 1.1% from the West Bank. The results indicate that 12.4% in the West Bank compared with 2.0% only in Gaza said that they trust most Voice of Palestine as a source of news.

A random sample of 1198 people over the age of 18 was interviewed face-to-face throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip between 19th and 21st of March 2007. The interviews were conducted in randomly selected homes, and the subjects inside each home were also selected randomly according to Kish tables. The interviews were conducted in 60 sampling points chosen randomly according to population.

Al-Jazeera News Mar. 31, 2007

2007-04-03T08:11:00.000+01:00

MIDDLE EAST: CELEBRITIES APPEAL FOR RELEASE OF BBC REPORTER IN GAZA

2007-04-03T08:02:00.000+01:00

London, 2 April (AKI) - Some of the most famous names in British and international journalism have signed an appeal demanding the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who disappeared in Gaza three weeks ago. The 300 signatories of the appeal which was made in a full page advertisement in the Guardian newspaper on Monday include David Frost, Jon Snow, Christiane Amanpour and Wadah Khanfar, editor in chief of the Al Jazeera network. The appeal comes after a report in a leading British weekly newspaper, quoting security sources in Gaza, said a powerful clan leader may be behind Johnston's abduction. Alan Johnston, 44, who had been reporting for the BBC in Gaza for three years, disappeared three weeks ago. He is believed to have been kidnapped, but no public demands have been made for his release. Palestinian journalists have begun a three-day strike urging the authorities to do more to secure his release. According to the Sunday Times, feared clan leader Mumtaz Dagmoush may be using the British journalist – who disappeared almost three weeks ago – as a bargaining chip to settle a factional feud.The paper says one hypothesis is that Johnston is likely to be released only if up to 10 Hamas gunmen linked to the killings of two Dagmoush family members are handed over to face justice.The Dagmoush clan, active in weapons smuggling, is one of the most influential and heavily armed in Gaza and has members in both Fatah and Hamas, the main political parties.On Monday, the International Press Institute, a media watchdog, expressed "grave concern" about Alan Johnston's fate. "His work reporting fairly and accurately from Gaza has been widely praised. He has shed light on one of the world's most demanding stories - in keeping with the highest standards of the BBC," IPI director Johann Fritz said in a statement.

Watch That Box for Al Jazeera, and More

2007-04-03T07:55:00.000+01:00

Sanjay SuriLONDON, Sep 21 (IPS) - The appearance of an English language service from Al Jazeera television will mark more than expansion of a company; it will come as one of the biggest challenges yet to the dominance of Western news providers, academics say. "The forthcoming launch of Al Jazeera International, the English language edition of the pan-Arabic news network, is likely to influence the way television news is received in newsrooms around the world," Prof. Daya Thusu from the University of Westminster in London told IPS. "It is likely to challenge the dominance of the Anglo-American news networks." Given that the Arabic world that Al Jazeera covers closely is among the most newsy areas in the world, and is likely to remain so for a long time, this new development is a critical one, Thusu said. "An Arabic perspective on what is happening in a geo-politically and economically important part of the world becomes very important for our understanding of international issues," he said following a seminar held at the University of Westminster last week on internationalising the media. "The United States has now labelled the 'war on terrorism' as 'a long war', which may also be reflected in the war on the airwaves," Thusu said. "This may not be a bad thing after all." The conference, which brought together media experts and academics from almost 50 countries, addressed many of the political issues arising from the internationalisation of the media. It sought to address issues faced both by those in the media and those studying media. "The idea of organising an international conference on how we study the media emerged from a general sense of dissatisfaction about the dominance of Anglo-American models of studying the media at a time when media themselves have become global," Thusu said. "The conference succeeded in creating a much greater awareness about the need to be more cosmopolitan when thinking about the media." The internationalising of media is intensely political, and consequently unavoidably controversial. And Al Jazeera remains among the most controversial news providers. But it is not the first challenger to established media. "Historically alternative media has been around, and it has always challenged traditional media," Robin Mansell, president of the International Association for Media and Communication Research based in Britain told IPS. "What has changed is the global dimension of the new media." But simply a creation of new media is not challenge enough, Mansell said. "How far that new challenge works in parallel with existing media, and how far it presents an alternative viewpoint that is valued all over the world is a difficult question." But was it a question of credibility? "I think credibility has always been an issue for media," Mansell said. "With new media there is a similar problem of questioning the origin of stories." And would the diverging political backgrounds of the news providers imply different news values? "I think there are arguments in every culture about what is news," Mansell said. "Although it is something of a chimera. Values have changed with time." The change is not coming by way of Al Jazeera alone. Other news providers from other countries are gaining ground ? and air. News channels such as the Chinese CCTV9 and NDTV from India have been gaining audiences, Thusu said. "Add to this the growing contra-flow of media products from the global South to the North and within the South; examples include Bollywood, Korean cinema, Japanese animation, Arabic news," Thusu told delegates earlier. But such a shift to the south in media dominance is not new, he said. "It is important to remind ourselves that an international approach to studying and researching media would acknowledge that it has a global history, that printing was invented in China not in Frankfurt, that the first printing press in the Ottoman Empire was established in 1511 and the first printing press in the Americas was not in the USA but in Mexico, in 1535," Thusu said. "India had a daily newspaper in 1780, while by 1870s more than 140 newspapers in Indian languages were circulating there. The first Arabic newspaper was launched in 1789 while the first overseas Chinese newspaper was founded in San Francisco in 1854. There is a long history of media outside the standard Anglo-American or European version of it." India and China will have increasing impact on media and media studies, he said. "The economic growth of India and the 'peaceful rising' of China -- the two ancient civilisations with huge potential to influence the emerging global 'knowledge society' -- are likely to affect the way media studies is theorised," Thusu said. "The Chinese version of media marketisation -- where the state has played a central role in globalisation -- offers interesting sites for future media and communication research." Thusu added: "If the cultural cracks that have emerged in the 'global village' in the wake of 9/11 and its aftermath are not to become chasms, inter-cultural communication will have to be deployed effectively. This would mean moving towards an innovative, more inclusive and cosmopolitan research agenda, one that cuts across disciplinary, ethnic, national and religious boundaries to encompass the multi-vocal, multi-directional and multimedia flows that make up the landscape of global communication."

Hersh: US imposes collective censorship on world

2007-04-02T08:05:00.000+01:00

Pulitzer prize-winning journalist addresses Third Al Jazeera media forum

[via The Peninsula]
Did the psychological effects of 9/11, re-prioritise substantive nature of the Press? Has journalism lost touch with its capacity to stand up to the authority and keep the public informed? Is it true that the Western media is waging a cultural war on Arab-IslamicEast?" These were some of crucial questions debated by veteran journalists and media analysts on the floor of the third annual Aljazeera Forum, opened here yesterday.
Renowned investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh said the ongoing media war between the West and the Arab region would continue for long.
Describing himself as an anti-government journalist, he said the US was squeezing Iran through sanctions and putting the supreme leaders of the world under frequent pressures. The US government has imposed a collective censorship on the world. It is glad to note that Al Jazeera is breaking this censorship on and off, he said.
"Holding our leaders to account is one of the fundamental roles of journalism. We all do this because we believe we can make a difference. We are in a struggle….waging a war between truth and propaganda. This is the noble cause that we journalists are all motivated to", Hersh said.
The session on "Parachute Journalism and Journalism of Depth" juxtaposed discrepancy and disagreements on the perspectives of the West and Arab journalists, while covering socio-political issues.
BBC-fame Martin Bell wanted journalists to get down to ground level, instead of standing on the roof-top. "If you are a journalist who have never been arrested or punished, you should think that you are doing something else and not journalism", he said.
Is it possible for a journalist to remain himself as an in-depth journalist and at the same time be part of mainstream journalism? How deeply reporting is possible from a war-front area? In the emerging market-driven economy, to what extend print and visual media can face the challenges of ‘time and space'?", were among other focal points of the day one debate at the annual Forum.
Dahr Jamail, Samir Aita Abdelh Wahab Basdrakhan were among other eminent journalist who joined the discussion. Titled as "Media and Middle East: Beyond the Headlines", the third Al Jazeera Annual forum was formally opened by Sheikh Hamad bin Thamir Al Thani, Chairman of Al Jazeera. Wadah Kanfar, Director General of the Network delivered the opening speech.
The opening day also witnessed panel discussions on "Politics, media and Misinformation" and "Regional News Channels in the Middle East". Presenters included Mhmed Krichen of Al Jazeera, Fiasal Al Kasim, host of Al Jazeera's Opposite Direction, Michael Oreskes, executive editor, International Herald Tribune, Haroon Sidhiqui, Editor emeritus of the Toronto Star, Allistar Sparks, the famed South African journalist, Steve Clark, Director, News and Programmes, Al Jazeera English, Muhammad Musfir, Lecturer, Political Science, Qatar University and Herni Pigeat, president, centre for the Formation of Journalists and Daniel Dodd, head of strategy for Journalism at the BBC.

Al Jazeera comes to Swiss cable

2007-04-02T08:01:00.000+01:00

April 1, 2007 - 4:09 PM
swissinfo, Scott Capper

The English-language broadcasts of the controversial Arab-funded news channel Al Jazeera are now available on Switzerland's biggest cable network.
Cablecom has introduced the station as part of its revamped basic digital service launched on Sunday in the German-speaking part of the country.
The introduction of Al Jazeera as part of the line-up comes less than five months after the broadcaster went on air. For Cablecom the decision was straightforward."We already have a large number of news channels as part of our offer, so it was normal to add another international broadcaster," said Martin Wüthrich, Cablecom spokesman. "It gives us another perspective."Al Jazeera will be offered at no extra cost – although users will need to rent a decoder - along with ten other channels including France 24, the official French news broadcaster. Altogether the basic service will provide 93 channels to choose from."With the new channels, we wanted to strike a balance so that there is something for everyone," Wüthrich told swissinfo. "It's simply an extra service for our viewers."The new basic service will be rolled out across the entire country at a later date.Cablecom is upgrading its offer as its comes under pressure from new competitors, including internet.Bluewin, the web service of Switzerland's biggest telecommunications specialist, Swisscom, has for example been offering its pioneering television over internet service since late 2006.

Courting controversy

Al Jazeera has already been accessible for the owners of satellite dishes in Switzerland since its launch in November.The English and Arabic language broadcasts have also been distributed by cable provider Naxoo in Geneva and canton Valais since then, but require a special subscription.Al Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, was launched in 1996 with the substantial financial backing of the local emir.Its arrival and distribution via satellite ruffled a few feathers in the Arab world with its willingness to broadcast views that were not those of the region's leaders. The station came to worldwide attention after September 11 when it broadcast video statements from Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders.While the United States had previously lauded the broadcaster for its independence, the Americans accused it of being the instrument of terrorist propaganda.The station's coverage of the war in Iraq has also attracted criticism in the US and Britain, and since 2004, its office in Baghdad has been shut down by the authorities. Some of the company's employees have also been accused of aiding terrorists, claims it has always denied.Controversy seems to be less a problem in Switzerland though. A Naxoo spokeswoman told swissinfo that the cable operator had received no complaints about the fact that it was providing Al Jazeera as part of its services.

Pictures from Inside AJE

2007-03-30T19:57:00.000+01:00

exclusive TIME magazine (BARRY IVERSON for TIME)

Pictures from Inside AJE

Al Jazeera TV Gets Toe-hold in Toledo

2007-03-30T03:12:00.000+01:00

By Quinn Klinefelter Toledo, Ohio29 March 2007

Al Jazeera English presents news and information, but not many Americans are watchingThe Qatar-based, Arabic language television news network al Jazeera is expanding its reach. It recently launched a new English channel. But most U.S. cable operators have declined to carry it. One of the few to buck the trend is in Toledo, Ohio, a city with a large Arab-American population.
Al Jazeera is the first television channel to which many people in the Middle East tune for news about themselves and their region. That's because it is the first all-news channel focusing on their lives from a Middle Eastern point of view, one that's often very critical of U.S. foreign policy.
Americans generally see only excerpts of al Jazeera broadcasts, on U.S. news programs. They're usually scenes of Arab crowds mourning or protesting, or portions of videotaped statements, delivered to the Qatar-based station by al-Qaida or another terrorist organization.
That's led some Americans to associate al Jazeera with terrorism. Al Jazeera officials say they do not air terrorist videos unless they have legitimate news value. They say they want to change the network's negative image in America. So they decided to say it in English.
The network launched a new English-language channel, offering documentaries, current affairs, entertainment and news. It's called al Jazeera English.
But joining the ranks of CNN as a national cable channel will not be easy. A deal between al Jazeera and a major U.S. cable provider fell apart over differences about whether the channel would be carried throughout the country, or only in regions with large Arab and Muslim communities.
Americans can still watch al Jazeera English on the Internet. But as for watching it on the TV screen, only two small cable companies took a chance on the fledgling network: a city-operated system in Burlington, Vermont, and the cable provider serving Toledo, Ohio.
Toledo's Buckeye Cable began showing al Jazeera English this month, and it's too soon to know who's watching it. But on the streets of downtown Toledo, almost no one even recognizes the name al Jazeera.
One of the few exceptions is John Parrish. He knows what al Jazeera is, didn't know its English channel was on cable in Toledo, but says he really doesn't mind either way. "It's a free country," he points out, "freedom of speech, different point of view. I can't see anything wrong with it. If you don't want to watch it, then turn it off."
But others in the city question whether al Jazeera should be available in the U.S. at all. Many echo the thoughts of Toledoan Ed Raymer, a truck driver who says he was passing through New York City on September 11th, when the terrorist attacks occurred.
At a downtown bar, he insists Americans don't need to hear the views of Arabs who are at war with the U.S. "I can see it being okay for the Arab community," he says, "but everybody else, with what's going on over there, shouldn't be subjected to it."
His friend Phil Lazuski predicts, "It's gonna cause a big chaos. If it comes here, it's gonna cause a big chaos."
Lazuski is one of many TV viewers who is not aware that Al Jazeera has already come to Toledo, and has already led to a few angry letters to the editor calling for local subscribers to cancel their cable service.
Vermont cable operators faced a similar outcry when they added al Jazeera to their lineup in December. However, no one in Burlington or Toledo has apparently followed through on threats to cancel their subscriptions.
Still, the passionate community response does not surprise the executive who brought al Jazeera to Ohio. Allan Block, chairman of a small media empire that includes newspapers, some broadcast stations, and Buckeye CableSystem, says the objections indicate a certain bias. "Bias against anything that starts with 'al' and is clearly Arabic."
Block says the royal family in Qatar (an American ally, he stresses) gave his company a sweetheart long-term deal for the rights to al Jazeera English, one that doesn't cost his subscribers any extra fees. He says carrying the channel is a good business decision, and calls charges that he's helping legitimize terrorist propaganda, ridiculous.
"[These people have] the idea that [because] they've had a story on that [had] information leaked to them from al Qaeda, [it] means that it's a terrorism channel! If the Associated Press got the same information that al Jazeera got on any of these occasions, the AP would've handled it the same way and reported it."
In fact, al Jazeera English packed its staff with veteran news people from CNN and the BBC. It even hired respected journalist Sir David Frost. Block says the channel produces extremely credible news, or he wouldn't have included it in his cable line-up. Americans who watch it, he says, should expect a different take on the news from an organization focusing on Arab issues and concerns.
The mosque serving Toledo's large Muslim community was the third mosque built in the United StatesAnd Block adds that gaining a better understanding of the Middle East could bring the American Midwest significant economic advantages. "Particularly if other parts of the country are rejecting this channel, it might show that we're willing to be friends with them. We're willing to reach out."
He suggests that a friendly attitude will encourage investment. "The Midwest that is in recession and has been going through economic decline could certainly use a different kind of relationship with the rich Persian Gulf… with the Persian Gulf that has capital to invest," he adds meaningfully.
Those backing the channel have reportedly invested more than $1 billion in al Jazeera English, with no plans to cut off the cash flow.
Al Jazeera already reaches millions of viewers in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Company executives say now, they just need to show U.S. cable operators that if al Jazeera English plays in "middle America," it will play in all of America

Al Jazeera English wins creative awards

2007-03-29T21:04:00.000+01:00

Al Jazeera English was awarded one Gold and two Silver trophies for their innovative and fresh Creative Direction at the Promax/BDA Global Promotions & Design Conference in Dubai this week (28 March 2008).

Al Jazeera English won a Gold trophy for the BEST NEWS & FACTUAL PROGRAMME TITLE SEQUENCE for their programme People & Power which travels the world to explore how the balance of power is shifting in politics, business and society. The channel also won silver medals for BEST SET DESIGN for their state of the art news rooms in 4 global broadcast centres and BEST SPORTS PROGRAMME TITLE SEQUENCE for Sportsworld, their flagship sports programme which brings viewers a truly global perspective on the world's main sporting events while also going behind the scenes to speak to some of the unsung heroes and personalities of those events.
'We are thrilled that our Promotions and Designs have been recognised and are delighted to accept our first three international Creative awards for Al Jazeera English. It's been an excellent collaboration between Creative, Editorial and Marketing folks in Aljazeera as we slowly extend this amazing Brand into new global audiences,'said Director of Creative, Morgan Almeida. Al Jazeera English was nominated for a total of eight awards at Promax/BDA Global Promotions in the following categories: -Best Programme Promo: Witness (Al Jazeera English language channel's daily documentary strand) -Best Promotional Campaign: Splits -Best Sales & Marketing Presentation: EPK (Electronic Press Kit) -Best Original Logo Design: AJE Design & People & Power Logo -Best Animation: AJE DES People & Power Animation -*Best News & Factual Programme Title: People & Power - GOLD AWARD -*Best Sports Programme Title Sequence: Sportsworld - SILVER AWARD -*Best Set Design: News - SILVER AWARD

Something New

2007-03-29T11:00:00.000+01:00

ag in africa blogger

Well, go figure. If I slant my TV’s rabbit ears just right, and I am in a patient mood which allows for static and sound and sight going out with a loud ZBBBSHT a couple times a minute, I can get a 3rd television station.Up to now, I’ve been able to get KTN - owned by the Standard Group, which has not so great news coverage (all Kenyan politics, all the time) and shows 2 different dubbed Spanish-language soap operas, some season of 24 (not sure which), the horrific American show “Threat Matrix” starring the hunky plumber/spy dude from Desperate Housewives as he fights threats from Al-Qaida and eco-terrorists, and a Kenyan political talk show on Thursday evenings which I LOVE because it is the only forum in which there is discussion about issues of concern and policy in this country (and for a while, Angel came on afterwards. that’s right - the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off. I didn’t even know what was going on and it was awesome. But that’s over now) - and I’ve been able to get channel 5, which shows uninspired American, Tanzanian, and Kenyan rap and hip/hoppish music videos all the time. Both of these channels are somewhat fuzzy.But NOW, now I can get a new channel, which shows:Al Jazeera (English language) during the day timeVoice of America during the night timeSo, of course, the first question is what the heck is up with this station? Not that the two programs are polar opposites, but they are not the most likely pair.And the second question, is exactly what kind of spin am I being thrown when I watch Al Jazeera news? I mean, don’t get me wrong, in my 2 days of viewing I've become a big fan of their news programs. Brings some balance to my previous news diet of BBC Radio. But still, reporting the news is always done through a cultural filter, right? I’m no media analyst (whoo nelly, i certainly am not), but I think that “objective” or “neutral” news coverage is impossible. So what exactly is going on with Al Jazeera English language news service? Who is the targeted audience?They had a whole piece on women being discriminated against in Afghanistan, and how completely backward and unacceptable this is, using very strong, critical language. So, um, what’s up with that? And they just did a piece on the rise of right-wing politics in Poland, and promise to do another tomorrow in somewhere in Europe (Ireland? I forget) that was fairly balanced but clearly thought the right-wing political groups were up to No Good. When they do a piece on Iraq or anything at all that Bush says or does and it comes across pretty much like ABC or NBC when they do a piece regarding the Iranian president - somewhat balanced, but with scathing commentary from analysts and with certain phrases.I’ve heard that Al Jazeera is quite liberal within the world of Arab news. Does anyone have experience with English language Al Jazeera? What’s up with them?Anyways, I’m just so darn pleased. I just got back from a really intense 3 day workshop, and I want to sit and watch TV (and apparently fart out a blog), and at this time of the day usually my only choice would be “Tyra,” the Tyra Banks talk show, which I’ve seen a few times and which always gets under my skin. She really likes manufacturing moments of shared intimacy with her guests, and it always feels So Awkward to me, although apparently not to Tyra. Tyra. And her ability to go from concerned face to cheery face way too fast. And her multiple clothes changes in the course of one episode. They are showing a clip of Bush talking right now. He just said “precipitous withdrawal” and he sounded somewhat ridiculous. Now he did the head bob that makes him seem arrogant. Now they have a live interview with a Rear Admiral in Baghdad. I mean, dude! That’s pretty open of them. The admiral has a “great deal of confidence in the president.” The interviewer has a british accent. I can’t tell if he is of “arab” origin, because the screen ain’t that clear. Admiral says it is premature to talk about precipitous withdrawal. How did this phrase become the one that is used? Seems like there are lots of other adjectives that could be used.Sorry. Rambling. Hooray for 3rd television station!! Hooray for multiple news sources! Oh, they just showed a really good short commercial showing the numbers of landmines in various countries (point at the end: Al Jazeera shows “multiple sides, multiple angles”). Really well done.Well, that’s all from here. No pithy conclusions.New slogan for 2007: 'ought seven is nifty; ain’t going to be so pithy.I think I’ll go eat some bread and go to sleep.

Why Al Jazeera English is blocked in the U.S.

2007-03-29T10:58:00.000+01:00

By Mindy McAdams (Media Professor )

Finally, I'm happy that I watched an episode of Frontline's "News War" series on TV. The first three were very disappointing -- stuffy, predictable, old-fashioned and dull.In the fourth installment, "Stories from a Small Planet," the series focuses on something that is not old and stale. It is the biggest uncovered story in the U.S. -- the rest of the world.The first half focuses on Al Jazeera and some other Arab or Near East-based television networks, including Alhurra TV, the U.S. government-funded network (where our tax dollars are hard at work, spreading propaganda abroad). While not quite as informative as the documentary Control Room (2003), "Stories from a Small Planet" provides a decently paced overview of broadcast journalism outside the Western countries. The second half skips around and ignores Latin America and Africa, but briefly looks at the Philippines and China.Now, as to why the whole of the United States is prevented from receiving the global news channel Al Jazeera English -- via cable or satellite network. Look no further than Accuracy in Media. Yes, the ultra-conservative media watchdog organization. There they are, proudly showing off letters from their campaign to inform every U.S. cable and satellite provider about just how harmful and dangerous Al Jazeera English would be if it were broadcast in the U.S.Since when are Americans opposed to an open marketplace of ideas?I've said it before -- I would pay a premium to get Al Jazeera English on my cable TV lineup. I would like to hear other points of view. Not because I am anti-American, but because I don't think we can know what's true if opposing views are censored.There's a ton of supplemental material online for "Stories from a Small Planet" at the Frontline/World site:
A 15-minute video about South Korea's OhmyNews
A profile of The Guardian (possibly the best English-language newspaper in the world)
Statistics about journalists who have been killed on the job
Excerpts from interviews with six Turkish journalists (all male, strangely enough; I know there are female journalists in Turkey)
A good summary article about the government grip on news media in Arab countries and how satellite technology is changing that
An interview with Wadah Khanfar, director general of Al Jazeera Update: Here is what Accuracy in Media published about Al Jazeera English in November 2006:
The American people do not want Al-Jazeera International in their homes or businesses. In fact, a recent poll revealed that 53 percent of people oppose Al-Jazeera International, while only 29 percent support the channel. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration has not responded quickly enough to the rise of Al-Jazeera International, and it was recently reported that the network will launch on November 15, though at this point there are no U.S. cable companies that have announced plans to carry it. When asked to comment on the new Al-Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar, Director General of the Al-Jazeera Network, stated ominously, "The new channel will provide the same ground-breaking news and impartial and balanced journalism to the English speaking world." Indeed, Khanfar sardonically supports Kincaid's assertions that Al-Jazeera International and the Arabic Al-Jazeera are entirely similar. Kincaid warns that this issue is of the utmost importance, and if Al-Jazeera makes waves on American cable, then the possibility of suicide bombers in America could lurk close behind.It is interesting that they refer to a supposed poll and never name the poll or provide any information about who sponsored the poll, when or where the poll was conducted, or what questions were asked in the poll.If 29 percent of Americans polled supposedly "support" the channel, why is not being carried on any U.S. satellite or cable service?And how is it possible that a supposed 53 percent of Americans "oppose" Al Jazeera -- when they have never even seen it? How can you oppose something that you have no experience with -- an information source you have never seen? Do they oppose it because the poll-takers described it to them as the network that will create "the possibility of suicide bombers in America"? Hm?

Qatar: Al Jazeera to set media forum in April

2007-03-29T10:21:00.000+01:00

The Director-General of Al Jazeera Network announced that the channel will inaugurate its third annual media forum in April in Qatar, the Peninsula reported. He said that the assembly's agenda will include many sessions and open debates on several topics related to media in the Middle East particularly in hotspot areas and conflict regions as well as exploring the exceeding influence of politics on media and vice-versa, media's reliability during war times and the role of media in connecting people from all over the world.Moreover, the forum will also provide the attendees with the chance to co-work, network and benefit from the expertise from the international media community, he pointed out. The forum will open under the title Media and the Middle East: Beyond the Headlines.

على قناة الجزيرة الدولية ..كيوتل ترعى برنامج رزخان «وان اون وان»

2007-03-29T10:16:00.000+01:00

الدوحة - الشرق :بالتعاون مع قناة الجزيرة الدولية، أعلنت كيوتل أمس عن رعايتها لبرنامج رزخان الشهير «وان أون وان» وذلك خلال حفل توقيع الاتفاقية الذي أقيم في المقر الرئيس لشركة كيوتل الكائن في الخليج الغربي. وحضر حفل التوقيع السيد رزخان كبير مذيعي الأخبار، وكل من السادة عبدالله النجار مدير الشؤون التجارية وبيتر مورفي رئيس تطوير الأعمال، ووقع الاتفاقية عن كيوتل الدكتور ناصر معرفية الرئيس التنفيذي وقد تم اعلان شراكة كيوتل والجزيرة بشكل رسمي والتوقيع على الإجراءات النهائية الخاصة بالاتفاقية ومبلغ الرعاية. وبهذه المناسبة صرح الدكتور ناصر معرفية قائلاً: «إننا سعداء جداً بشراكتنا مع شبكة قناة الجزيرة التي تحظى بدور فعال ومؤثر في الساحة الإعلامية من خلال رعايتنا لبرنامج «وان أون وان» الذي يقدمه رزخان. ونحن على استعداد لدعم ومساندة قناة الجزيرة الدولية في تحقيق أهدافها عبر طرحها قضايا مهمة على المستمعين والمشاهدين في جميع أنحاء العالم واننا نشعر بالسعادة بتقديم الدعم الكامل لهذا البرنامج». يعتبر السيد رزخان أحد وجوه الإعلام المعروفين دولياً وله باع طويل وخبرة كبيرة في هذا المجال من خلال عمله في قناتي بي. بي. سي (B.B.C) وسي. ان. ان (CNN) العالميتين قبل التحاقه بقناة الجزيرة الدولية، ويتناول برنامجه اجراء المقابلات التي ترمي إلى معرفة المزيد والاطلاع عن كثب على حياة بعض المشاهير وصناع الاخبار من جميع أنحاء العالم وذلك من خلال تسليط الضوء على تاريخهم الشخصي ولحظات حياتهم المصيرية وأهدافهم وفلسفتهم في الحياة. كما يتعرض البرنامج للأحداث والأشخاص الذين كان لهم الأثر الكبير في حياتهم اليومية والمهنية الحالية. هذا وقد قام البرنامج باستضافة العديد من الشخصيات المعروفة دولياً واقليمياً بإنجازاتهم مثل: رجل الدين دلاي لاما، بوب جلدوف، ريتشارد برانسون، ومايك واليس الصحفي المحنك في قناة سي. بي. أس ومغني موسيقى الروك الكندي الشهير براين آدامس وممثلة بوليود مليكا شيراوات وسيدة مصر الأولى السابقة جيهان السادات والمغني وكاتب الأغنيات انجليك كيدكو. واستطرد الدكتور ناصر قائلاً: «يعد رزخان أحد اعلام الأخبار ويشتهر بنمط أسئلته التحقيقية والفضولية، ونحن سعداء برعاية هذا البرنامج الذي سيقوم بتوفير الاخبار الشيقة والملهمة إلى المستمعين والمشاهدين في المنطقة بل وفي العالم». سيتم بث البرنامج لأول مرة على الهواء في يوم الجمعة الساعة 30:22 بتوقيت جرينتش وسيعاد بثه يوم السبت الساعة 30:3 صباحاً ويوم الأحد الساعة 30:21. يذكر ان شركة اتصالات قطر «كيوتل» هي المزود الحصري والوحيد للاتصالات السلكية واللاسلكية في قطر، وتشمل خدماتها الرئيسية الهواتف الثابتة المحلية والدولية والهاتف الجوال والانترنت وخدمات البيانات والكيبل التلفزيوني. وتحرص كيوتل على توسيع وجودها في الشرق الأوسط وفي كافة أنحاء العالم وفي عام 2004 ترأست كيوتل اتحاداً مالياً وفازت بالمناقصة العامة للحصول على الرخصة الثانية لتشغيل الهواتف النقالة في سلطنة عمان لتطلق شركتها الفرعية «النورس» في مارس 2005، وتمكنت النورس من استقطاب اكثر من 500.000 مشترك جديد، أي اكثر من 31% من سوق الهاتف النقال في عمان، وذلك خلال ما يزيد بقليل على عشرين شهرا من بدء الخدمة وفي نوفمبر 2006 وقعت كيوتل اتفاقية للحصول على حصة استراتيجية في شركة نافلينك الرائدة في تزويد الخدمات والبيانات للمؤسسات التجارية في الشرق الأوسط، لتصبح بذلك شريكا مع شركة ايه تي اند تي AT&T، وفي يناير 2007 تابعت كيوتل توسعها على الساحة الدولية اذ استحوذت على حصة تقدر بنحو 25% من شركة اتصالات آسيا النقالة القابضة المحدودة المتفرعة عن شركة اس تي تيليميديا.

الجزيرة تنظم منتداها الثالث حول الإعلام والشرق الأوسط

2007-03-29T10:13:00.000+01:00

)تنظم شبكة الجزيرة يومي الأول والثاني من أبريل/ نيسان 2007 منتداها الإعلامي الثالث تحت عنوان "الإعلام ومنطقة الشرق الأوسط-ما وراء العناوين".
وقال المدير العام لشبكة الجزيرة وضاح خنفر إن المنتدى سيوفر فرصة للتداول مع زملاء من مختلف أنحاء العالم حول تجربة العمل الصحفي في مناطق النزاعات لا سيما الشرق الأوسط، موضحا أن تجربة الجزيرة في هذا الميدان كانت متميزة عالميا.

وتتمحور جلسات المنتدى هذا العام حول ما يمكن تسميته بصحافة العمق التي تتجاوز العناوين السريعة لتغوص في الخلفيات السياسية والثقافية والتاريخية للخبر، وتقدم للجمهور صورة أكثر شمولا لما يجري حوله من أحداث وتطورات.

ويناقش المشاركون أيضا العلاقات المركبة بين السياسة والإعلام والتأثير المتبادل بينهما وأثر ذلك على مصداقية الإعلام خاصة في زمن الحرب والنزاعات المسلحة، كما يبحثون التحديات التي تعترض وسائل الإعلام الدولية في تغطيتها لقضايا الشرق الأوسط الساخنة، وما إذا كان الإعلام العالمي يسعى لبناء جسور التفاهم والتعاون بين الشعوب والثقافات أم لإقامة الجدر والحواجز بينها.

وسيوفر المنتدى إلى جانب ما سيدور في الجلسات من نقاشات ومداولات بين نخبة واسعة من الإعلاميين والخبراء والمفكرين والأكاديميين للمشاركين فرصة اللقاء والتعارف وإقامة علاقات التعاون مع زملاء المهنة من مختلف أنحاء العالم.

ويجتذب المنتدى عشرات الباحثين والإعلاميين من مختلف أنحاء العالم، ومن بين أهم المشاركين هذه السنة الصحفي العالمي المشهور سايمور هيرش الذي سيلقي خطابا في الجلسة الأولى يوم الأحد على الساعة 9 صباحا، وكذلك الأكاديمي لورنس ليسيج، إضافة إلى أسماء صحفية وبحثية معروفة مثل فهمي هويدي ومارتن بل وعزمي بشارة وعبد الباري عطوان وجايمس زغبي، كما سيشارك السيد تيسير علوني مراسل الجزيرة من إسبانيا حول تغطية الحروب.

مفاجأة: مراسل أمريكي لقناة الجزيرة يدلي بصوته في الاستفتاء علي التعديلات الدستورية

2007-03-29T10:09:00.000+01:00

كتب خالد عمر عبدالحليم ٢٩/٣/٢٠٠٧

فجرت قناة «الجزيرة الدولية» الناطقة باللغة الإنجليزية مفاجأة، مساء أمس الأول، عندما عرضت تقريراً يكشف نجاح مراسلها الذي يحمل الجنسية الأمريكية في الإدلاء بصوته في الاستفتاء علي التعديلات الدستورية.
ودخل أيمن محيي الدين مراسل القناة إلي اللجنة باستخدام «كارنيه» يثبت أنه صحفي، صادر عن وزارة الإعلام، وتوجه المراسل - كما ظهر في التقرير - إلي صناديق الاستفتاء، وأدلي بصوته في أحدها وسأله الموظف القائم علي الصندوق عما إذا كانت أمه لبنانية بسبب لهجته وملامحه، إلا أنه أكد له أنها مصرية وأدلي بصوته وغمس إصبعه في الحبر الفسفوري وغادر اللجنة. واللافت أن كل هذه التفاصيل كانت مسجلة صوتاً وصورة، وأن محيي الدين دخل بطريقة طبيعية للغاية ولم يعترضه أحد، بل وتمكن أحدهم من مرافقته وتسجيل كل ما حدث.
وأكد مصدر في قناة «الجزيرة» لـ«المصري اليوم» أن محيي الدين مصري - فلسطيني يحمل الجنسية الأمريكية، لكنه لم يستخدم هويته المصرية في التصويت، غير أن مكتب قناة الجزيرة الإنجليزية رفض التعليق علي الواقعة وقال مدير المكتب عمرو الكحكي إنه غير مخول بالتصريح وطلب إرسال الأسئلة إلي المقر الرئيسي في الدوحة وانتظار الرد، وهو ما لم نتمكن منه لضيق الوقت قبل الطبع.
وعلق ضياء رشوان الخبير في مركز «الأهرام للدراسات» علي الواقعة ساخراً، وقال: «الحادثة تدل علي أن مصر بلد «قلبه مفتوح»، ومتسامح مع كل شعوب العالم وأنه لا يهم أن تكون مصرياً أو إسرائيلياً أو أسترالياً أو أمريكياً أو غير ذلك لكي تصوت في الانتخابات، فمصر (أم الدنيا) تتيح ديمقراطيتها لجميع الجنسيات، بعد دخولها عصر العولمة من أوسع أبوابه».
وطالب رشوان بأن «يعتبر تصويت مراسل الجزيرة الأمريكي علي التعديلات الدستورية في مصر «سابقة» تتيح لمصر طلب المعاملة بالمثل، بحيث يتمكن المواطنون المصريون من الإدلاء بأصواتهم في الانتخابات والاستفتاءات الأمريكية، وهو ما يسمح للمصريين بالتأثير علي السياسات الأمريكية»، علي حد قوله الساخر.
ووصف رشوان ما حدث بأنه «مهزلة»، لاسيما أن الحكومة المصرية سمحت لمراسل «الجزيرة» الأمريكي بالتصويت علي التعديلات الدستورية، بينما منعت الكثيرين من المصريين من التصويت خلال انتخابات مجلس الشعب الأخيرة من خلال الأطواق الأمنية التي تم فرضها حول اللجان الانتخابية.

On My way to the matchbox

2007-03-29T09:35:00.000+01:00

Its been one month since i signed my contract, and i am still waiting the work visa to qatar home of AlJazeera Network...
i will be working for Jazeera English...
As a matter of fact i am toomuch anxious for the experience, but afraid in the same time because it is really a great jump...
I worked before in several situations, Wars, Plane crash, Riot, Political turmoil, elections, etc... but one day i didnt have the feeling i am having today.

Ali H. Hashem

Reporters Without Borders meets Al-Jazeera cameraman’s family in Sudan

2007-03-29T09:29:00.000+01:00

Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard pledged to keep pressing the US government to release detained Al-Jazeera assistant cameraman Sami Al-Haj when he met with Al-Haj’s brother, sister and cousin in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on 19 March.
A Sudanese national, Al-Haj was arrested by the Pakistani armed forces on the Afghan border in December 2001. He has been held by the US military at its Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba since 13 June 2002.
During a 30-minute meeting at the headquarters of the Khartoum Centre for Human Rights and Environmental Development (KCHRE), Ménard assured the family that Reporters Without Borders would continue to wage an active campaign for his release. He asked them if they had any news of him and promised to relay any appeal they would like to make for his release.
After thanking Sudanese and international press freedom organisations for campaigning on his behalf, the relatives voiced concern about his health, especially as a result of the hunger strike he began on 7 January. He now has difficulty in standing. They have had extremely infrequent contacts with him and the news from Guantanamo is “very disturbing,” his brother said. In all, the family has received only six letters from him, which were passed on by the Red Cross. One of the letters took two years to reach them.
The relatives appealed to the United Nations, in particular, to the Human Rights Council, to help obtain Al-Haj’s release. His sister said the emir of Qatar had promised to intercede on his behalf. She also appealed to the US authorities to recognise that “Sami Al-Haj is innocent, that he was in Afghanistan as a journalist.”
She said the family was financially dependent on him and his only son “asks after him a great deal.” Addressing the US authorities, his brother said: “If you have no serious charges to bring against my brother, why do you maintain this crushing secrecy about his case?”
Reporters Without Borders established a system of sponsorship 16 years ago in which international media are encouraged to adopt imprisoned journalists. More than 200 news organisations, journalists’ associations, press clubs and other entities throughout the world are currently supporting journalists by regularly calling on the authorities to release them and by publicising their cases.
Al-Haj has been adopted by four Spanish media organisations - La Sexta, IPS-Comunica, La Voz del Occidente and Colexio de Xornalistas de Galicia - and six Canadian ones - Corriere Canadese, Atlas media, Magazine de Saint-Lambert, Mouton Noir, CIBL and Radio Canada Sudbury.

In the Mideast War of Ideas, The View From The Arab Side

2007-03-29T00:15:00.001+01:00

By Paul FarhiWashington Post Staff
PBS's excellent and comprehensive "News War" series wraps up tonight with a report on the rise of pan-Arabic television. Unfortunately, the finale -- which raises intriguing questions but answers almost none of them -- is by far the weakest and least focused of the four-part series, which until now concentrated on the issues and travails of the American media.
Reporter-narrator Greg Barker hotfoots it from Washington to the Mideast and back to lay out the program's theme: that the U.S. government is engaged in a "War of Ideas" (the installment's title) with a host of Arabic TV channels. It turns out, unsurprisingly, that the Arab media see things quite differently than does the Bush administration and its official info-agents.
If we learn anything from Barker's report, it's that the Arab media are by no means monolithic. Al-Jazeera, the region's best-known and most popular satellite channel, looks at its restive corner of the world from a different perch than al-Manar, the house organ of Lebanon's Hezbollah. Which plays things a lot differently than the "moderate" Saudi Arabian channel, al-Arabiya, does.
But what exactly "moderate" or "radical" is in the Arabic media is a pretty slippery thing. Beyond a few perfunctory adjectives, "Frontline" doesn't sort out who's who and why. Mostly it tells rather than shows. Al-Jazeera -- they're the ones with the Osama bin Laden tapes, right? Or are they the Holocaust denial channel? Or both? Not so clear.
Barker gets more of a fix on al-Hurra ("The Free One"), the U.S. government's satellite TV megaphone in the Mideast. We don't see much of al-Hurra's programming, but we do grasp what it's trying to accomplish: to get the American side of the story out in a region that's mostly hostile to it. "Because Arabs are upset about the presence of foreign forces in an Arab country, there are no good images of an American soldier," Duncan MacInnis, a member of the State Department's "Rapid Response" information team, tells Barker. "An American soldier building a hospital in Iraq is still an American soldier in Iraq."
Barker also chats up al-Jazeera's director-general and scores an interview with a journalist at al-Manar. Everyone seems perfectly reasonable, mainly because "Frontline" shies away from showing some of the uglier things that pass for "news" in the Arab media (that ugliness explains why the United States spends tens of millions of dollars annually on al-Hurra in the first place). One small example shown in "War of Ideas" does hint at the larger info-scape of the Middle East: A spokesman for the U.S. Central Command is invited to speak on an Arab news channel in the wake of insurgent violence that kills 200 people in the Baghdad's Sadr City -- and is asked whether American forces "orchestrated" the violence.
In a misguided attempt at fairness, "Frontline" lets some intriguing statements go unchallenged and unfollowed. The director of al-Jazeera's English-language channel, for example, asserts that Western coverage of last summer's war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon "wasn't balanced." It wasn't?
Another "analyst" makes the astounding assertion that 60 percent of al-Jazeera's journalists are members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni movement that advocates the establishment of fundamentalist caliphate stretching across the Mideast and beyond. How does he know such a thing? Or does he? We're simply told that others "dispute" this claim.
It's probably hard to make really snazzy TV out of something as abstract as a "war of ideas," and "Frontline" will win no awards for compelling imagery here. Indeed, many of its talking-head interviews seem rushed and impatient, as if Barker's subjects had better things to do.
"Frontline" is on to a juicy subject, but at barely 40 minutes -- less than half the time devoted to the preceding installment of "News War" -- this take feels incomplete.

AL JAZEERA AND ALHURRA CONTEND WITH TV RATINGS PROBLEMS

2007-03-29T00:15:00.000+01:00

by Alvin Snyder

The latest Middle East TV ratings that list actual tune-in of news channels, obtained exclusively by Worldcasting, show business as usual but also some surprises. Al Jazeera, the Qatari government-owned channel, continues to hold forth in popularity in Egypt. Al Arabiya, funded in part by the Saudi government through a holding company, once again tops others in Saudi Arabia by a wide margin, but it also garnered impressive audience ratings in Iraq, where Alhurra, the U.S. government service, continues to trail its competition, there and elsewhere. The TV ratings by the independent polling organization, IPSOS-STAT, depict "day before" actual viewing. In Egypt, Al Jazeera with a 21.26 rating, placed well ahead of Al Arabiya, at a 5.1 rating. But in Saudi Arabia, Al Arabiya, at a rating of 22.23, topped Al Jazeera, which gathered a 17.33 rating. Data from both Egypt and Saudi Arabia were consistent with those from earlier months. Alhurra followed, a long way down. In Iraq, however, Al Arabiya gathered a whopping 41.29 rating, practically even with leader Al Iraqiya, the Iraqi government channel, and well ahead of Al Jazeera, which received an 18.39 rating. Al Hurra trailed well behind others with its two Iraq channels. To generate more buzz about its Middle East TV channels and perhaps lift ratings, Larry Register, the recently appointed head of Al Hurra and its counterpart, Radio Sawa, has changed station policy by lifting the previous ban on broadcasting statements from terrorists. With one exception, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors to whom Register reports, voiced its support of the former veteran CNN producer. But the Chairman of the BBG, Kenneth Tomlinson, has thus far withheld his support of Register, pending further investigation of the facts. Despite Alhurra's growing pains (it debuted Feb. 2004) it still gets enough of an audience in the Middle East to be listed on commercial TV rating services. Conversely, Al Jazeera's English-language service has practically no audience at all in the U.S., and does not appear in commercial audience rating services even as an asterisk. It can be accessed via the Internet and on a few local cable systems, but major program distributors have shied away from carrying Al Jazeera because of threatened boycotts by sponsors and cable subscribers, over Al Jazeera's distribution of statements by Bin Laden and other terrorists. While the perception of Al Jazeera vis-à-vis terrorists would appear to be stalling its effort to introduce its service in America, Alhura appears to be banking on improving its ratings reach in the Middle East by putting terrorists on the air. In television, it's all about numbers.

AJE Launches

2007-03-28T11:51:00.000+01:00

'Three cheers for Al Jazeera'

2007-03-28T11:46:00.000+01:00

Jordan Times - 14/03/2007

Michael Jansen
Al Jazeera-English is a dream-come-true satellite television channel.Since the 1960s, when many Third World countries became independent, the media folk of Afro-Asia longed to launch their own independent mass media with the aim of providing the world public with a Third World perspective on events to balance coverage given by Western news agencies, newspapers and, more recently, satellite channels.As Al Jazeera's highly successful Arabic channel was marking its tenth anniversary, Al Jazeera-English began to broadcast news, views and backgrounders. Suddenly, BBC World and the US Cable News Network (CNN) had a serious competitor.Al Jazeera English has the talent, the equipment, the contacts and the correspondents to mount a serious challenge to the dominant channels of the Western world. And, thanks to Qatar, the finance to mount this challenge.Arab, African, Latin American, Indian and Asian broadcasters are the talking heads talking sense about their problems without filtration through Western eyes and editors.Steve Clark, head of news at Al Jazeera-English, said that when he began working with the English channel, it had three employees. Now it has 1,000 and shares 60 bureaux round the globe with the Arabic channel. Its employees have a "pioneering spirit". They have "come out into the desert to launch a global channel."All but one of the high profile media personalities invited to join Al Jazeera-English agreed without hesitation. Famed British interviewer Sir David Frost, Ragi Omar of the Guardian, and Riz Khan and Veronica Petrosa, formerly of CNN all signed on.Clark, who roamed Africa alongside his engineer father, previously worked for ITV and MBC in Britain. He said that Al Jazeera-English has the most multinational range of employees in television. In the newsroom alone there are four dozen nationalities. This feat of recruitment was not by design but by chance. They and the other broadcasters and technical staff were hired in an intensive 18-month drive. Twenty-five per cent are "old hacks" (experienced journalists), 25 per cent in their "something thirties" with experience and 50 per cent new talent in their twenties."It's the youngest channel in global news broadcasting," asserted Clark."We hit the ground running" on November 15 last year with an hour's broadcast from nine locations. Al Jazeera took the view that there is "no point building up" to a full service. So the station started as it intended to proceed.He is particularly pleased with Al Jazeera's coverage of Africa and Latin America, areas of the world generally ignored by the main Western channels. "We are the only channel to have a permanent office in Harare" or Mogadishu. It took a lot of effort to get permission to operate in Zimbabwe, he observed.There was a great deal of suspicion in Washington about Al Jazeera-English. Before broadcasts began, Clark paid 38 or 39 visits to Capitol Hill in Washington. His job was to convince congressmen "what we are not". Not a "terrorist" channel, as alleged by hostile quarters, including former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who accused the Arabic channel of cooperating with Al Qaeda and showing video of beheadings.Clark firmly stated: "We have never broadcast beheadings. We employ the same standards of decency as other channels."He will be visiting Washington next fall to check out opinion. "We are already getting some positive feedback."Presumably, congressmen and women and other officials are viewing Al Jazeera-English on their computers. It has not been able to get a US cable network to carry the channel there. The BBC apparently has the same problem. US cable operators prefer movies, sports, or music to news.This is an old story. Not really plugged into the wider world, US citizens opt for entertainment rather than enlightenment. The ignorance of the US public is one of the most serious problems facing the international community. Unless the US is informed about world affairs, Washington will never be held accountable for blunders like its war in Iraq and submission to Israel's every whim.In spite of being excluded from the US, Al Jazeera-English reaches 100,000 households, or at least 400,000 viewers. The Arabic channel has 30-50 million viewers, most viewing thanks to satellite carriers. Some viewers of the Arabic channel whose Arabic is weak have switched to the English channel so they can not only view the news but fully understand what is being said.One of Al Jazeera-English's most provocative programmes is "Inside Iraq". Its presenter, Jasim Azawi, was born in Iraq, studied biochemistry and emigrated to the US in 1982. There he worked for 15 years as an interpreter for the State Department. He joined Al Jazeera-English in 2006 and his wife took up employment with the Arabic channel."We try to cover big themes — history, culture, oil" as well as news. He pointed out that the channel also broadcasts reports from organisations like Amnesty International which are critical of US policies in Iraq. Most other broadcasters steer well clear of these reports.Al Jazeera can do a good job because it is well funded. It does not have its own point of view; it has many. The staff reflect "all points of view: liberal, progressive, secularist and Islamist. No one tells us what line to take or issues any directives. We want to show all aspects of the issues."Maire Devine, who heads the "Everywoman" team, said her programme also deals with controversial subjects in the Arab world and elsewhere. In the four months since the channel began broadcasting, "Everywoman" has dealt with spousal violence, handicapped children, the hijab and nikab, education, and the impact of warfare on women and children.Born and raised in Ireland, Devine compared the situation in Qatar to conditions in her homeland in the seventies. She particularly likes to bring powerful women into the studio and hold interesting exchanges with them."Young women here need [positive] role models. In the West our role models are empty, airheaded celebrities.""Everywoman" interviewed the first Qatari female paramedics and bodyguards. Five years ago, women could not do such jobs or speak about their work to the media.Al Jazeera-English's motto is "Setting the news agenda". The channel is doing precisely this. BBC World, in particular, is having to follow Al Jazeera's lead. Competition can be good for broadcasting if it drives broadcasters to improve their performance and programming. The West has dominated the newspapers airwaves, and satellite bands for long enough.

About AJE

2007-03-28T11:31:00.000+01:00

Al Jazeera English, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, headquartered in Doha.
Al Jazeera English is the world’s first global English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. From this unique position, Al Jazeera English is destined to be the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the West and from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The channel gives voice to untold stories, promotes debate, and challenges established perceptions.
With broadcasting centers in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC and supporting bureaux world-wide, the channel will set the news agenda, bridging cultures and providing a unique grassroots perspective from underreported regions around the world to a potential global audience of over one billion English speakers.
The station broadcasts news, current affairs, features, analysis, documentaries, live debates, entertainment, business and sport. Building on Al Jazeera Arabic channel’s ground breaking developments in the Arab and Muslim world that have changed the face of news within the Middle East, Al Jazeera English is part of a growing network that is now extending this fresh perspective from regional to global through accurate, impartial and objective reporting.