Information AboutAl Jazeera |
Al Jazeera (, '''', , meaning "The Peninsula", referring to the Arabic name for the Arabian Peninsula ) is a Television network headquartered in Doha , Qatar . Initially launched as an Arabic News and current affairs Satellite TV channel with the same name, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and Specialty TV Channels in multiple languages, and in several regions of the world. The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, including on Call-in shows, created controversies in Persian Gulf States . The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 Attacks , when it broadcast video statements by Osama Bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders (see Videos Of Osama Bin Laden ) and also when it reported massacres committed by the US Army both in Afghanistan and Iraq . THE AL JAZEERA NETWORK Al Jazeera operates a number of Specialty Channel s besides its original flagship news channel. As of early 2007, the Al Jazeera network's TV channels include: Lyngsat page showing, among others, Al Jazeera's channels Lyngsat page showing Qatari TV channels, including Al Jazeera's
Future plans Future announced products include Al Jazeera in a number of other languages - these would include Al Jazeera Urdu , an Urdu language channel to cater mainly to Pakistan is and other Urdu-speaking populations. Al Jazeera has also been reported to be planning to launch an international newspaper. Al Jazeera plans to launch Arab newspaper Arabian Business ; published Saturday 4, November 2006 HISTORY The original Al Jazeera channel was started in 1996 with a US$ 150 million grant from the Emir Of Qatar , Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa . In April 1996, the BBC World Service 's Saudi -co-owned Arabic Language TV station, faced with Censorship demands by the Saudi Arabia n government, shut down after two years of operation. Many former BBC World Service staff members joined Al Jazeera, which at the time was not yet on air. The channel began broadcasting in late 1996. Qatar's Al-Jazeera livens up Arab TV scene BBC News - Monitoring; published Thursday, January 7, 1999 In defense of al-Jazeera MSNBC; by Michael Moran; published October 18, 2001 Al Jazeera's availability (via satellite) throughout the Middle East changed the television landscape of the region. Prior to the arrival of Al Jazeera, many Middle Eastern citizens were unable to watch TV channels other than state-censored national TV stations. Al Jazeera introduced a level of Qatar's Al-Jazeera TV: The Power of Free Speech At that time, Al Jazeera was not yet generally known in the Western World , but where it was known, the opinion about it was often favourableE.g. in 1999, New York Times reporter Thomas L. Friedman called Al-Jazeera "the freest, most widely watched TV network in the Arab world." — 2 and Al Jazeera claimed to be the only Politically independent television station in the Middle East . Al Jazeera's well presented coverage of the Lebanese Civil War in 2000-2001 gave its viewer ratings a boost throughout the region. However, it wasn't until late 2001 that Al Jazeera achieved worldwide recognition, when it broadcast video statements by Al-Qaeda leaders. Al Jazeera and Bin Laden It should also be mentioned that the US administration, though applauds freedom of speech on one hand, of late has not been happy with Al Jazeera's stand on the war on Iraq. Since 9/11 there have been multiple incidents in which the US administration has been critical about Al Jazeera. In addition, the {Link without Title} . FUNDING Further to the initial US$ 150 million grant from the , "Al Jazeera received $20,000 per minute for Bin Laden's speech." In 2000, advertising accounted for 40% of the station's revenue. by Kahlil Byrd and Theresse Kawarabayashi; MIT 's Media in Transition 3; published May 2-4, 2003 AL JAZEERA OUTSIDE THE MIDDLE EAST See Also: Al Jazeera English In 2003, Al Jazeera hired its first English-language journalist, Afshin Rattansi, from the BBC's '' Today Programme '' (which had been at the heart of UK events when it came to Tony Blair 's decision to back the U.S. invasion of Iraq). In March 2003, it launched an English-language website (see Below ). On July 4 , 2005 Al Jazeera officially announced plans to launch a new English-language satellite service to be called Al Jazeera International . Al Jazeera turns its signal West The new channel started at 12h GMT on November 15 2006 under the name Al Jazeera English and has broadcast centers in Doha (next to the original Al Jazeera headquarters and broadcast center), London , Kuala Lumpur and Washington D.C. . The channel is a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week news channel, with 12 hours broadcast from Doha, and four hours each from London, Kuala Lumpur, and Washington D.C. With Al Jazeera's growing global outreach and influence, some scholars including Adel Iskandar have described the station as a transformation of the very definition of " Alternative Media ." Is Al Jazeera alternative? Mainstream alterity and Assimilating discourses of dissent VIEWERSHIP It is widely believed internationally that inhabitants of the Arab world are given limited information by their governments and media, and that what is conveyed is . Increasingly, Al Jazeera's exclusive interviews and other footage are being rebroadcast in American , British , and other western media outlets such as CNN and the BBC . In January 2003, the BBC announced that it had signed an agreement with Al Jazeera for sharing facilities and information, including news footage. BBC in news deal with Arabic TV BBC News, published 17 January 2003 Al Jazeera is now considered a fairly mainstream media network, though more controversial than most. In the United States as of 2006, video footage from the network carried by other stations was largely limited to video segments of hostages. As of 2007, the Arabic Al Jazeera channel rivals the has an estimated reach of around 80 million households. BBC World dropped by Israeli satellite TV AVAILABILITY The original Al Jazeera channel is available worldwide through various satellite and cable systems. Al Jazeera TV Footprint - Coverage In the U.S., it is available through subscription satellite and Free to Air DVB-S on the Galaxy-25 satellite. Al Jazeera can also be freely viewed with a DVB-S receiver in Europe, Northern Africa , and the Middle East as it is broadcast on the Astra and Hot Bird satellites. In the UK, it is available on Sky platform. For availability info of the Al Jazeera network's other TV channels, see their respective articles. STAFF The Chairman of Al Jazeera is Sheikh Hamad Bin Thamer Al-Thani , a distant cousin of Qatar i Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani . Al Jazeera recently restructured its operations and have formed a Network that contains all their different channels. Wadah Khanfar , the managing director of the Arabic Channel was appointed as the Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. He also acts as the Managing Director of the Arabic channel. He is supported by Ahmed Sheikh , Editor-in-Chief, and Amen Jaballah . The Editor-in-Chief of the Arabic website is also Ahmed Sheikh , and the editorial head is Mohammad Dawood . It has more than one hundred editorial staff. The Editor-in-Chief of the English-language site is Russell Merryman , who took over in August 2005. He replaced Omar Bec who was caretaking the site after the departure of Managing Editor Alison Balharry. Previous incumbents include Joanne Tucker and Ahmed Sheikh. Prominent on-air personalities include Faisal Al-Qassem , host of the talk show ''The Opposite Direction''. CRITICISM AND CONTROVERSY While Al Jazeera has a large audience in the Middle East and worldwide, the organisation and the original Arabic channel in particular have been involved in numerous controversies, Al Jazeera under fire and especially in some parts of the with the goal of exploring how the US public could be mobilised against Al Jazeera (cf. section "In Conclusion…" of ). Anderson Cooper 360 on Al Jazeera International A widely reported criticism is the allegation that Al Jazeera had shown videos of masked terrorists beheading western hostages in Iraq. Rumsfeld blames Al Jazeera over Iraq When this is reported in reputable media, Al Jazeera presses for retractions to be made. Was George Bush serious about attack on Al Jazeera? This allegation was again repeated on Fox News in the USA on the launch day of Al Jazeera's English service, 15 November 2006.by Brent Bozell at 12.30 ET during the Fox Online program ( YouTube video ) Later The Guardian apologized for incorrect information that Al Jazeera 'had shown videos of masked terrorists beheading western hostages'. The Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Wednesday November 30 2005 Al Jazeera has been entangled in controversies involving the following countries: Algeria As mentioned above, on 27 January 1999, several Algerian cities lost power simultaneously, reportedly to keep residents from watching a program in which Algerian dissidents implicated the Algerian military in a series of massacres. On July 4 , 2004 , the Algeria n government froze the activities of Al Jazeera's Algerian correspondent. The official reason given was that a reorganization of the work of foreign correspondents was in progress. The international pressure group Reporters Without Borders says, however, that the measure was really taken in reprisal for a broadcast the previous week of another ''El-Itidjah el-Mouakass'' debate on the political situation in Algeria. RSF strongly condemns ban on al-Jazeera Bahrain The Bahrain i Information Minister, Nabeel Yacoob Al Hamer, banned Al Jazeera correspondents from reporting from inside the country on 10 May , 2002 , saying that the station was biased towards Israel and against Bahrain . Bahrain bans Al Jazeera TV After improvements in relations between Bahrain and Qatar in 2004, Al Jazeera correspondents returned to Bahrain. Iraq During the Iraq war, Al Jazeera faced the same reporting and movement restrictions as other news-gathering organizations. In addition, one of its reporters, Tayseer Allouni , was expelled from the country, while another one, Diyar Al-Omari, was stripped of his journalistic permits by the Iraqi Information Ministry. Reacting to this, Al Jazeera announced on April 2 , 2003 , that it would "temporarily freeze all coverage" of Iraq in protest of what Al Jazeera described as unreasonable interference from Iraqi officials. CPJ News Alert - Missing journalist's wife demands more information All of these decisions were later reverted. In May 2003, the CIA , through the Iraqi National Congress , released documents purportedly showing that Al Jazeera had been infiltrated by Iraqi Spies , and was regarded by Iraqi officials as part of their propaganda effort. As reported by the Sunday Times , the alleged spies were described by an Al Jazeera executive as having minor roles with no input on editorial decisions. On 23 September 2003 , Iraq suspended Al Jazeera (and Al-Arabiya ) from reporting on official government activities for two weeks for what the Council stated as supporting recent attacks on council members and Coalition occupational forces. The move came after allegations by Iraqis who stated that the channel had incited anti-occupation violence (by airing statements from Iraqi Resistance leaders), increasing ethnic and sectarian tensions, and being supportive of the resistance. During 2004, Al Jazeera broadcast several video tapes of various victims of kidnappings in Iraq, which had been sent to the network. The videos had been filmed by the kidnappers holding the hostages. The hostages were shown, often blindfolded, pleading for their release. They often appeared to be forced to read out prepared statements of their kidnappers. Al Jazeera has assisted authorities from the home countries of the victims in an attempt to secure the release of kidnapping victims. This included broadcasting pleas from family members and government officials. Contrary to some allegations, including the oft-reported comments of Donald Rumsfeld on June 4 , 2005 , Al Jazeera has never shown Beheadings . (Beheadings have appeared on numerous non-Al Jazeera Internet websites and have sometimes been misattributed to Al Jazeera.) On ; published September 6, 2004 Qatar Al Jazeera has been criticized for failing to report on many hard hitting news stories that originate from Qatar , where Al Jazeera is based. The two most frequently cited stories were the revoking of citizenship from the Al Ghafran clan of the Al Murrah tribe in response to a failed coup that members of the Al Ghafran clan were implicated in, and Qatar's growing relations with and diplomatic visits to Israel . Secret Dubai diary: into exile Spain See Also: Tayseer Allouni Reporter ; published Thursday, September 11, 2003 Allouni was released on bail several weeks later over health concerns, but prohibited from leaving the country. On 19 September , a Spanish court issued an arrest warrant for Allouni, before the expected verdict. Allouni had asked the court for permission to visit his family in Syria to attend the funeral of his mother, but authorities denied his request and instead ordered him back to jail. Aljazeera reporter placed in detention Al Jazeera; published Wednesday, January 19, 2005 Although he pleaded not guilty of all the charges against him, Allouni was sentenced on 26 September 2005 to seven years in prison for being a financial courier for al-Qaeda. Allouni insisted he merely interviewed Bin Laden after the September 11 attack on the United States. Special Reports - Taysir Alluni Al Jazeera Al Jazeera has continuously supported Allouni and protested his innocence. A fight for justice - Al Jazeera Many international and private organizations condemned the arrest and called on the Spanish court to free Taysir Allouni.e.g. Al Jazeera journalist re-arrested 10 days before trial verdict Websites such as Alony Solidarity were created to support Allouni. United Kingdom UK officials, like their US counterparts, strongly protested Al Jazeera's coverage of the 2003 Invasion Of Iraq . Al Jazeera stated that the coalition leaders were taking exception because its reporting made it more difficult for both countries to manage the way the war was being reported. Al-Jazeera: News channel in the news BBC News; published Saturday, 29 March, 2003 United States While prior to September 11, 2001, the The station first gained widespread attention in the West following the September 11, 2001 Attacks , when it broadcast videos in which Osama Bin Laden and Sulaiman Abu Ghaith defended and justified the attacks. This led to significant controversy and accusations by the United States government that Al Jazeera was engaging in Propaganda on behalf of terrorists. Al Jazeera countered that it was merely making information available without comment, and indeed several western television channels later followed suit in broadcasting portions of the tapes. On November 13 , during the US Invasion Of Afghanistan , 2001 a U.S. missile strike destroyed Al Jazeera's office in Kabul . There were no casualties. Al-Jazeera Kabul offices hit in US raid Detention of Sami Al-Hajj See Also: Sami Al Hajj Al Jazeera cameraman On 23 November 2005 , Sami Al-Haj's lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith reported that, during (125 of 130) interviews, U.S. officials had questioned Sami as to whether Al Jazeera was a front for Al-Qaeda . More news is good news at New Age BD In the run-up to the ; published November 17, 2005 When Al Jazeera went on to do reporting featuring very graphic footage from inside Iraq, US officials decried Al Jazeera as anti-American and as inciting violence. This sentiment was widely echoed throughout the US media and population. On Monday, stock market officials. Al Jazeera banned from two Wall Street exchanges (March 26, 2003) Killing of Tareq Ayyoub See Also: Tareq Ayyoub On , the widow of Tareq Ayyoub, The Guardian , October 4 , 2003 On , January 30, 2005 However, as of 2007, the station/network has not been sold and it is unclear whether there are still any plans to do so. Al Jazeera bombing memo See Also: Al Jazeera bombing memo On November 22 , 2005 , the UK Tabloid '' The Daily Mirror '' published a story claiming that it had obtained a leaked memo from 10 Downing Street saying that U.S. President George W. Bush had considered bombing Al Jazeera's Doha headquarters in April 2004, when U.S. Marines were conducting a contentious assault on Fallujah . In light of this allegation, Al Jazeera has questioned whether it has been targeted deliberately in the past — Al Jazeera's Kabul office was bombed in 2001 and another missile hit its office in Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq, killing correspondent Tareq Ayyoub. Both of these attacks occurred subsequent to Al Jazeera's disclosure of the locations of their offices to the United States. ON THE WEB Al Jazeera's web-based service is accessible subscription-free throughout the world. The English and Arabic sections are editorially distinct, with their own selection of news and comment. Arabic language The Arabic version of the site was brought offline for about 10 hours by an FBI raid on its ISP, InfoCom Corporation , on September 5 , 2001 . InfoCom was later convicted of exporting to Libya and Syria , of knowingly being invested in by a Hamas member (both of which are illegal in the United States), and of underpaying customs duties. English language The station launched an English-language edition of its online content in March, 2003. This English language website was relaunched on November 15 2006, along with the launch of Al Jazeera English . Web site attacked Immediately after its launch, the English site was attacked by one or several ; published Thursday, June 12, 2003 In June 2003, Racine pleaded guilty to Wire Fraud and unlawful interception of an electronic communication. Southern California Man Who Hijacked Al Jazeera Website Agrees to Plead Guilty to Federal Charges Guilty plea in Al Jazeera site hack Al Jazeera hacker gets community service As of 2007, the perpetrators of the denial-of-service attacks remain unknown. Web host changes The English-language site was forced to change Internet Hosting Providers several times, due, in Al Jazeera's opinion, to political pressure. Initially, hosting for the English-language site was provided by the U.S.-based company DataPipe , which gave Al Jazeera notice, soon followed by Akamai Technologies . Al Jazeera later shifted to the French branch of NavLink , and then to (the as of 2007 current host) AT&T WorldNet Services. DOCUMENTARIES AWARDS COMPETITORS REFERENCES FURTHER READING 8-8424-9282-5 EXTERNAL LINKS Note that the websites Aljazeera.com and Aljazeerah.info are not affiliated with Al Jazeera. |
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