Al Jazeera Media Network
Al Jazeera Media Network is a Qatari news media organization headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha. It is a statutory private foundation for public benefit, and is primarily funded by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which cover regional and international news, alongside the digital platform AJ+. Al Jazeera is available in more than 150 countries and territories and has a global audience of over 450 million people.
Originally conceived as a satellite TV channel delivering Arabic news and current affairs, it has since evolved into a multifaceted media network encompassing various platforms such as online, specialized television channels in numerous languages, and more. The network's news operation currently has 70 bureaus around the world that are shared between the network's channels and operations.
The network has often been targeted by foreign governments upset with its reporting. During the Qatar diplomatic crisis, several Arab countries severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a blockade. One of their demands was the closure of Al Jazeera. Other media networks have spoken out against this demand. Critics often view Al Jazeera Arabic as being influenced by Qatar's foreign policy.
History
Launch
Al Jazeera was founded by Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar and head of the Al Thani Qatari Royal Family. He first publicly floated the idea of launching an international news channel in August 1994, when he was still crown prince. The Al Jazeera Satellite Channel was launched on 1 November 1996. The creation of the new Arabic news network followed the closure of the first BBC Arabic language television station, then a joint venture with Orbit Communications Company, owned by Saudi King Fahd's cousin, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud. The BBC channel had closed after a year and a half when the Saudi government attempted to thwart a documentary pertaining to executions of prominent Saudi dissidents. Many former BBC Arabic journalists subsequently joined Al Jazeera during its initial hiring phase. Following a London screening of a six-hour test broadcast, the emir dropped his initial idea to mix news and entertainment, and decided on an all-news format. Al Jazeera was launched with a combination of private and public funds, with the Qatari government providing Al Jazeera with a five-year loan of $150 million, which was theoretically due to be repaid in five years.At launch, Al Jazeera broadcast six hours of programming per day, expanding to twelve hours by the end of 1997. It was broadcast to the immediate surrounding region as a terrestrial signal, and on cable, as well as through satellites. On 1 January 1999, Al Jazeera began broadcasting on a 24-hour schedule. Within a year, employment had more than tripled to approximately 500 staff, and the network had established bureaus at a dozen locations, extending to the European Union, Russia, and Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Its annual budget was estimated at $30 million at the time. Al Jazeera was included in cable packages in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel.
Al Jazeera was launched with a mandate of independence. In March 1998, the emir disbanded the Ministry of Information, which had been responsible for overseeing press censorship.. The 2004 Constitution of Qatar, guaranteeing freedom of the press, provided further reinforcement. The motives behind the establishment of Al Jazeera are debated, with commentators citing a range of possible motivations, including financial, political interests, and the promotion of uncensored media in the region. By 1998, Al Jazeera was already one of the major news providers in the Middle East.
Restructuring
In 2006, Wadah Khanfar, then the managing director of the Arabic Channel, was appointed as the Director-General of the Al Jazeera Satellite Network. Khanfar will continue to serve as managing director of the Al Jazeera Arabic channel. In September 2011, Al Jazeera's long-time director-general Wadah Khanfar unexpectedly resigned after eight years leading the network.On 26 November 2009, Al Jazeera English received approval from the CRTC, which enables Al Jazeera English to broadcast via satellite in Canada. In 2011, Al Jazeera Media Network was legally restructured from a "public institution" to a "private institution of public utility'"; however, it was unknown how this would affect editorial management and funding. According to Al Jazeera, the restructuring was intended to provide greater administrative flexibility and a faster decision-making process. The network is also funded through its television contracts and revenue from its sports division. In March 2016, Al Jazeera announced that it would lay off about 500 employees worldwide, a reduction of roughly 10 percent of its workforce, as part of cost-cutting measures.
Al Jazeera and the 2011 Arab Spring
Al Jazeera covered the Arab Spring more than any other news outlet; it had a significant role in spreading the Arab uprising. Al Jazeera was the leading media spreading the news about unrest in a small city in Tunisia throughout the Middle East in 2011.People in the Middle East have heavily relied on Al Jazeera to obtain news about their regions and the world, even more so than YouTube and Google. Hillary Clinton, who was the U.S. Secretary of State at the time of the Arab Spring, stated that Al Jazeera "has been the leader in that literally changing people's minds and attitudes. And like it or hate it, it is really effective."
The news of unrest in the Arab states was broadcast by Al Jazeera in Arabic for the Arab world as well as in English for the audiences from the rest of the world.
In Tunisia, the Ben Ali regime banned Al Jazeera from operating in the country, but with the help of Facebook users inside Tunisia, Al Jazeera was able to access reports of events, such as protests and government crackdowns, that were taking place inside the country. The intensive media coverage of people's uprising against their leaders by Al Jazeera mobilized more people from other parts of the country to join the revolution.
The population in other Arab countries, including Bahrain, Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and Syria, also mobilized against their governments, inspired by the Tunisians' successful revolt, which was extensively covered by Al Jazeera Arabic. International opinion also came to support the Arab movements in the Middle East, since Al Jazeera English covered and reported governmental human right abuses against political activists and ordinary citizens.
Subsidiaries
Al Jazeera Arabic
Al Jazeera Arabic was launched on November 1, 1996, by the government of Qatar. Noted for its journalistic professionalism, especially when contrasted with other Arab news organizations, Al Jazeera gained popularity in the Arab world as an alternative to the previous landscape of largely local state-owned broadcasters, with its early coverage being openly critical of autocratic leaders in the region, as well as hosting a wide range of viewpoints, gaining credibility through its extensive frontline coverage of the Second Intifada and the Iraq War. Al Jazeera Arabic is editorially independent from Al Jazeera English. While the news network insists on its editorial independence the network is widely seen by foreign governments as a soft power tool for Qatar.Al Jazeera English
Al Jazeera English was launched on November 15, 2006, as the English-language counterpart to Al Jazeera Arabic. It positions itself as an alternative media platform to the dominance of Western media outlets like CNN and BBC, focusing on narrative reporting where subjects present their own stories. Al Jazeera is known for its in-depth and frontline reporting particularly in conflict zones such as the Arab Spring, the Gaza–Israel conflict and others. Al Jazeera's coverage of the Arab Spring won the network numerous awards, including the Peabody Award.In 2001, Al Jazeera stood as the sole international news network broadcasting from Kabul, Afghanistan. Following the events of 9/11, there was a notable surge in demand for an English-language version of Al Jazeera. In late 2002, the director of marketing of Al Jazeera, Ali Mohamed Kama began to push a "repositioning" of Al Jazeera, "accompanied by the introduction of English subtitles and dubbing of broadcast into English."
Al Jazeera's coverage came under intense global scrutiny after September 11 attacks. During this period, Al Jazeera’s Kabul bureau was destroyed by a US airstrike, an event the network and many observers regarded as deliberate, though the US denied intent. Its reporting on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, offering perspectives distinct from Western media, prompted criticism from governments and commentators. According to one of the central architects of Al Jazeera English, Steve Clark, the decision to invest substantially in a new English-language network was driven in part by a desire to address Western perceptions of Al Jazeera and to respond to growing scrutiny of the network's Arabic-language programming.
In 2003, Al Jazeera hired its first English-language journalists, among whom was Afshin Rattansi, from the BBC's Today programme.
In March 2003, it launched an English-language website. The name of the website was "Al Jazeera Net"; it was launched by younger journalists. The site published various stories covered by the network, but it did not depend on Arabic-language channels and websites. The website aimed to connect to the Western audience, cooperate with BBC, and be "a global citizen's home page."
However, twelve hours after the launch of the website, "Al Jazeera Net" was kept offline due to many denial of service attacks. Over twenty-four hours later, "Al Jazeera Net" came back online however, Freedom Cyber Force Militia hacked the website to redirect web browsers to a picture of the American flag with a slogan saying "Let Freedom Ring". "Al Jazeera Net" was then unable to be securely hosted because three of Al Jazeera's web providers, Horizons Media, Information Services, and Akamai Technologies canceled the contract. Also in March, Yahoo and AOL stopped advertising contracts with Al Jazeera. Therefore, the English-translated website was put off later in 2003.
On 4 July 2005 Al Jazeera officially announced plans to launch a new English-language satellite service to be called Al Jazeera International. The new channel started at 12h GMT on 15 November 2006 under the name Al Jazeera English and launched with broadcast centers in Doha, London, Kuala Lumpur and Washington D.C. Initially, 12 hours of news a day were broadcast from Doha, and the rest of the day's output was split equally between London, Kuala Lumpur, and Washington D.C. Among its staff were journalists hired from ABC's Nightline and other top news outfits. Josh Rushing, a former media handler for CENTCOM during the Iraq war, agreed to provide commentary; David Frost was also on board.
The new English-language venture faced considerable regulatory and commercial hurdles in the North American market for its perceived sympathy with extremist causes. The channel eventually secured carriage on a small number of cable systems in the United States, including one in Washington, D.C.