Al Jazeera English (AJE) is an international 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It is the sister channel of the Arabic-language Al Jazeera.
The station broadcasts news features and analysis, documentaries, live debates, current affairs, business, technology, and sports. The station claims to be the first global high-definition television network.
Al Jazeera English is the world's first English-language news channel headquartered in the Middle East. The channel aims to provide both a regional voice and a global perspective to a potential world audience of over one billion English speakers who don't have an Anglo-American worldview. Instead of being run under central command, news management rotates around broadcasting centers in Doha, London and Washington D.C. Complete news bulletins from Kuala Lumpur stopped on 30 September 2010 and have been replaced by news from Doha, with news inserts from Kuala Lumpur ending in early 2011. Al Jazeera English is one of the few foreign media outlets to have agencies in Gaza and Harare.
The network's stated objective is "to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions."
Philosophy
Al Jazeera English has stated objectives of emphasizing news from the developing world, of ''"reversing the North to South flow of information"'' and of ''"setting the news agenda"'' (also the channel's slogan). Some observers, including media scholar
Adel Iskandar, have commented that this focus can be seen, in the eyes of
Western viewers, as casting Al Jazeera English as a global "alternative" news network, though the entire Al Jazeera brand has been heavily mainstreamed in many parts of the world. Other Al Jazeera English slogans and catchphrases include: "All the News | All the Time", "Fearless Journalism" and "If it's newsworthy, it gets on air, whether it's
Bush or
Bin Laden." Al Jazeera's Code of Ethics mirrors some of these statements.. Award winning Creative teams shaped the English brand identity, the on-air studios and its "EVERY ANGLE | EVERY SIDE" promotional positioning, led by Director of Creative, Morgan Almeida, "to extend the Arabic heritage in a language familiar to diverse global audiences".
Launch and reach
The channel was launched on 15 November 2006. It had aimed to begin global broadcasting in June 2006 but had to postpone its launch because its
HDTV technology was not ready. The channel was due to be called ''Al Jazeera International'', but the name was changed nine months before the launch because "one of the Qatar-based channel's backers decided that the broadcaster already had an international scope with its original Arabic outlet."
The channel had expected to reach around 40 million households, but it far exceeded that launch target, reaching 80 million homes. As of 2009, Al Jazeera's English-language service can be viewed in every major European market, and is available to 130 million homes in over 100 countries via cable and satellite, according to Molly Conroy, a spokeswoman for the network in Washington.
The channel is noted for its poor penetration in the American market, where it is carried by only one satellite service, and a small number of cable networks. Al Jazeera English has begun a campaign to enter the North American market, including a dedicated website. It became available to some cable subscribers in New York in August 2011, having previously been available as an option for some viewers in Washington DC, Ohio and Los Angeles. It is readily available on most major Canadian television providers including Rogers and Bell TV after the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the channel for distribution in Canada on 26 November 2009.
In 2008, Al Jazeera English won the Golden Nymph award for ''Best 24-Hour News Program'' at the Monte Carlo Television Festival. The jurors singled out Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's Gaza correspondent, for her bravery in reporting from the Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera English also received nominations in several other news categories, for example the ''Best News Documentary'' award for the report ''Inside Myanmar – The Crackdown''.
Al Jazeera English and Iran's state-run Press TV were the only international English-language television broadcasters with journalists reporting from inside both Gaza and Israel during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict. Foreign press access to Gaza has been limited via either Egypt or Israel. However, Al Jazeera's reporters Ayman Mohyeldin and Sherine Tadros were already inside Gaza when the conflict began and the network's coverage was often compared to CNN's initial coverage from inside Baghdad in the early days of the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The channel may also be viewed online. It recommends online viewing either via Livestation, a free software (live, high quality), at its own website (live, low quality), or at its channel on YouTube. Although Al Jazeera English is produced in High Definition (HD), the output is converted to 14:9 SD similar to BBC World. Programs are shown on the Al Jazeera English YouTube channel in their original 16:9 format.
Programmes
Regular/recurrent programmes on the channel are:
101 East - weekly show hosted by Fauziah Ibrahim; Asian politics, business and current affairs
48 - ''"In one city with only 48 hours, Amanda Palmer shows you the highs and lows of city living"''
Birthrights - ''"Birthrights is a series exploring maternal health and the power, politics and poverty that impacts it around the world"''
Counting The Cost - hosted by Kamahl Santamaria; a weekly look at business and finance
Empire - monthly program exploring global powers and their policies. A discussion with host Marwan Bishara and his guests
Everywoman - hosted by Shiulie Ghosh; ''"Everywoman is the first show of its kind from the Middle East to put women’s issues at its core. Its strong stories with universal appeal ensure that this will be compelling viewing for men and women alike"'' (discontinued)
The Fabulous Picture Show (FPS) - Motion picture/entertainment show hosted by Amanda Palmer
Frost Over The World - hosted by Sir David Frost; ''"Frost Over the World brings together a diverse range of guests to discuss the week’s current affairs"''
Fault Lines - presented by Avi Lewis and Josh Rushing ''"Looking deeper into the US and its place in the world"''
Inside Iraq - hosted by Jasim Al-Azzawi, ''"Inside Iraq is a weekly debate programme offering opinions from a diverse range of guests on Iraq"''
Inside Story - ''"analysis, background, and context on the day's top story"''
Listening Post - hosted by Richard Gizbert; Al Jazeera English revisits and reviews how other news organizations covered the news that week and presents viewer-submitted news
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''News'':
* World news live from Al Jazeera's Doha broadcast centre
* World news live from Al Jazeera's London broadcast centre
* ''Newshour'' - an hour of world news hosted from several of Al Jazeera's broadcast centres, linked together live: 15:00GMT edition from Doha/London; 18:00GMT edition from Doha/London; 21:00GMT edition from London/Washington DC; 23:00GMT edition from Doha/Washington DC; 02:00GMT edition from Doha/Washington DC
* News headlines are broadcast generally every half hour
|}
''News Review'' - Al Jazeera English reviews/recaps the news of the day (discontinued)''
People & Power - biweekly programme hosted by Dr Shereen El Feki, Juliana Ruhfus and Sapna Bhatia; In April 2007, Samah El-Shahat replaced Shereen El Feki as the main host of the program. ''"People & Power is about power in the 21st century - who has it, who wants it and how it is being used - and abused"''
Riz Khan - (Monday-Thursday) viewer participation show hosted by Riz Khan
Riz Khan's One on One - Riz Khan sits down with a single guest for an extended interview
Sportsworld - a daily sports programme hosted, on rotation, by members of Al Jazeera's Doha sports team (discontinued)
The Stream - a programme focusing on social media hosted by Derrick Ashong and Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, on air every Monday to Thursday.
Witness - hosted by Ghida Fakhry; a daily presentation of short documentaries
In addition to the above, Al Jazeera English runs various programmes that are either entirely non-recurrent or consist of just a limited number of parts (miniseries format).
International bureau
In addition to its four main broadcast centres, Al Jazeera English has 21 supporting bureaus around the world which gather and produce news. It also shares resources with its
Arabic-language sister channel's 42 bureaus and is planning to add further bureaus, to be announced as they open. After it began broadcasting in Canada in May 2010, the network announced plans to open, in June 2010, a Canadian bureau office in Toronto. This is a significant difference from the present trend.
“The mainstream American networks have cut their bureaus to the bone.... They’re basically only in London now. Even CNN has pulled back. I remember in the ’80s when I covered these events there would be a truckload of American journalists and crews and editors, and now Al Jazeera outnumbers them all.... That’s where, in the absence of alternatives, Al Jazeera English can fill a vacuum, simply because we’re going in the opposite direction.”
-Tony Burman, Managing Director, AJE (qtd. in Adbusters)
Also Al Jazeera presenters can alternate between broadcast centres.
Middle East
Broadcast Centre: Doha (
map)
Anchors: Dareen Abughaida,
Folly Bah Thibault,
Nick Clark, Jane Dutton,
Ghida Fakhry,
Adrian Finighan, David Foster,
Shiulie Ghosh,
Darren Jordon,
Divya Gopalan, Laura Kyle, Teymoor Nabili, Sohail Rahman and Kamahl Santamaria.
Correspondents: Hoda Abdel-Hamid,
Hashem Ahelbarra,
James Bays,
Clayton Swisher,
Sherine Tadros,
Nadim Baba in
Gaza,
Imran Khan, and Mike Hanna.
Bureaus and Correspondents
Beirut: Rula Amin
Gaza: Ayman Mohyeldin
Ramallah: Nour Odeh
Tehran: Alireza Ronaghi
Africa
Bureaux: Cairo,
Abidjan,
Nairobi,
Johannesburg, and
Harare.
Correspondents: Amr El Kahky, Haru Mutasa, Mohammed Adow, Mohamad Vall, Yvonne Ndege
Europe
Broadcast Centre: London (
map)
Anchors: Felicity Barr,
Stephen Cole,
Barbara Serra, Lauren Taylor and Sami Zeidan
Correspondents: Alan Fisher, Laurence Lee, Tim Friend, Nazanine Moshiri,
Barnaby Phillips, Tania Paige, Akhtam Suliman
Bureaux and Correspondents:
Moscow: Neave Barker
Paris: Jacky Rowland
The Americas
Broadcast Centre: Washington D.C. (
map)
Anchors: Daljit Dhaliwal, Imran Garda, Kimberly Halkett,
Anand Naidoo and
Shihab Rattansi
Correspondents: Rosiland Jordan,
Nick Spicer, Kimberly Halkett and
Rob Reynolds
Bureaux and Correspondents:
Bogota: Monica Villamizar
Buenos Aires: Lucia Newman, Teresa Bo
Caracas: Dima Khatib, Mariana Sanchez and Lucrecia Franco
New York: Kristen Saloomey, John Terret
Mexico City: Franc Contreras
São Paulo: Gabriel Elizondo
Toronto: Imtiaz Tyab
Asia and Australasia
Broadcast Centre: Kuala Lumpur (
map)
Correspondents: Veronica Pedrosa,
Tony Birtley,
Casey Kauffman
Bureaux and Correspondents
Beijing: Melissa Chan
Islamabad: Kamal Hyder
Jakarta: Step Vaessen
Delhi: Prerna Suri
Manila: Marga Ortigas
Staff
Current
Presenters and correspondents who have joined the channel include (previous employers in brackets):
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Marwan Bishara (American University of Paris)
Felicity Barr (ITN)
Nick Clark (BBC World, ITV, various)
Stephen Cole (BBC World, CNN International, Sky News)
Brendan Connor (CBC)
Jane Dutton (BBC World, CNN International)
Ghida Fakhry (Asharq Al-Awsat, LBC, various)
Dr. Shereen El Feki (The Economist)
Elizabeth Filippouli (ERT)
Alan Fisher (GMTV)
David Foster (Sky News)
Everton Fox (BBC World)
Sir David Frost (BBC World, ITV)
Steve Gaisford (Sky News, ITV, Five)
Imran Garda (Supersport)
Joanna Gasiorowska (ITN, Sky Sports)
Steff Gaulter (Sky News, Met Office)
Shiulie Ghosh (ITN)
Richard Gizbert (ABC)
Divya Gopalan (BBC World, NBC, CNBC)
Tony Harris (CNN)
Kimberley Halkett (Global TV - Canada)
David Hawkins (CBS, CNN)
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Hassan Ibrahim (Al Jazeera, various)
Darren Jordon (BBC World)
Riz Khan (BBC World, CNN International)
Avi Lewis (CBC)
Julie MacDonald (ITV, BBC World, GMTV)
Teymoor Nabili (BBC World, CNBC)
Rageh Omaar (BBC World)
Marga Ortigas (GMA News and Public Affairs, CNN)
Shahnaz Pakravan (BBC World, ITN)
Amanda Palmer (CNN, APTV, Seven Network)
Verónica Pedrosa (ABS-CBN, BBC World, CNN International)
Sohail Rahman (Granada TV, ITV, BBC World, Channel 4, CNN)
Shihab Rattansi (Channel NewsAsia, CNN International)
Andy Richardson (Sky News, ITN)
Josh Rushing (US Marine Corps)
Kamahl Santamaria (Sky News Australia, TV3 News)
Mark Seddon (BBC World, Sky News, Channel 4, various)
Barbara Serra (Sky News)
Nick Spicer (NPR, USA, CBC)
Prerna Suri, New Delhi, India, (CNN-IBN, India)
Lauren Taylor (ITN, Sky News)
Sami Zeidan (CNBC Arabiya, CNN)
Kevin Corriveau (CNN International, US Air Force)
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Former presenters and correspondents
Presenters and correspondents who have left Al-Jazeera English include:
David Hawkins
Hamish Macdonald
Dave Marash
Maryam Nemazee
Arthur Neslen
Recruitment
Veteran British broadcaster
Sir David Frost joined Al Jazeera English to host his show ''Frost Over the World''.
Former BBC and CNN anchor Riz Khan, who previously had been the host of the CNN talk show ''Q&A;'', also joined. He hosts his shows ''Riz Khan'' and ''Riz Khan's One on One''.
Former U.S. Marine Josh Rushing joined Al Jazeera in September 2005. He had been the press officer for the United States Central Command during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, and in that role had been featured in the documentary ''Control Room''. When subsequently joining Al Jazeera, Rushing commented that "In a time when American media has become so nationalized, I'm excited about joining an organization that truly wants to be a source of global information...." Rushing works from the Washington, D.C., broadcasting centre.
Former CNN and BBC news anchorwoman and award winning journalist Veronica Pedrosa also joined the team, along with CNN producer James Wright, and Kieran Baker, a former editor and producer for CNN, who most recently was Acting General Manager, Communications and Public Participation for ICANN. On 2 December 2005, Stephen Cole, a senior anchor on BBC World and ''Click Online'' presenter, announced he was joining Al Jazeera International.
The network announced on 12 January 2006 that former ''Nightline'' correspondent Dave Marash would be the co-anchor from their Washington studio. Marash described his new position as ''"the most interesting job on Earth.''"
On 6 February 2006, it was announced that the former BBC reporter Rageh Omaar would host the daily weeknights documentary series, ''Witness''.
The managing director for Al Jazeera English is Tony Burman, who replaced Nigel Parsons in May 2008.
Availability
The channel is available in many countries, mostly via satellite, sometimes via cable. The channel is also available online. It can be streamed live worldwide for free through Livestation. A low quality
RealVideo stream allows viewing. Al Jazeera news segments are frequently included on the American public television program
Worldfocus. Al Jazeera can also be streamed on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with a 3G or wifi conncection using a free application.
Online subscriptions allowing unlimited viewing may be purchased from Jump TV, RealPlayer, and VDC. Headlines from Al-Jazeera English are available on Twitter. According to the Al Jazeera English Watch Now webpage, not all services are available everywhere due to licensing/distribution restrictions.
The New York Times on 16 April 2007 reported that Al Jazeera English would begin running segments from its shows on the Internet video-sharing site YouTube.
Al Jazeera English is available in the UK and Ireland on Freeview (channel 89), Sky's digital satellite platform on channel 514, and on Freesat, channel 203.
On 26 November 2009, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved "a request to add Al Jazeera English (AJE) to the lists of eligible satellite services for distribution on a digital basis and amends the lists of eligible satellite services accordingly." Al Jazeera English became available on Rogers Cable, Videotron and Bell TV on 4 May 2010.
In New Zealand, Triangle TV re-broadcasts various Al Jazeera programmes in Auckland on free-to-air UHF channels as does Stratos free-to-air via Freeview satellite.
In April 2010, Al Jazeera English was taken off air in mio TV Singapore with unspecified reasons, according to the official Al Jazeera English website.
The channel initially began test streaming Al Jazeera English (then called "Al Jazeera International") in March 2006 on Hot Bird, Astra 1E, Hispasat, AsiaSat3S, Eurobird 1 and Panamsat PAS 10. Telenors Thor, Türksat and Eurobird 2 were added to the satellites carrying it. Eurobird 1 carried the test stream on frequency 11.681 under the name "AJI".
On 7 December 2010, Al Jazeera said its English language service has got a downlink license to broadcast in India. Satellite and cable companies would therefore be allowed to broadcast Al Jazeera in the country.
United States
Al Jazeera English is available via satellite across all of North America
free to air via
GlobeCast World TV on
Galaxy 19 on the
Ku band in
DVB format. As of 2011, only a small number of Americans were able to watch the channel on their televisions. Among the markets where it was available was were
Bristol County, Rhode Island;
Toledo and
Sandusky, Ohio;
Burlington, Vermont;
Houston, Texas; and
Washington, DC. Industry giant
Comcast originally planned to carry Al Jazeera English in 2007, but reversed its decision shortly before the channel's launch, citing "the already-saturated television market". The two major American satellite providers,
DirecTV and
Dish Network, had similar plans but also changed their minds, with speculation that the decision may have been influenced by allegations by the
Bush administration of "anti-American bias" in the channel.
With Al Jazeera's coverage of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, the channel drew acclaim and received renewed attention. ''The New York Times'' reported on 1 February 2011 that 1.6 million U.S. viewers had tuned in via Internet stream, and stated that new discussions were underway with carriers; the following month, it was announced that Al Jazeera entered carriage negotiations with Comcast and Time Warner Cable. Salon.com described the channel's English-language coverage as "mandatory viewing for anyone interested in the world-changing events currently happening in Egypt", while ''Huffington Post'' contributor Jeff Jarvis claimed it was "un-American" for operators to not carry the network. When Al Jazeera covered the 2011 Libyan civil war, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton noted an increasing American audience for the network, saying that "viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it’s real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you’re getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and—you know—arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which—you know—is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners."
On 1 February 2011, Internet appliance Roku posted on its Facebook page that the English-Language Al Jazeera Live would be streaming on Roku devices through a private channel called Newscaster and also through the BBC channel. It permitted the announcement following an unrest in Egypt so American viewers can watch the latest events going on in the middle east. A Roku user must add the private channel Newscaster by going to https://owner.roku.com/Add/newscaster. Roku is used to stream Netflix and Hulu content as well as many other private channels.
Criticism
Anti-American bias
Emmy award winning journalist Dave Marash, who served as a veteran correspondent for ABC's ''
Nightline'', resigned from his position as Washington anchor for Al Jazeera English in 2008. Marash cited "reflexive adversarial editorial stance" against Americans and "anti-American bias".
In 2004, Accuracy in Media, a conservative non-profit, American media watchdog group, also criticized Al Jazeera for its "anti-American" stance.
Gallery
See also
International broadcasting
;Competitors
BBC World News
CNN International
Deutsche Welle
France 24
Press TV
Russia Today
References
Further reading
Abdul-Mageed, M. M. (2008) Online News Sites and Journalism 2.0: Reader Comments on Al Jazeera Arabic; TripleC: Cognition, Communication, Co-operation, 6(2), 59-76 Online News Sites and Journalism 2.0: Reader Comments on Al Jazeera Arabic Muhammad Abdul-Mageed, 10 April 2009
Abdul-Mageed, M. M., and Herring, S. C. (2008) Arabic and English news coverage on aljazeera.net. In: F. Sudweeks, H. Hrachovec, and C. Ess (Eds.), Proceedings of Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication 2008 (CATaC'08), Nîmes, France, 24–27 June Arabic and English News Coverage on Al Jazeera.NET Muhammad Abdul-Mageed, 10 March 2008
Tatham Steve (2006), Losing Arab Hearts & Minds: The Coalition, Al-Jazeera & Muslim Public Opinion. Hurst & Co (UK), Front Street Press (US).
External links
Official site
Al Jazeera International Commissioning
How to watch Al Jazeera English for Free in North America
Global live stream of Al Jazeera English Open Online TV Project
Telecommunications Companies Block Expansion of Al Jazeera English in the U.S. - video report by ''Democracy Now!''
Coverage maps and availability information
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Category:Al Jazeera
Category:24-hour television news channels
Category:English-language television stations
Category:External services (broadcasting)
Category:Foreign television channels broadcasting in the United Kingdom
Category:High-definition television
Category:Television channels and stations established in 2006
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