Recruitment[link]

Veteran British broadcaster Sir David Frost joined Al Jazeera English in 2005^[37] 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.^[38] 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...."^[39] 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,^[40] along with CNN producer James Wright, and Kieran Baker, a former editor and producer for CNN, who had been 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.^[41]

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."^[42] On 6 February 2006, it was announced that the former BBC reporter Rageh Omaar would host the daily weeknights documentary series, Witness.^[43]

The managing director for Al Jazeera English was previously Tony Burman, who replaced Nigel Parsons in May 2008.^[44]

Availability[link]

The channel is available in many countries,^[45] mostly via satellite, sometimes via cable. The channel is also available online.^[46] Al Jazeera English provides a free HD stream on its website for unlimited viewing.^[21] It is available for free worldwide. They also provide a free stream on their YouTube page.^[22] It can also be streamed in lower quality live worldwide for free through Livestation. Previously, before Al Jazeera provided an official stream, a low quality RealVideo stream was available for 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.

Along with a free unlimited high-quality stream on the official Al Jazeera English website, Online subscriptions allowing unlimited viewing may be purchased from Jump TV,^[47] RealPlayer,^[48] and VDC.^[49] Headlines from Al-Jazeera English are available on Twitter.^[50]

Al Jazeera English's website also contains news reports and full episodes of their programs that can be viewed for free on their website. The videos are hosted by YouTube, where viewers can also go to find the videos.^[51][52]

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."^[16][17] Al Jazeera English became available on Rogers Cable, Videotron and Bell TV on 4 May 2010.^[29]

In New Zealand, Triangle TV re-broadcasts various Al Jazeera programmes in Auckland on free-to-air UHF channel. TV One will start playing it 1.30am to 6am, 9.30am to midday and 1.30pm to 4pm weekdays and 9.30am to midday Saturdays from 2013.

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, Eutelsat 28A and Panamsat PAS 10. Telenors Thor, Türksat and Eutelsat 25A were added to the satellites carrying it. Eutelsat 28A 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.^[53] The channel launched on Dish TV in November 2011,^[54] and is considering a Hindi-language channel.^[55]

United States[link]

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.^[56] Among the markets where it was available was were Bristol County, Rhode Island; Toledo and Sandusky, Ohio; Burlington, Vermont; Houston, Texas; and Washington, DC.^[57] 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".^[58] 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.^[59]

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.^[60] The following month, it was announced that Al Jazeera entered carriage negotiations with Comcast and Time Warner Cable.^[61] Salon.com described the channel's English-language coverage as "mandatory viewing for anyone interested in the world-changing events currently happening in Egypt",^[62] while Huffington Post contributor Jeff Jarvis claimed it was "un-American" for operators to not carry the network.^[63] 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."^[64]

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 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 from the Roku website.^[65]

On 1 August 2011, Al Jazeera English began airing 23 hours a day in New York City as part of a sublet agreement with cable channel RISE, a former Spanish-language network, which is carried on WRNN-TV's DT2 subchannel (the other hours are used to meet FCC E/I and local programming guidelines). The network airs on Time Warner Cable on channel 92 and on Verizon FiOS on channel 481.^[66]

Criticism[link]

As with Al Jazeera's Arabic counterpart, the network has received criticism from having bias from several sides, usually being accused when whomever is being covered receives coverage that seems negative. They have been criticized for having favorable coverage of the Arab Spring. They have also received criticism of an Anti-American bias due in large to the criticism the Bush administration gave Al Jazeera Arabic during the Afghanistan and Iraq War. In April 2004, then US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld denounced the network's coverage of the Iraq War as "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable." However, in a 2011 interview for Frost Over The World, Al Jazeera English's news and public affairs program hosted by Sir David Frost, Rumsfeld took a more conciliatory tone and praised the network as "an important means of communication in the world."^[67]

Anti-American bias[link]

Al Jazeera English has received criticism of Anti-American bias, mostly from American Conservatives. 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".^[68][69] On 14 February 2011 however, Dave Marash defended Al Jazeera English on the O'Reilly Factor on Fox News.^[70]

On 12 October 2008, Al Jazeera English broadcast interviews with people attending a Sarah Palin 2008 United States presidential election rally in St. Clairsville, Ohio, with interviewees making comments about Barack Obama such as "he regards white people as trash" and "I'm afraid if he wins, the blacks will take over". The report received over 2 million views on YouTube^[71] Following this the Washington Post ran an op-ed,^[72] claiming the news channel was deliberately encouraging "anti-American sentiment overseas",^[72] which was criticized by Al Jazeera as "a gratuitous and uninformed shot at Al Jazeera's motives", as the report was just one of "hundreds of hours of diverse coverage".^[73] Criticism of an Anti-American bias has been dwindling as their coverage of the Arab Spring received wide acclaim and calls for the network to be added to U.S. television.^[74]

Pro-American bias[link]

As with its Arabic counterpart, while Al Jazeera English has been criticized for having an Anti-American bias, it has also been criticized for a Pro-American bias. ^[75] Al Jazeera English's former director, Wadah Khanfar resigned in September of 2011 following Wikileaks documents that showed that he had close ties to the U.S. and agreed to remove content if the United States objected. ^[76][77]

Some of Al Jazeera's competitors have claimed that Al Jazeera is pro-American. In an interview with RT, a network criticized for a alleged Anti-Western bias^[78] a former Al Jazeera reporter Omar Chatriwala claimed that the US government would discuss content that they thought were inappropriate to Wadah, and ask for content to be removed. ^[79] Another rival, Iranian Press TV has also published articles critical of Al Jazeera, claiming that Al Jazeera has Pro-American bias and serving Israeli interests. Their criticism of Al Jazeera came along with criticism of Qatar's government, and reports of rallies against the government.^[80][81]

There is also criticism that Al Jazeera has been moving towards a Pro-American stance in order to appeal to a wider audience. This included a day's worth of special coverage marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. This was seen to have been a test to Al Jazeera, on whether it can get rid of the hostility Americans feel toward it.^[82] Al Jazeera has also launched The Stream a show based in Washington D.C. that discusses social media, which targets an American audience. ^[83][84]

Awards[link]

• In 2012 Al Jazeera English received one of the 71st Peabody Awards for its coverage of the Arab Spring.^[85]
• In 2012, Al Jazeera English won the News Channel of the Year Award from the Royal Television Society for the first time. In doing so, it beat out the BBC and Sky News.^[86][87][88]
• In 2011 Al Jazeera English won the Columbia Journalism Award of the Columbia University ^[89]
• 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.^[90]

See also[link]

	Middle East portal
	Television portal

• International broadcasting
• Al Jazeera Balkans

Competitors

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Abdul-Mageed, MM, (2008) 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, MM, and Herring, SC, (2008) 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[link]

• Official website
• Al Jazeera International Commissioning
• Media Blackout in Egypt and the U.S.: Al Jazeera Forced Off the Air by Mubarak, Telecommunications Companies Block Its Expansion in the United States Democracy Now, 1 February 2011
• Coverage maps and availability information^{[dead link]} Al Jazeera