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Al Jazeera English

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Al Jazeera English
HeadquartersBroadcast Centers: Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington D.C.
Ownership
OwnerAl Jazeera

Al Jazeera English is a 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It is the sister channel of Al Jazeera.

The station broadcasts factual programming including news features and analysis, documentaries, live debates, current affairs, business and sport. 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, but without an Anglosphere worldview.[1] Instead of being run under central command, news management rotates around broadcasting centres in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington, DC, "following the sun."

The channel is now one of the four biggest global English language 24-hour news channels, the other three being BBC World, CNN International and France 24. Many of Al Jazeera programmes can also be viewed via YouTube.[1]

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". The latter is the channel's main 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.[2] Other Al Jazeera English slogans and catchphrases include: "EVERY ANGLE | EVERY SIDE", "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.

Launch and Reach

The channel was launched on 15 November 2006. It had aimed to commence global broadcasting in June 2006 but had to postpone its launch because its HDTV technology was not ready.[3] The channel was due to be called Al Jazeera International, but the name was changed one day prior to launch.[4]

The channel had expected to reach around 40 million households, but it far exceeded that launch target, reaching 80 million homes.[5] The channel is now one of the three biggest global English language 24 hour news channels, the other two being BBC World and CNN International.[6]

Al Jazeera English shows on Google Trends that the countries watching it most are Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Saudia Arabia, Ireland, Canada, Egypt, United Kingdom, United States, and New Zealand. Many Canadians are wondering why Al Jazeera English isn't in the daily canadians networks where the most provinces that are interested in Al Jazeera English are Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec which are the main provinces of Canada.[7]

Programmes

Regular/recurrent programmes on the channel are:

  • 101 East - weekly show hosted by Teymoor Nabili; 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."
  • 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."
  • 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."
  • 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
  • News:
  • World news live from Al Jazeera's Kuala Lumpur broadcast centre
  • World news live from Al Jazeera's Doha broadcast centre
  • World news live from Al Jazeera's London broadcast centre
  • World news live from Al Jazeera's Washington DC broadcast centre
  • Newshour - an hour of world news hosted from three of Al Jazeera's four broadcast centres, linked together live: 1000GMT edition from Doha/Kuala Lumpur; 1500GMT edition from Doha/London; 1800GMT edition from Doha/London/Washington DC
  • News headlines are broadcast generally every half hour
  • News Review - Al Jazeera English reviews/recaps the news of the day
  • 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 - daily (Mon-Thu) 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 weekly sports programme hosted, on rotation, by members of Al Jazeera's Doha sports team
  • Witness - hosted by Rageh Omaar; 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).

Also cf. the channel's Programmes and Programme Schedule pages.

International bureaux

In addition to its four broadcast centres, Al Jazeera English has 21 supporting bureaux which gather and produce news. It also shares resources with the Arabic language channel's 42 bureaux and is planning to add further bureaux, to be announced as they open.[8]

Middle East

Broadcast Centre: Doha (map)

Correspondents: Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Hashem Ahelbarra, James Bays, John Cookson, and Mike Hanna.

Bureaux & Correspondents

Beirut: Rula Amin, Zeina Khodr
Jerusalem: Jacky Rowland, David Chater
Ramallah: Walid Batrawi
Gaza: Nour Odeh

Africa

Bureaux: Cairo, Abidjan, Nairobi, Johannesburg, and Harare.

Correspondents: Amr El Kahky, Gabi Menezes, Haru Mutasa, Kalay Maistry, and Farai Sevenzo.

Europe

Broadcast Centre: London (map)

Correspondents: Alan Fisher, Richard Bestic, Tim Friend, Nazanine Moshiri

Bureaux: Athens and Moscow.

Correspondents: Barnaby Phillips and Jonah Hull

The Americas

Broadcast Centre: Washington DC (map)

Correspondents: Viviana Hurtado and Rob Reynolds

Bureaux & Correspondents:

Buenos Aires: Lucia Newman
Caracas: Mariana Sanchez
New York: Kristen Saloomey
United Nations: Mark Seddon

Asia and Australasia

Broadcast Centre: Kuala Lumpur (map)

Correspondents: Tony Birtley, David Hawkins

Bureaux: Beijing, Delhi, Islamabad, Jakarta, Manila, and Sydney.

Correspondents: Tony Cheng, Zain Awan, Rajesh Sundaram, Kamal Hyder, Marga Ortigas, Dan Nolan and Step Vaessen

Personalities and staff

Personalities who have joined the channel include[9] (previous employers in brackets):

File:Aljazeerainternational.gif
Initial name and logo for the English-language channel

Recruitment

Veteran British broadcaster Sir David Frost joined Al Jazeera English[10] 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.[11] 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..."[12] Rushing works from the Washington, DC broadcasting centre.

Former CNN and BBC news anchorwoman and award winning journalist Veronica Pedrosa also joined the team[13], 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.[14] 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."[15] On 6 February 2006, it was announced that the former BBC reporter Rageh Omaar would host the daily weeknights documentary series, Witness.[16]

The managing director for Al Jazeera English is Nigel Parsons.

Availability

The channel is available in many countries, mostly via satellite, sometimes via cable. The channel is also available online. A low quality RealVideo stream allows viewing. Online subscriptions allowing unlimited viewing may be purchased from Al Jazeera on Jump TV, Real, 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 VDC service is US only and Windows only.

The New York Times on April 16, 2007 reported that Al Jazzeera English would begin running segments from its shows on the Internet video-sharing site YouTube.[17]. Al Jazeera YouTube site.

Al Jazeera English is available in the UK and Ireland on Sky's digital satellite platform on channel 514.

In the United States, Al Jazeera is available on Buckeye Cable (Channel 220) in Ohio. It is also available in Burlington, Vermont, Houston, Texas, and Washington, DC.[18] In general, the channel has had difficulty securing US distributors due to the U.S. cable industries prejudices against the channel, where Al Jazeera is incorrectly labeled as a "terrorist channel" or a Muslim propaganda tool.[19] However, Galaxy 25 (Intelsat Americas 5) carries the network free-to-air over the US and Canada. Al Jazeera English is available on Galaxy 25 on the Ku band, transponder 16 (11.999 GHz) in DVB format (Globecast channel 463). In New Zealand, Triangle TV re-broadcasts various Al Jazeera programmes in Auckland and Wellington on free-to-air UHF channels.

The channel initially began test streaming Al Jazeera English (then called "Al Jazeera International") in March 2006 on Hot Bird, SES Astra 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".

Quotations

These are some quotes from Al Jazeera staff that were broadcast on Al Jazeera English:

Josh Rushing: "Do the right thing, for the right reason. And that's what I see Al Jazeera doing."

Josh Rushing: "I care more about the truth, and getting the truth in my story, than I do about controlling the message, like I did before when I was a spokesperson."

Dave Marash: "We're gonna seek out the areas neglected by the Western-oriented media."

Rageh Omaar: "I think one thing you can definitely say about Al Jazeera is that it will and does evoke a reaction."

Riz Khan: "In my lifetime as a journalist, there will not be another channel launched on this scale."

Barbara Serra: "If it's newsworthy, it gets on air, whether it's Bush or Bin Laden."

Bob Geldof: "I say what I like, I'm not beholden to anyone, if you don't like it, f— [inaudible] off." [20]

Trivia

File:TIME ME Nov6.jpg
Al Jazeera English's Doha news studio featured on the cover of TIME magazine, November 6 2006
  • When Al Jazeera English was launched on November 15, 2006, its broadcast was also simulcast on Al Jazeera Arabic.[21]
  • On 13 December 2006, Comedy Central's Daily Show ran a piece of comic-correspondent Samantha Bee visiting Al Jazeera English's Washington office and "rebuilding this network from the ground up."[22] A few hours after the segment aired, complete transcripts appeared on the blogosphere,[23] and subsequent Google searches of "Al Jazeera" "Daily Show" produced over 200,000 hits.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/104/open_aljazeera.html
  2. ^ http://www.tbsjournal.com/Iskandar.html
  3. ^ Al Jazeera International targets June launch
    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5512019
    Al Jazeera sets English launch date
  4. ^ Al-Jazeera renames English-language channel (registration required)
  5. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6149310.stm
  6. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/11/a_new_channel_arrives.html
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1971223,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12
  7. ^ http://www.google.com/trends?q=al+jazeera+english&ctab=0&geo=CA&date=all&sort=0
  8. ^ http://www.ameinfo.com/98633.html
  9. ^ News anchors: Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London, Washington
    News presenters - Doha
    Doha-based news presenters; press release with additional information
    News presenters - Kuala Lumpur
    News presenters - London
    News presenters - Washington
    Programme presenters
    Other news and programme presenters
  10. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4318284.stm
  11. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20060210095852/http://mediachannel.org/blog/node/680
  12. ^ http://www.ameinfo.com/68321.html
  13. ^ "Veronica Pedrosa joins Al Jazeera". November 20, 2005. Retrieved 2006-06-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  14. ^ http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1656429,00.html (registration required)
  15. ^ Los Angeles Times
  16. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,20029-2027561,00.html
  17. ^ Now on YouTube: The Latest News From Al Jazeera, in English
  18. ^ Burlington one of few places to air Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Apr. 22, 2007
  19. ^ Al-Jazeera launched in English (BBC audio)
    Al Jazeera launches English-language broadcast
  20. ^ Geldof is not an Al Jazeera employee, but a clip of him saying the above —during an interview for Riz Khan's One on One— is featured in Al Jazeera English's promos.
  21. ^ Al Jazeera English launch, simulcast on Al Jazeera Arabic
  22. ^ Samantha Bee's report on Al Jazeera English
  23. ^ Blog post including a transcript of the Daily Show's Al Jazeera English piece
  24. ^ Google search for "Al Jazeera" "Daily Show" - retrieved 17 December 2006; the number of returned results has since decreased
Note: Aljazeera.com and aljazeerah.info are completely unrelated websites.

Staff

Press coverage, commentary and reaction


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