Al Jazeera – A voice for the disenchanted Arabian population

Al Jazeera is an international news network. Its headquarter is situated in Doha, Qatar. It was launched in 1996 and has been pushed back against state-owned media all over the middle east and the Arabic world since then.

Al Jazeera © thaigov

Before Al Jazeera was introduced, regional broadcasting in most Arabic countries was poor. State owned news channels which were in general loyal to the government in charge, would not dare to criticize and ask questions to the ruling authority. Al Jazeera changed the landscape of journalism in the middle east and gave hope to a consideranle amount of oppositions in many countries.

Role models: BBC and CNN

Today, Al Jazeera is a news channel conglomerate. It owns sports channels, a children’s channel as well as an English channel. This English broadcast, aimed at international audience, is the latest upgrading. It devotes its program to news coverage of Africa and the middle east. The channel’s concept is closely related to role models like the BBC or CNN.

Recruitment of BBC staff

The staff in the beginning was mostly recruited from BBC world service in Saudia Arabia which had just been shut down in 1996 due to censorship demands by the Saudi Arabian government. The logo of the network is a representation of Al Jazeera’s name in Arabic calligraphy.

Infiltration and cut phone lines

Al Jazeera’s style is a mix of talk shows, news coverage from the streets and a representation of the regular population in Arabian countries. Oftenly, this often causes problems with authorities. In course of the Egyptian uprising in 2011 Al Jazeera’s bureau in Cairo was infiltrated and phone lines were cut.

Counterpart Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera often acts as a counterpart to the government and their media throughout eastern countries. It became a “spokesperson” for many people the disenchanted Arabian population. Al Jazeera contributed a great deal to the press freedom in its region of broadcasting.

Through this particular news network the media reality is altered. This means that the political reality is also changed. Al Jazeera did a lot for political progression by interrupting the dominance of nationalized press under governmental control.