Monday, May 16, 2005
Al-Jazeera, the Arabic satellite television station that has revolutionised Arab media, aims to shake up global broadcasting with the launch of an English language channel next year.
According to Nigel Parsons, its new managing director, the channel will provide "a fresh perspective on global events" using the same principle of "multiplicity of views" that has underpinned success of al-Jazeera's programmes in Arabic.
"If we have to be the enfant terrible of broadcasting, we will. We are taking on the heritage of the Arabic channel and we have a lot to live up to," Mr Parsons said in an interview at al-Jazeera headquarters in the Gulf state of Qatar.
The new channel aims to reverse the flow of information from west to east and north to south, mixing current affairs with news and news analysis without the "domestic political baggage" of US and European channels, Mr Parsons says.
Editorial management will be decentralised around four main centres - Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington and will focus on developing world issues. It will also encourage audience participation - a formula that has helped drive the popularity of its Arabic language talk shows and website.
Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar launched the Arabic news channel in 1996, giving free reign to a group of Arab journalists who had just been laid off by the BBC, to report events in the region.
The station has since shaken up the stale and deferential traditions of Arab broadcasting, gaining some 35m viewers and spawning other satellite news channels across the Middle East. With its newsbreaking footage from Afghanistan, Iraq and the Palestinians it has achieved global recognition and at times notoriety.
Its reporters have been killed by US fire in Iraq and banned by various Arab regimes. But thanks to continuing patronage from the emir, the station has survived an advertising boycott imposed by Saudi Arabia as well as numerous attempts by Washington to have its coverage tamed and talk shows silenced.
Some commentators believe the controversy the Arabic channel has generated may hamper the English one as it begins negotiating distribution and advertising contracts.
Ramzi Khouri, a Dubai-based communications strategist, disagrees. "If you were to launch an unheard of news channel from the Middle East it would take a very long time to get recognition. In al-Jazeera's case it's going to be much easier. They have already penetrated western markets," he says.
Consultants Ernst & Young have been studying ways of privatising the network. Plenty of potential investors in the region would like to see its coverage restrained.
The bottom line, says Jihad Ballout, al-Jazeera's public relations manager, is that Qatar will not sell to anyone who might want to impede its independence.
As part of wider expansion plans, the station has launched a sports channel and is developing documentaries and children's channels with dedicated programming in Arabic.
Mr Parsons, a British national formerly with Associated Press Television, says he has received hundreds of applications from journalists "disillusioned with the current environment and who want to return to cutting edge journalism".
By WILLIAM WALLIS
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