Al Jazeera Appoints New Managing Director of Al Jazeera English

Tony Burman named as the new Managing Director of the Channel

May 14, 2008 - Doha, Qatar: The Al Jazeera Network today announced that it has appointed Tony Burman as the new Managing Director for the Al Jazeera English channel. He will build on the success of his predecessor Nigel Parsons who will assume the position of Managing Director of Business Acquisition & Development. Mr. Parsons was one of the primary figures leading the launch of the English Channel in 2006.

The appointment of Mr. Burman comes as the relatively new channel embarks on the next stage of its development with expansion of programming, bureaus, audience reach and investigative journalism. Mr. Burman, as the new Managing Director, brings with him a distinguished international reputation as an experienced journalist and broadcast executive. Until recently, he was Editor in Chief and Executive Director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News) and has been an award-winning news and documentary producer with field experience in more than 30 countries and several continents including the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Latin America. Mr. Burman, while head of CBC's news and current affairs operations, the largest news organization in Canada, implemented the successful integration of CBC's radio, TV and online operations.

Wadah Khanfar, the Director General of the Al Jazeera Network stated, "Al Jazeera welcomes Tony in his new role and we look forward to his contribution in building on Al Jazeera's success as one of the world's most influential broadcast news brands. The current change is designed to enrich the core of Al Jazeera's mission - its journalism of depth, its commitment to providing a diversity of viewpoints, its dedication to giving "a voice to the voiceless" and ensuring that the human story is at the centre of the news agenda."

Tony Burman, commenting upon his appointment stated, "I am proud to be assuming this role and I look forward to building on my predecessor Mr. Parsons achievements. Al Jazeera's newsrooms are the most diverse in the world, drawing on journalists, broadcast executives, production personnel and support staff from more than 50 countries and I look forward to capitalizing on this strength through increased investment in investigative journalism, more provocative and insightful current affairs and expansion of the Network's large worldwide network of more than 60 news bureaus. In the months ahead, I will also put an emphasis on the expansion of Al Jazeera's vast audience reach into important new areas of the world, most notably North America."

The English channel was launched in November 2006 and is now available to more than 100 million households worldwide.

-Ends-

About Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera English is the world's first English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. Launched in 2006 Al Jazeera English is setting the global news agenda and acts as a bridge between cultures. With unique access as the channel of reference for Middle East events, and broadcast centres strategically placed around the world in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC, Al Jazeera English is balancing the information flow from South to North, providing independent and impartial news for a global audience from a grass roots level, giving voice to different perspectives from under-reported regions around the world.

Al Jazeera started out over eleven years ago as the first independent Arabic news channel in the world dedicated to providing comprehensive television news and live debate for the Arab world. In 2006, Al Jazeera was ranked by brandchannel.com as the most recognizable and influential television broadcast news brand globally. As a result of its expansion and the creation of new channels and services, Al Jazeera was formally named the Al Jazeera Network in March 2006, transforming its operation into an international media corporation. The Al Jazeera Network now consists of the flagship Al Jazeera Arabic channel, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Documentary, Al Jazeera Sport, Al Jazeera.net (the English and Arabic web sites), the Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Center, the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live), and Al Jazeera Mobile.

Visit www.aljazeera.net/english for more details.

For further information please contact:
Christina Aivaliotis
Tel: +974 489 2321
Email: press.int@aljazeera.net