Al Jazeera English

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Al Jazeera English
Launched 15 November 2006
Owned by Al Jazeera
Slogan Setting The News Agenda
Broadcast area coverage maps and availability information
Headquarters Broadcast Centers: Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington D.C.
Sister channel(s) Al Jazeera
Website aljazeera.net/english
Availability
Terrestrial
Triangle TV
Auckland & Wellington		 limited scheduled transmission on FTA UHF channels at certain hours
Satellite
AsiaSat 3S
Asia/ME/Australia		 3760 H / 26000 / 7/8
Astra 1KR
Europe		 11508 V / 22000 / 5/6
Astro Nusantara Channel 36
Astro Channel 513
Indovision Channel 55
Badr C
Africa/ME		 3996 V (analogue signal)
Canal Digitaal Channel 64
Canal Digital
Scandinavia		 Channel 57
CanalSat Channel 331
Cyfrowy Polsat Channel 95
Dialog TV Channel 3
Digital+ Channel 79
Digiturk Channel 125
Eurobird 1
Europe		 11680 V / 27500 / 2/3
G-23 (IA 13)
N/Central America		 3900 V / 27684 / 3/4
G-25 (IA 5)
North America		 11999 H / 20000 / 2/3
Globecast Channel 463 (FTA)
Hispasat 1C
Europe/N Africa		 12092 V / 27500 / 3/4
Hotbird 6
Europe		 11034 V / 27500 / 3/4
Nilesat 101
North Africa/ME		 12015 V / 27500 / 3/4
Optus C1
SE Asia/Australia		 12367 V / 27800 / 3/4
PID: video=1121, audio=1122
PAS-9
Americas		 3840 H / 27690 / 7/8
PAS-10
East. Hemisphere		 4064 H / 19850 / 7/8
Sky Digital Channel 514
SKY Italia Channel 522
Thor 3
NE Europe		 12398 H / 28000 / 7/8
TPS Channel 330
Turksat 2A
Eurasia		 12139 H / 2222 / 3/4
TV Vlaanderen Channel 54
UBI World TV Channel 2
Australia/New Zealand
Cable
Buckeye CableSystem Channel 220
Cable Sula
Cable TV Channel 34
Cablevision
Elisa (digital tuner required)
Global Destiny Cable Channel 41
Kabel BW
KDG Channel 842
NOOS-UPC Channel 64
Qatar Cable
Tele Columbus (digital tuner required; channel still listed as Al Jazeera International)
UCS Channel 49
Welho (digital tuner required; subscription)
Ziggo (Netherlands) Channel 511
IPTV over ADSL
Clix SmarTV Channel 97
Club Internet Channel 59
Elion Channel 66
Free Channel 85
HKBN bbTV Channel 735
mio TV Channel 43
Neuf TV Channel 47
TPG
Yes TV
Internet Television
Al Jazeera [1] (free 56K stream;
Real SuperPass, JumpTV & VDC subscriptions)
I'm TV [2] (free stream, 4:3)
JumpTV [3] (subscription)
Real [4] (subscription)
VDC [5] (subscription)
Vingo.tv Alpha [6] registration required
YouTube [7] (video segments posted on YouTube by Al Jazeera)
Yalp.alice.it [8]

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 news features and analysis, documentaries, live debates, current affairs, business, and sports. The station claims to be the first global high-definition television network.[citation needed].

Al Jazeera English is the world’s first English-language news channel headquartered in the Middle East[citation needed]. 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 Anglo-American 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."

Contents

[edit] 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. The launch Brand idenity and promotional positioning of the English Channel was led by Director of Creative, Morgan Almeida.."to preserve and protect our amazing Arabic heritage and extend this in a language familiar to diverse global audiences"

[edit] 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] As of 2008, the channel reaches more than 100 million households worldwide. [6] It is one of the three largest global English language 24 hour news channels, the other two being BBC World and CNN International.[7]

[edit] 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: 09:00GMT edition from Doha/Kuala Lumpur; 15:00GMT edition from Doha/London; 18:00GMT 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.

[edit] 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]

[edit] Middle East

Broadcast Centre: Doha (map)
Anchors:Jane Dutton, David Foster, Imran Garda, Shiulie Ghosh, Darren Jordon, Julie MacDonalds, Maryam Nemazee, Sohail Rahman, Kamahl Santamaria, Lauren Taylor and Sami Zeidan
Correspondents: Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Hashem Ahelbarra, James Bays, John Cookson, Sherine Tadros and Mike Hanna.

Bureaux & Correspondents

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

[edit] Africa

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

Correspondents: Amr El Kahky, Gabi Menezes, Haru Mutasa, Mohammed Adow, Mohamad Vall, Supa Mandiwanzira, Yvonne Ndege, Kalay Maistry,Andrew Simmons and Farai Sevenzo.

[edit] Europe

Broadcast Centre: London (map)
Anchors: Nick Clark, Felicity Barr, Stephen Cole and Barbara Serra
Correspondents: Alan Fisher, Richard Bestic, Tim Friend, Nazanine Moshiri

Bureaux & Correspondents:
Athens: Barnaby Phillips
Moscow. Jonah Hull

[edit] The Americas

Broadcast Centre: Washington DC (map)
Anchors: Ghida Fakhry, Anand Naidoo, Shihab Rattansi and Kimberly Halkett
Correspondents: Rosiland Jordan, Nick Spicer, Kimberly Halkett and Rob Reynolds

Bureaux & Correspondents:

Buenos Aires: Lucia Newman, Teresa Bo and Gabriel Elizondo
Caracas: Mariana Sanchez and Lucrecia Franco
New York: Kristen Saloomey, John Terret
Mexico City: Franc Contreras

[edit] Asia and Australasia

Broadcast Centre: Kuala Lumpur (map)
Anchors: Teymoor Nabili, Divya Gopalan, Hamish Macdonald and Veronica Pedrosa
Correspondents: Hamish Macdonald, Tony Birtley, David Hawkins, Casey Kauffman and Selina Downes

Bureaux & Correspondents
Beijing: Tony Cheng and Melissa Chan
Islamabad: Kamal Hyder
Jakarta: Step Vaessen
Sydney: Dan Nolan
Delhi: Matt Mcclure
Manila: Marga Ortigas

[edit] Personalities and staff

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

Initial name and logo for the English-language channel
Initial name and logo for the English-language channel

[edit] 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 Tony Burman, who replaced Nigel Parsons in May 2008.[17]

[edit] 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 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.[18]. 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 Toledo, Ohio. It is also available in Burlington, Vermont, Houston, Texas, and Washington, DC.[19] The channel is not widely available and was dropped by Comcast, a cable company with a subscriber base of over 12 million people, a month prior to the channel's launch due to the already-saturated television market there and a perception in some circles that the channel gives airtime to terrorists.[20][21] 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".

[edit] 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." [22]

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
Al Jazeera English's Doha news studio featured on the cover of TIME magazine, November 6 2006
Al Jazeera English's Doha news studio featured on the cover of TIME magazine, November 6 2006
 The grammar of this article or section needs to be improved.
Please do so in accordance with Wikipedia's style guidelines.
  • Although Al Jazeera English is produced in HD, the output is converted to 14:9 SD similar to BBC World, However the programmes that are shown on the Al Jazeera English YouTube channel are shown in their original 16:9 format.
  • When Al Jazeera English was launched on November 15, 2006, its broadcast was also simulcast on Al Jazeera Arabic. Strangely, Al Jazeera Arabic had shown the 16:9 original feed of the channel and not the usual 14:9 broadcast feed.[23]
  • 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."[24] A few hours after the segment aired, complete transcripts appeared on the blogosphere,[25] and subsequent Google searches of "Al Jazeera" "Daily Show" produced over 200,000 hits.[26]

[edit] See also

[edit] Competitors

[edit] References

  1. ^ Al Jazeera's (Global) Mission, Fast Company, by Linda Tischler, published April 2006
  2. ^ Is Al Jazeera Alternative? Mainstreaming Alterity and Assimilating Discourses of Dissent, by Adel Iskandar, Transnational Broadcasting Studies Journal, published 2005
  3. ^ Al Jazeera International targets June launch
    The Challenges of Working at Al-Jazeera, National Public Radio, Talk of the Nation, 26 June 2006
    Al Jazeera sets English launch date
  4. ^ Al-Jazeera renames English-language channel (registration required)
  5. ^ Al-Jazeera English hits airwaves, BBC News, published 15 November 2006
  6. ^ Release:We break 100million barrier
  7. ^ Al Jazeera English (YouTube online video by GOOD Magazine)
    The Editors: A new channel arrives (BBC News blog), by Richard Porter, published 15 November 2006
    BBC World dropped by Israeli satellite TV, The Guardian, by Tara Conlan, published 13 December 2006
  8. ^ Al Jazeera International reveals global line-up of bureaux, published 10 October 2006
  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. ^ David Frost joins al-Jazeera TV, BBC News, published 7 October 2005
  11. ^ Mission of Former Marine: Arab TV, by Nick Madigan and Annie Linskey, MediaChannel.org, via Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Josh Rushing, former U.S. marine, joins Al Jazeera International, AMEInfo, published 22 September 2005
  13. ^ Veronica Pedrosa joins Al Jazeera (November 20, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-06-03.
  14. ^ BBC's 'Peter Pan' joins al-Jazeera, Guardian Unlimited, by Chris Tryhorn, published 2 December 2005
  15. ^ Los Angeles Times[citation needed]
  16. ^ Farewell to the front line (for now), The Times, by Damian Whitworth, published 7 February 2006
  17. ^ Burman named al-Jazeera English MD, Guardian Unlimited, by Chris Tryhorn, published 14 May 2008
  18. ^ Now on YouTube: The Latest News From Al Jazeera, in English
  19. ^ Burlington one of few places to air Al Jazeera, Associated Press, Apr. 22, 2007
  20. ^ Al Jazeera Meets American Resistance. Businessweek. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
  21. ^ French Rescue Al-Jazeera Intl.. Terror Television. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ Al Jazeera English launch, simulcast on Al Jazeera Arabic
  24. ^ Samantha Bee's report on Al Jazeera English
  25. ^ Blog post including a transcript of the Daily Show's Al Jazeera English piece
  26. ^ Google search for "Al Jazeera" "Daily Show" - retrieved 17 December 2006; the number of returned results has since decreased

[edit] External links

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Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links.
Note: Aljazeera.com and aljazeerah.info are completely unrelated websites.

[edit] Staff

[edit] Press coverage, commentary and reaction

v • d • e
Al Jazeera Network
v • d • e
International news channels
Africa
Asia
Europe
North America
Oceania
South America