QATAR:The Arab TV channel has offered a new window on the world, writes Michael Jansen in Doha
The tiny Gulf state of Qatar has become an influential player on the international scene, not just because it is a major supplier of oil and gas but because it is home to al-Jazeera, the satellite TV channel that began broadcasting in Arabic a decade ago.
No respecter of political sensitivities, the Arabic channel, which has 30-50 million viewers, has been the bane of tetchy Arab regimes since its launch, and of Washington since Osama bin Laden was projected into the limelight on September 11th, 2001.
Al-Jazeera's broadcasting of video footage from the bin Laden camp prompted detractors such as former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld to dub it the "terrorist channel". Having given the Arab world its first uncensored news and controversial views, al-Jazeera proliferated. Four other Arabic channels emerged, covering sports, documentaries, live events in real time and children's programmes.
Four months ago al-Jazeera English was launched, challenging the global dominance of western satellite channels. Al-Jazeera English, which already reaches 100 million households and at least 400 million people, has become a new window on the world for viewers in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The channel is a dream cherished since the 1960s by Third World media folk who have failed to project their perspective to the world at large. Its motto, "Setting the news agenda", is both a promise to viewers and a challenge to competitors.
Al-Jazeera news channels have two telling advantages. Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, Qatar's ruler, generously funds them, and they share 60 bureaux around the world.
Al-Jazeera English, which carries its own roster of programmes and has its own staff, is located at elegant headquarters in Doha with high-tech studios. The channel recruited major talent including veteran British interviewer David Frost, Guardiancorrespondent Ragi Omar, and former CNN anchor Riz Khan.
Steve Clark, head of news at al-Jazeera English, said that when he joined the channel it had three employees. Now it has 1,000. They are motivated by a "pioneering spirit. They have come out into the desert to launch a global channel".
Clark, who previously worked for ITV and MBC in Britain, said the channel has the most multinational range of employees in TV. In the newsroom alone, there are 47 to 48 nationalities, recruited by chance rather than design.
One-quarter are "old hacks", another quarter in their 30s, and half are new talent in their 20s.Al-Jazeera English is "the youngest channel in global news broadcasting". Ahead of the launch, Clark paid up to 39 visits to Capitol Hill in Washington to tell congressmen "what we are not"; not a "terrorist" channel.
"We have never broadcast beheadings," he said, referring to an accusation by Mr Rumsfeld. "We employ the same standards of decency as other channels."
Clark will be visiting Washington next autumn to assess opinion. So far, al-Jazeera English has not been able to get a cable network to carry the channel in the US. Such firms prefer entertainment to news.
Clark said: "We hit the ground running" on November 15th last year with "an hour's broadcast from nine locations". He is proud of coverage of Africa and Latin America, generally ignored by major western channels. One of its most provocative programmes is Inside Iraq, presented by Jasim Azawi. Born and educated in Iraq, Azawi emigrated to the US in 1982 where he worked for 15 years as an interpreter for the state department.
He joined al-Jazeera English in 2006 and his wife found a job at the Arabic channel. "We try to cover big themes - history, culture, oil" as well as news.
Al-Jazeera staff reflect "all points of view: liberal, progressive, secularist and Islamist. No one tells us what line to take or issues any directives. We want to show all aspects of the issues."
Head of the Everywoman programme team, Maire Devine, is from Monaghan. She said her programme has dealt with the controversial issues of marital violence, children with disabilities, dress codes and the impact of warfare on women and children. She enjoys staging exchanges between articulate and forceful women. "Young women here need [ positive] role models. In the West our role models are empty, airheaded celebrities."
The channel is also setting a new social agenda. Everywoman interviewed the first Qatari women paramedics and bodyguards. The latter had to shed face veils and learn how to abseil down buildings in headscarves and cloaks. Five years ago Qatari women were not allowed to do such jobs, nor speak to the media.