Al-Jazeera goes English

Ten years after the launch of its audacious Al-Jazeera satellite television channel, Qatar is preparing to embark on another controversial project -- an English language TV channel. Al-Jazeera International (AJI), which is reportedly scheduled to take off in late spring, will presumably build on, and is made possible by, the hard-earned recognition of Al-Jazeera Arabic (AJA). The availability of funding, which does not seem to be a problem, is certainly assuring. But branding for a new channel, born in the post-11 September global environment to compete in a saturated international media market, is a daunting challenge. Whether the new channel will sink or swim depends largely on its ability to coin a unique identity that sets it apart from mainstream satellite broadcast TV. Not only does it have an ostensibly world-class staff that could steer it in the chosen direction, but also a few good lessons to learn from its older sister.

To start with, AJA did not set out to be controversial but to be different. To do that, it had to introduce new standards of broadcast journalism -- new to a region that had been stymied by official national media that played the tune of a cluster of small dictators with big egos. With its new brand of counterpoint journalism, AJA was as much a liberating factor in mainstream broadcast Arab journalism as it was for the mass of Arab viewers. As it pursued a hard- nosed independent editorial policy, AJA ruffled quite a few feathers. In defending its independence, the channel sustained many slanders, ranging from accusations of being an Israeli tool for airing the views of Arab opposition figures, to US charges of acting as the "mouthpiece" of Osama Bin Laden for broadcasting his taped video messages. For all that, it paid a heavy price in staff casualties and assets as it stood its ground in Kabul, Baghdad and Madrid. It continues to defy harassment by several Arab governments.

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http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/787/op5.htm