AL-JAZEERA 3 OF 3

BBC DOCUMENTARY: AL-JAZEERA PART 3 OF 3

Al Jazeera outside the Middle East

In 2003, Al Jazeera hired its first English language journalist, Afshin Rattansi, from the BBC's Today Programme (which had been at the heart of UK events when it came to Tony Blair's decision to back the U.S. invasion of Iraq). In March 2003, it launched an English-language website.

On July 4, 2005 Al Jazeera officially announced plans to launch a new English-language satellite service to be called Al Jazeera International.[11] The new channel started at 12h GMT on November 15, 2006 under the name Al Jazeera English and has broadcast centers in Doha (next to the original Al Jazeera headquarters and broadcast center), London, Kuala Lumpur and Washington D.C.. The channel is a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week news channel, with 12 hours broadcast from Doha, and four hours each from London, Kuala Lumpur & Washington D.C.

With Al Jazeera's growing global outreach and influence, some scholars including Adel Iskandar have described the station as a transformation of the very definition of "alternative media."

Viewership

It is widely believed internationally that inhabitants of the Arab world are given limited information by their governments and media, and that what is conveyed is biased towards the governments' views. Many people see Al Jazeera as a more trustworthy source of information than government and foreign channels. Some scholars and commentators use the notion of contextual objectivity, which highlights the tension between objectivity and audience appeal, to describe the station's controversial yet popular news approach.