Al-jazeera News Network Is An Island Of Freedom Of Expression

By Author: Zahid
Total Articles: 58
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Al-jazeera News network runs its operations from Qatar in the Middle East, but has dozens of foreign correspondents all over the world and since 2006 it has an English news channel which is avidly watched by expats in Europe who want a balanced view of what is happening in the world. When living in Greece a few years ago, my friends would often say that they watched the BBC news and then this News network in order to get at the truth which was somewhere in the middle of the reports from these two news channels.

Al-jazeera News network has a presence in Sarajevo in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the Balkans which was established in 2011, giving it an operations base in the troubled world of the Balkans. It has also launched a news channel Al-jazeera Mubashir Misr which broadcasts conferences in real time which focus on Egypt. Once again Al-jazeera News network launched this channel in 2011 to report on the revolution in that country early in the same year.

The Middle East is changing and Al-jazeera News network has reported relentlessly on these changes which have taken place so dramatically in the Arab world this year ...
... (2011). It gained support from Sheik Hamad soon after its launch when he pledged to allow Al-jazeera News network to “report the news as they see it.” In a speech he made in 1997 he said “I believe that criticism can be a good thing and some discomfort for government officials is a small price to pay for this new freedom.” The sheik had previously disbanded the Ministry of Information in Saudi Arabia which was basically the censorship body of the Arab world.

Al-jazeera News network has come under criticism for reporting too luridly on conflicts in the Middle East, but was the only news agency to cover Operation Desert Fox in the Iraq war in 2008. UK newspapers have also called it a “mouth-piece” for Al-Qaeda, but that was in its early stages of existence. At the time it showed many videos of Osama bin Laden addressing the Muslim world. Today Al-jazeera News network has become more like the BBC in its coverage, and it is for viewers to decide if this is what they want from it. It has 40 million or so viewers in the Arab world, so it must be doing something right.

The network doesn’t just broadcast news on a 24-hour basis, daily, but also has a children’s channel in Arabic and also shows some very good documentaries, also in Arabic. For ex-pat Arabic speakers it is an excellent service. For non-Arabic speakers it competes with the prestigious BBC in it news coverage and current affairs programs and analysis, so if you haven’t watched it you really should, just to find out for yourself what it is really like. Why not go online or switch on your satellite channel to watch news as it unfolds on AL-jazeera News network today?

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