Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera, Arabic-language cable television news network founded by Sheikh Hamad ibn Khalifa Al Thani, emir of Qatar, in 1996. The network was guaranteed government financial backing for its first five years, and it transmitted from Doha, Qatar, and from bureaus around the world, beginning continuous programming in 1999. It has been likened to an Arabic Cable News Network (CNN).

By 2000 Al Jazeera’s programming was seen 24 hours a day in more than 20 countries, and the network was a leading source for Arabic-language news. In an effort to expand its presence, Al Jazeera launched an English-language branch in 2006, and in 2013 the channel Al Jazeera America debuted in the United States. The channel went off the air in 2016 due to low ratings, although its English-language service maintained a robust Internet presence.

Al Jazeera provides a mix of news, talk shows, and educational programs, as well as a rare forum for uncensored news and debate and an editorial freedom that was unique in the Middle East. Guests on the popular live call-in show Opposite Direction, for example, debate radically different viewpoints on sensitive subjects, and some sessions became so heated that guests walked off the set in the middle of the show.

The network’s detractors maintained that it fulminated rather than informed, and its transmissions were sometimes blocked by other Arab countries. Proponents hailed it as being exemplary of a free press, providing an Arab audience perspectives critical of the Middle East’s rulers and governments. When in 2017 the governments of Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates imposed an economic blockade on Qatar, alleging that it was aiding instability in the region, they presented a list of demands that included shutting down Al Jazeera.

Despite Al Jazeera’s generally open coverage, many observers noted an apparent hesitation in its criticism of Qatari policy, particularly in its Arabic-language broadcasts. Because the network covered regional events, in which the relatively small country infrequently took the spotlight, there was rarely need to focus attention on Qatar’s government and its ruling Thani dynasty. But as the awarding in 2010 of the 2022 World Cup brought global attention to apparent corruption and mismanagement in Qatar, coverage of the controversies in the 2010s took a generally pro-government stance. Still, Al Jazeera did not sidestep the issues altogether: it acknowledged measures taken by the Qatari government to address poor working conditions and labour rights for migrant workers and, even before it became a global concern, it broadcast debate over the treatment of migrant workers throughout the Persian Gulf region. Discussion of the blockade against Qatar in 2017–22, although present, also appeared to be muffled.