eek.
bushman
- Joined
- Sep 22, 2004
- Messages
- 14,457
- Reaction score
- 4
The Arab equivalent of the BBC with more influence than any other Arab brand, started in....1996.
It was nice while it lasted though.
The Saudis will buy it up and squish it.
RIP al-jazeera.
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QATAR: Al-Jazeera sale a big deal for Arab audiences
Arabs fear the sale of their only free-press station to private owners will interfere with editorial independence
The Straits Times
Monday, February 14, 2005
The US government may view Al-Jazeera as little more than an anti-American mouthpiece, but the journalists who work at the satellite TV station consider it the only free-press bastion in an authoritarian Middle East.
And nowadays, the prospect of being sold to the highest bidder has many deeply worried.
An order by the ruler of this small Persian Gulf country to come up with a privatisation plan for the pan-Arab station - owned and funded by the Qatari government since the station's inception in 1996 - has many wondering who will buy, and what the station will look like in the future.
'Our editorial policy is the red line,' station director Wadah Khanfar said in a recent interview.
'The moment we feel the privatisation issue will interfere with our editorial policy, the project will be abandoned.'
Not everyone is so sure.
At the station's headquarters here, many employees have begun expressing fears that privatisation could effectively destroy the station as an independent news source for Arab viewers, this according to a senior editor speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.
Few details are known about the privatisation plan, or why the Qatari government is pushing it.
The idea has been under discussion for more than a year, Al-Jazeera executives say, but gained momentum when this kingdom's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, ordered the government to produce a plan on how to turn the channel into a private shareholding company.
Mr Khanfar said a final report on privatisation was recently presented to the station's board of directors.
He would not release details, except to say the board would meet within the next few weeks to discuss it.
It is widely expected that the station will be listed on Qatar's stock market, with most shares available for purchase only by Qatari nationals and citizens from Gulf Cooperation Council countries and a minority stake open to foreign investors.
Saudis, who already own many of the Arab world's media companies, would be eligible to buy under those rules, as their country is part of the GCC.
The station has a wide audience across the Arab world but it has also been heavily criticised by governments, including Saudi Arabia's, mostly because - unlike most Arab state-run media outlets - Al-Jazeera airs the views of local opposition figures and has been unafraid to broadcast their criticisms of their countries' rulers.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=20722
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=149966
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/qatar/?id=12573
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/media/2005/0215aljazeera.htm
It was nice while it lasted though.
The Saudis will buy it up and squish it.
RIP al-jazeera.
-----------------------------------------------
QATAR: Al-Jazeera sale a big deal for Arab audiences
Arabs fear the sale of their only free-press station to private owners will interfere with editorial independence
The Straits Times
Monday, February 14, 2005
The US government may view Al-Jazeera as little more than an anti-American mouthpiece, but the journalists who work at the satellite TV station consider it the only free-press bastion in an authoritarian Middle East.
And nowadays, the prospect of being sold to the highest bidder has many deeply worried.
An order by the ruler of this small Persian Gulf country to come up with a privatisation plan for the pan-Arab station - owned and funded by the Qatari government since the station's inception in 1996 - has many wondering who will buy, and what the station will look like in the future.
'Our editorial policy is the red line,' station director Wadah Khanfar said in a recent interview.
'The moment we feel the privatisation issue will interfere with our editorial policy, the project will be abandoned.'
Not everyone is so sure.
At the station's headquarters here, many employees have begun expressing fears that privatisation could effectively destroy the station as an independent news source for Arab viewers, this according to a senior editor speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.
Few details are known about the privatisation plan, or why the Qatari government is pushing it.
The idea has been under discussion for more than a year, Al-Jazeera executives say, but gained momentum when this kingdom's emir, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, ordered the government to produce a plan on how to turn the channel into a private shareholding company.
Mr Khanfar said a final report on privatisation was recently presented to the station's board of directors.
He would not release details, except to say the board would meet within the next few weeks to discuss it.
It is widely expected that the station will be listed on Qatar's stock market, with most shares available for purchase only by Qatari nationals and citizens from Gulf Cooperation Council countries and a minority stake open to foreign investors.
Saudis, who already own many of the Arab world's media companies, would be eligible to buy under those rules, as their country is part of the GCC.
The station has a wide audience across the Arab world but it has also been heavily criticised by governments, including Saudi Arabia's, mostly because - unlike most Arab state-run media outlets - Al-Jazeera airs the views of local opposition figures and has been unafraid to broadcast their criticisms of their countries' rulers.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=20722
http://www.gulfnews.com/Articles/RegionNF.asp?ArticleID=149966
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/qatar/?id=12573
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/media/2005/0215aljazeera.htm
