The Amer- icas
8
16
-
-
1
25
The Balkans
-
-
-
-
18
18
Total 156 Source: The International Services Department of Al Jazeera Media Network 82 45 7 3 19 The levels of deployment vary from private bureaus affiliated with the channel to individual correspondents accompanied by a pho- tographer and editor, or an external footage provider (1) . The channel’s multi-level deployment brought about loads of news, which at times allowed Al Jazeera to overtake news agencies and competing interna- tional TV networks. On some of Al Jazeera’s news sources in its early years, Jamil Azar, one of the founding journalists, said: “Every day, Al Jazeera and its bureaus receive a huge amount of information through phone calls, mail, emails, fax, and on tapes, as well as by direct word of mouth. This information comes from official bodies, political par- ties, non-governmental bodies, religious institutions, VIPs and ordinary people; it can also come from underground movements or escapees” (2) . A mosaic tapestry such as this, in which official and unofficial bodies, institutions and parties providing Al Jazeera with information indicate the level of trust Al Jazeera’s audience have placed in its news and programmes. Moreover, Al Jazeera’s verification of the news com- ing from the same sources in terms of their worthiness prior to broad- casting, strengthened the interactive relationship between the network and its news sources. This method of dealing with sources undermined media theories that define and confine the source of news to “official VIPs, socialites, foreign dignitaries visiting the country, and other live sources” (3) . Over time, the relationship between Al Jazeera and its re-
(1) Salem Al-Nuaimi, International Services Department Manager, personal interview, Doha, November 2020.
(2) Reported by Mo ḥ amad Baba Ould Ashfagh , Al Jazeera wa-Asraruha (Al Jazeera and its Secrets), (Morocco: Ban ī Izn ā san, 2006), pp. 150-152. (3) Farouk Abu Zaid, The Art of Press News: A comparative study between press news in ad- vanced and developing newspapers, news in conservative and popular papers, news in papers, radio and TV (Cairo: The World of Books), p. 209.
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