Al Jazeera’s Mark in the Making of Today’s Media Industry: Characteristics and Merits Mohamed Erraji
Introduction The birth of Al Jazeera gave rise to a media model with a new phi- losophy, merits and values in the broadcast industry. Its 25-year jour- ney has revealed an unprecedented news approach that harnessed all of its resources for field reporting with a different spirit and dimensions. The trend, which became known as a “phenomenon” (1) , represented a remarkable transformation that caused a deep-rooted change in the global media environment. This transformation was first seen in the institutional identity of an unprecedented Arab news channel, making Al Jazeera “an Arab-affiliated media service of global orientation, and a pluralistic platform aiming for the truth and to raise public awareness on issues of interest to the people on a professional basis” (2) , and sec- ond, in the professional and cognitive mark that Al Jazeera etched on the Arab and international media scene in terms of perception, culture and media practice which allowed it to “reverse the news flow” from the global South to North. These two variables, i.e., the institutional identity and the profes- sional and cognitive mark, facilitated Al Jazeera satellite channel’s dis- (1) Mohamed Zayani )ed.(,The Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media , )London: Pluto Press, 2005). (2) See, “Code of Ethics” The Al Jazeera Decade : 1996-2006, Al Jazeera Media Institute (Manama, Al-Waraqoon, 2006), p. 228.
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