dicated the importance of Al Jazeera’s role in covering the earthquake, which helped them carrying out their work (1) . This news approach (i.e. the field dimension along with the scoop) allowed Al Jazeera to be- come “the only reference and source in the coverage of events on many occasions” (2) , maintains Salah Negm, Director of News at Al Jazeera English. The field level sets the foundations for contextual coverage, or what Al Jazeera’s new media culture calls “contextual depth”, in which attention is given to the background of the news if it is related to an earlier event or events, shedding light on the circumstances and politi- cal, historical, geographical, and economic backgrounds of the event (3) . This also helps us understand the essence and causes of the problem, deliberate its dimensions and interpret its results. In the context of this news approach, Al Jazeera wants to involve the public in news cover- age, whether in reports or talk shows, by allowing it to express opin- ions of events and facts (4) , accounting for the recipient part of the com- munication process. This is apparent in the interactive news bulletin, Nashratikum (Your Bulletin), which covers the highlights of what is being circulated on social media platforms both in the Arab world and internationally. It is also apparent in other programmes such as Sibaq al-Akhbar (“The News Race”) and The Stream broadcast on Al Jazeera English. The following chart shows the foundations of the identity of Al Jazeera’s news model and the interrelationship of its editorial standards and matrices:
(1) Ahmed Barakat, email interview, 4 September 2020.
(2) Salah Negm, phone interview , 8 September 2020.
(3) Editorial Standards , pp. 84-152.
(4) Ahmed Sheikh, phone interview , Ibid.
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