and international public opinion eager for the news it broadcasts, a num- ber of countries and major powers have also realised the importance of the model presented by Al Jazeera. This realisation has prompted these countries to quickly establish their own international news channels in- spired by the experience of Al Jazeera. This gave birth to Deutsche Welle (2002), Al Arabiya (2003), Al Hurra (2004), France24 (2006), Russia Today (2007), BBC Arabic (2008), CCTV (2009), Euro News (2010) and Sky News Arabia (2012) as well as dozens of local satellite channels in the Arab world in response to Al Jazeera’s influence and impact on public opinion. In this context, the United States was interested in Al Jazeera’s influence in its political, media, and cultural surroundings relative to the huge media projects it had undertaken to absorb it. Lamloum de- scribes the media efforts to confront Al Jazeera as a “Marshall Plan for Minds” (1) , in an attempt to convey a different message about the United States and restore its image, which was tainted by the wars it waged in the Arab region and the Islamic world. For that reason, it estab- lished multiple media outlets, such as Radio Sawa (2002), Hi Magazine (2003) and Al Hurra, which covers developments in the Arab region and the world from a US perspective. The following chart illustrates Al Jazeera’s mark and the course of influence it has had on the media environment.
(1) Lamloum, Al-Jazira , pp. 134-135.
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