Al Jazeera Tells its Story: In-Depth Studies

Among the results of Al Jazeera’s influence on the industry is the emergence of a new group of elite journalists, media professionals and broadcasters. These media professionals have absorbed its spirit and become its ambassadors, passing on their expertise and professional experience to the younger generations through the training courses they conduct in the Arab world and international forums. In this respect, Al Jazeera Media Institute has become a leading training platform, through which the Network’s founding generation impart expertise and knowl- edge to a younger generation of journalists and media professionals. Conclusion Since its inception, Al Jazeera has been an open forum for a grow- ing community of media professionals, political activists and academic researchers. This is due to the significance of its extensive experience, unprecedented approach and imprint on the Arab and international me- dia scene. This chapter investigated this model and analysed its three dimensions: a new perspective on news, a new media culture, and a new approach to field reporting. This model established news values that were unfamiliar to Arab media in the “pre-Al Jazeera” era. It has also instilled a new media culture and a set of news values. This media revolution influenced different fields at various levels, some of which were mentioned above. It has left its legacy in the Arab media as well as the international scene, which has witnessed, in just a few years, the emergence of a large number of satellite channels. Some of these channels, which were originally launched to compete with Al Jazeera, tried to copy its news model to build a similar large audience base. But because these channels lacked some of the components of Al Jazeera’s model, particularly freedom of expression, editorial inde- pendence and balance, they remained the voices for the foreign policy of their countries. Al Jazeera’s success in countering the hegemony of official Arab and international media has made it the first and some- times, only source of news. Al Jazeera has also succeeded in creating an important balance in the flow of information and news, between the global North and South. However, the change that Al Jazeera brought was not without a price. In its 25-year existence, it has seen hardship, including the killing of its journalists while they were doing their job covering wars and conflicts.

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