2. Al Jazeera: Vision and Tools Since its inception in the mid-1990s, those in charge of Al Jazeera have drawn the general lines determining the Network’s media identity and editorial line. It is only a few years later that those lines were crys- talised into what has become known as the “Mission and Vision”. This document states that “Al Jazeera is an Arab-based media service with a global orientation. With its motto ‘the opinion and the other opinion’, it acts as a forum for plurality, seeking the truth while observing the prin- ciples of professionalism with an institutional framework. While pro- moting public awareness of local and global issues, Al Jazeera aspires to be a bridge between cultures, to support people’s right to knowledge, and strengthen the values of democracy and the respect of liberties and human rights” (1) . In this statement, which has become a classic literature of Al Jazeera, we can distinguish three main dimensions. First, Al Jazeera is Arab by affiliation and global by orientation, promoting the plurality of opinions. This dimension unveils Al Ja- zeera’s identity, which, across all stages and professional manifesta- tions, represents an “Arab media service”. It is a media project, created by Arabs for Arabs, that reflects a pressing need in a specific historical context. Accordingly, Al Jazeera’s media discourse is inseparable from the Arab reality with all its tensions and contradictions. A discourse, which aims to build an audience equipped with real news and prop- er knowledge that enable it to depart from the influence of traditional news and submission to government propaganda. According to Souag, “Al Jazeera has never had this planned. Rather, what Al Jazeera really sought to achieve was to equip Arab citizens with knowledge… to turn them into empowered citizens” (2) . However, this perspective should not be taken to mean the Al Jazeera project is self-centred or isolated from non-Arabs. Al Jazeera is also a global service and globalism is as an unavoidable choice for Arabs to sustain and become influential. The re- lation between Arabs and the rest of the world can only be conditioned
(1) See, “Code of Ethics”, The Al Jazeera Decade: 1996-2006 , Al Jazeera Media Network, (Manama: Al-Waraqoon, 2006), p. 228.
(2) Souag, Interview , Ibid.
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