freedom and operate professionally. Many were sceptical. During the preparations and experimentation phase, they began to regain confi- dence. But the true test, in their opinion, would be when the broadcast- ing actually began” (1) . Mohammed Krichen asserts that these apprehensions, and this fear that promises would not be kept, were the result of the feeling that it would be difficult for a channel such as Al Jazeera to emerge in an Arab country, especially in a Gulf environment more conservative than its Arab neighbours from a cultural and political perspective. Despite the pace and manner of this unprecedented work in the Arab world during the experimentation phase, which lessened staff scepticism some, the staff continued to wait for broadcast day” (2) . The founding team all shared the fears tied to the political and cultural reality of the Arab world, among them Jafar Abbas, the producer of the “Between the Lines” programme at the time” (3) . Staff were sceptical of such a channel’s success, a channel launched from Qatar, who was a member of the Arab League and the Arab Media Federation whose charter basically stipulates, “You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours”, in the words of Abbas. He continues, “We were ap- prehensive and used to ask, ‘Will Al Jazeera remain steadfast in this approach? Will Arab audiences accept a channel with no songs or TV series? And if we held onto the freedom of the opinion and the other opinion, what will Arab rulers say? Because whatever angers them is prohibited in the Arab culture’” (4) . Salah Negm confirms these concerns as well. As Al Jazeera’s staff was preparing for launch day, they reminisced about their experiences at BBC and Arab television stations. They looked forward to what this promised channel would be like, and if it would be like BBC in terms of
(1) Mohammed Jasim Al-Ali , personal interview, Ibid.
(2) Mohammed Krichen, personal interview, Doha, 27 July 2020.
(3) According to Jafar Abbas, the programme specialised in news from non-Arab outlets, but sometimes covered exceptional things of journalistic significance from Arab outlets.
(4) Jafar Abbas, personal interview, Doha, 12 August 2020.
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