of directors will create the general institutional policy and oversee its implementation, and will be held responsible for their actions by the Council of Ministers” (1) . About eight months after the legal founding, Al Jazeera’s first broadcast was on 1 November 1996. Based on the founding decree, the original idea was to launch a single Arabic-language channel with a unique approach to broadcasting news, unlike the beginnings of other Arabic television channels. After about five years, a reform to the 1996 Law 1 was issued, renaming the Qatar Public Satellite Channel Corpo- ration to “Al Jazeera Broadcasting Network”. This was in accordance to the 2001 Law 21 issued on 5 August 2001 (2) . After four years and as a result of Al Jazeera’s leap in institution- al development and expansion in terms of external bureaus and new websites, it was renamed “Al Jazeera Satellite Network” (3) . In 2011, the name was changed once again to “Al Jazeera Media Network”, which has remained to this day (4) . While the idea of an Arabic-language news channel is not new in and of itself (5) , the increased freedom under which Al Jazeera is able to operate is unprecedented and transformational rel- ative to similar Arab government and private media institutions. This freedom allowed it to boldly cover thorny issues with expansive anal- ysis and profound approaches, all in light of monumental geopolitical changes in the region and the world. The early years of any organisation’s development is usually known as the incursion or childhood stage. It is typically a turbulent and excit- ing time and lasts from three to five years. For Al Jazeera, this stage of its development journey was fairly simple from an organisational and
(1) Law One (1), 1996, on the establishment of the Qatar Public Satellite Channel Corpora- tion, (Appendix 1).
(2) Law Twenty-One (21), 2001, on amending the 1996 Law 1, (Appendix 2).
(3) Law Twenty-Eight (28), 2005, decreed on 8 August 2005, (Appendix 3).
(4) Law Ten (10), 2011, decreed 18 May 2011, (Appendix 4).
(5) Prior to the launch of Al Jazeera, BBC Arabic began broadcasting in 1994 before shutting its doors in 1996.
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