of them. Some of its bureaus were shut down as a result of this mischar- acterisation, such as those in Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. In terms of Al Jazeera’s legal status development, 2011 brought an important change. On 18 May 2011, it was decreed that the network was no longer a public entity, but rather a private entity for public benefit (1) . This can be considered a second “launch” for Al Jazeera, moving it from one legal status to a completely different one. While Al Jazeera had al- ways been independent in its editorial policy since its original launch in 1996, from a financial and administrative standpoint, it was very close to the Qatari government. According to the original law establishing Al Jazeera, its board of directors “reported directly to Qatar’s Council of Ministers”, and were tasked with presenting “a comprehensive yearly report of all the institution’s activities”. The Council of Ministers could also “decree general directives to the board of directors, which they had to follow in terms of the institution’s general policies” (2) . Under the new legal status, Al Jazeera’s ties to the government were no longer the same, and this decision allowed it a far greater margin of financial and administrative independence, along with continued complete editorial independence. With this new decision, its board of directors was no longer reporting to anyone but the organisation’s founder (3) . In July of the same year, as the legal status changed, the Network released its new organisational structure, which came in the form of a decree by the Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, as the “found- er” (4) . The third article of this document reads, “through operating, man- aging and transmitting satellite and television channels; issuing and publishing journalistic and any other media-related materials; the Cor- poration aims at supporting and consolidating the freedom of opinion and expression, as well as realising the constructive message of the free
(1) Law Ten (10), 2011, Ibid.
(2) Law One (1), 1996, Ibid.
(3) Al Jazeera Media Network’s Establishment Document, issued on 3 July 2011, (Appendix 5).
(4) Ibid.
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