Floating on Cloud Nine for 23 Years Khalid Saleh | Senior Presenter Al Jazeera News Channel
For 23 years, I have had the privilege to be among a constellation of top journalists, media technicians and administrative officers from every corner of the globe. This unique assemblage of elite professionals was brought together by Al Jazeera. Together we created a new landscape for the media in the Arab world - by virtue of accuracy, credibility and objectivity. Al Jazeera was a pioneer in providing a platform for ‘an opinion and the counter opinion,’ setting an example for others to follow. It feels as though it was just yesterday that Mohammed Jasim Al-Ali, the then managing director, who was instrumental in Al Jazeera’s journey and successes, telephoned me. It felt like a turning point in my professional life. He commended my work as a TV meteorologist at Qatar TV and requested that I join Al Jazeera. “You have only two weeks to be on Al Jazeera’s screen,” he told me. It is hard to describe my feelings at that moment: it was joy mixed with enthusiasm. I cannot deny that I had my fears. Al Jazeera then had the most advanced TV equipment and technologies. However, the encouraging words of Al-Ali gave me the incentive I needed.
On my first day of recording before going on air, the unthinkable happened. As I was reading the script I had written and practiced, the information and graphics that appeared on the weather map did not correspond. I felt butterflies in my stomach. A few minutes of confusion followed. But years of experience with Qatar TV gave me the confidence I needed. I requested that the technicians examine the equipment. They found the glitch. A last minute system update was responsible. With a sigh of relief, I went in full thrust. My first on-screen live weather forecast report was in 1997; it was highly admired. Within a few days, I felt as one with my colleagues; since Al Jazeera’s spirit encompasses us all. This was an added incentive for more hard work. In 1999, there came another milestone in my career. A few seconds before I was due to go live on air, the teleprompter jammed. The producer decided to skip the weather segment, but I said I was ready to do it without a script. After the report, I heard a round of applause from everyone in the newsroom. My fellow presenter, Jamal Rayan, said on air: “I bear witness that our
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