Al Jazeera: A Wise Vision, A Noble Endeavour
Al Jazeera: A Wise Vision, A Noble Endeavour Mohammed Jasim Al Ali | Former Managing Director, Al Jazeera News Channel
My relationship with Al Jazeera is inexplicable. What the founding team and I lived through is hard to describe. From the moment the idea was born until the day it took shape, it was clear that Al Jazeera was going to be a turning point in the history of Arab media. It all started in 1975 when I had a 3-month internship at Qatar Television before I was recruited to work there. I soon resigned to pursue my undergraduate studies. I was advised by a friend not to; as I could combine both study and work, especially as Qatar TV used to broadcast from 4pm in those days. Having graduated in 1979, I headed the programmes department for a decade, before I moved to the government’s Ministry of Information. For a career challenge, I accepted the offer from the government of Sharjah to help launch their first satellite television channel. I was the first Qatari to take part in such a huge media endeavour within the GCC states, which came to light after two years of hard work. Back in Doha in 1994, I assumed the office of Assistant Director General of Qatar TV and in the same year Al Jazeera was born as an idea.
The ambitious project’s board met on a regular basis with Shaikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, and I was nominated to be a member of the board. The idea was put to paper in 1995 and immediately work on the infrastructure began. Studios were built, even before the journalistic and technical teams were formed. The initial kick-off date was set in June of the same year, but it was not practically feasible on the ground. Therefore, we laid down a three-pronged project: construction, technical infrastructure, and employment. Jobs were advertised in the leading Arab newspapers, and we were flooded with resumes from across the region. Seeking to recruit quality professional staff, candidates were shortlisted and then interviewed in both London and Paris by myself along with the deputy chairman, Mahmoud Al Sahlawi, and Adnan Al Sharif. When the BBC laid off their staff, we managed to recruit 25 of them, including leading names such as Jamil Aazar, Jamal Rayan, Sami Haddad, Mohammed Krishan, Salah Najm, Ahmed Al Shaikh, Ibrahim Hilal, Ibrahim Abdul Razik, and many others.
Other journalists and technicians from Egypt to Morocco were also recruited. I started to feel the magnitude of the responsibility placed on my shoulders when in May 1996 I was elected as the board Managing Director and acting Director General of Al Jazeera. Now, I was at the helm, and would be fully responsible for any failure.
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