Al Jazeera: A Wise Vision, A Noble Endeavour
After consultation with the board members, we agreed to start local broadcast for six hours a day on October 1, 1996, with the all-out launch to follow a month later. Al Jazeera launched its first live broadcast at 04:30 GMT, 07:30 Doha time on November 1, 1996. As most of the Arab news channels start their bulletin at the top of the hour, Al Jazeera started its own 30 minutes later. Al Jazeera then was a small family, working day and night in a small building, sharing our joys and sorrows together. We all worked insanely long hours with only one goal in mind: to produce exceptionally credible and objective news content. “Don’t you ever go home?” many of our colleagues used to ask me. Many of Al Jazeera’s staff at that time came from state media, where inflated glorifying titles are given to their leaders. It was a challenge to train them to draft the news without those titles. Another challenge was the lack of staff training in covering wars and conflict zones. However, they were vying to get deployed during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “You have the brains of a professional journalist and the heart of a brave fighter,” I told the journalist Abdu Haq Saddah. When the second Gulf War broke out, we did not have sufficient staff to cover the developments in the field. As fighting intensified near Ramadi, Tariq
Ayoub, may he rest in peace under God’s mercy, volunteered to deploy. Although we had provided our office coordinates to the US-led coalition forces, it was bombed, and Tariq fell as a martyr. His death was a shock and left a heartache no one can heal. Al Jazeera’s journey faced many obstacles, including technical. Its satellite signal was broadcast through Arabsat’s Q-band, while most of the home receivers used a C-band. As a result, Al Jazeera was watched by only 20% of the prospected demographic audience base. After a long battle with the satellite administrators, we finally got a spot on the C-band. It was like a resurrection, as Al Jazeera was then able to reach millions more. With every single passing day, Al Jazeera won the minds and hearts of millions across the Arab World. However, since Al Jazeera was offering bold and objective content, it was constantly targeted by local authorities in many countries. I remember when Al Jazeera’s bureau in Egypt was raided by local authorities and our permit cancelled without any reason given. Together with Salah Najm, I headed to Egypt and met with the then Information Minister, Safwat Al Sharif, who said: “You are acting against us.” The decision was taken following a ‘Century Witness’ episode with the Egyptian politician, Boutros Ghali, who spoke about the backstage talks before former president Anwar Sadat’s visit to Israel.
Sharif feared Al Jazeera was in the process of producing a similar episode which may jeopardise his position. I assured him it was not the case, and finally, the bureau was reopened and the license restored. A similar incident took place when Jordan’s former prime minister was invited as a guest to confront a Jordanian opposition figure in the ‘On Collision Course’ programme. In the process, late King Hussein was criticised bitterly. I expected a note of protest from the Kingdom, yet the head of Jordan TV telephoned me the following morning and said the Royal Court had requested the episode be aired on Jordan TV; and it was.
Honestly speaking, I need reams of paper to be able to jot down the successes and challenges Al Jazeera has had throughout my years with this outstanding media organisation. All I can say is that Al Jazeera would not have achieved what it has without the great sacrifices made by all of its staff, journalists and technicians; managers and administrative staff. Before all that came the wise vision of the Father Emir and his unwavering support for this noble endeavour.
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