Note: both Al-Jazeera and Al-Jazira are accurate transliterations of the network's Arabic name. While Al-Jazeera is more old fashioned, this node has been titled Al-Jazeera which seems to be the more common western usage. The name Al-Jazeera means "The peninsula", which refers to the Arabian Peninsula. Thanks to liveforever for the heads-up.
Al-Jazeera or Al-Jazira is the state-funded satellite network of
Qatar, a small Middle Eastern nation. Al-Jazeera is the preeminent television network in
the Middle East and the larger
Islamic world, somewhat comparable to
CNN.
Al-Jazeera focuses not on re-broadcasting western programming, but on producing its own programming typically focusing on issues important to the
Arab and
Islamic world.
Al-Jazeera's programming is often controversial, and has prompted over 400 complaints to the government of
Qatar from various Arab states over the last half decade.
The origins of
Al-Jazeera date back to
1995 when the
BBC, which had built a strong tradition of Arabic-language news coverage considered objective by Muslims through its
World Service radio network, signed a deal with the
Saudi-owned company
Orbit Communications to provide
Arabic newscasts for Orbit's main
Middle East channel. However, the BBC's insistence on editorial independence clashed with the Saudi government's unwillingness to permit reporting on controversial issues, such as
executions and the activities of prominent
Saudi dissidents. In April 1996, when the
BBC broadcast a story on
human rights in the Kingdom which showed footage of the
beheading of a criminal,
Orbit pulled out of the deal.
A few months later, the new
Emir of
Qatar,
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, took advantage of this fortuitous development by establishing
Al-Jazeera and hiring most of the
BBC Arabic Service's editors, reporters and technicians to form the
nucleus of its staff. The
Emir, who had launched a sensational campaign to end
censorship in
Qatar (going so far as to abolish its
information ministry) since ousting his father in
1995, contributed 140 million USD to finance
Al-Jazeera's operations for the first five years, after which the company would supposedly sustain itself through
advertising revenues.
Al-Jazeera has not made that transition - in fact, the
Qatari government has been spending around 100 million USD each year to sustain the station, which has been unable to attract enough advertisers. Although the
market for
satellite television advertising in
Arab world is estimated to exceed 500 million USD annually, most of it is spent by
multinational corporations which are reluctant to risk alienating
governments in the region.