Vision: Forward-Looking Mission: Steadfast Vision: Forward-Looking Mission: Steadfast Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Index Introduction 10 Al Jazeera starts a new 20 years 12 One day, I’ll go back to Sanaa 40 Sheikh Hamad Bin Thamer Al Thani Ahmed Al-Shalai Al Jazeera at 20: Always Genuine, Always Pioneering 16 The Arab Spring and the Spring of Documentary Films 44 Mostefa Souag Ahmed Mahfouz The cofee shop and a journalist’s impartiality 20 Al Jazeera: A global brand 48 Abd Alqader Faeez Ahmed Marzouq AlFahad The sleepless Al Jazeera 24 Breaking the siege… and a news bulletin 52 Abderrahim Foukara Ayache Derradji Where my mind and soul is free 28 The Story of Al Jazeera Mubasher 56 Abdullah Elshamy Ayman Gaballah Al Jazeera: Quality and courage 32 Why Al Jazeera journalists argue with each other 60 Ahmad Al-Raysouni Barry Malone An optimistic outlook for the next 20 years 36 Tears of despair 64 Ahmed Al Sheikh Chris Gunness Vision forward looking Mission steadfast Index

The countdown 68 “Are you Al Jazeera?” 108 Edin Krehić Hasan Zidane The Al Jazeera family 72 Refusing to be silenced 112 Eman Al Amri Ibrahim Nassar Al Jazeera: Biased towards humanity 76 Al Jazeera: recognising the power of story-telling to shape diferent versions of the world. 116 Eman Ayyad Ingrid Falck

Al Jazeera in China 80 Just 20 years 120 Ezzat Shahrour Jaafar Abbas Biscuits from little hands 84 Living up to its motto 124 Fairouz Ziani Jamil Azar The Stream, creating ripples since 2011 88 The long road from Afghanistan 128 Femi Oke Kamal Hyder Telling the Palestinian story 92 The art of knowing a little about a lot 132 Ghada Oueiss Kelly Jarrett Meeting the future 96 I remember … 136 Giles Trendle Khalid Albaih A kidnapped correspondent 100 Scenes from Baghdad 140 Hamdi Albokari M’hamed Krichen Journalism’s ‘martyrs’ 104 A matter of inspiration 144 Hanan Ali Al Thani Mohamed Abuagla Vision forward looking Mission steadfast Index

Africa’s ‘own Al Jazeera’ - at last 148 Covering an Israeli incursion into the West Bank 188 Mohammed Adow Shireen Abu Akleh Al Jazeera.net … A renewed spirit 152 Tragedies in Arakan 192 Mohammed Mukhtar Al Khalil Sohaib Jassim In the hands of Al Jazeera 156 ‘The real story is behind you’ 196 Moncef Marzouki Steve Chao

A journalist’s diaries from Tahrir Square 160 A great beginning and a good foundation 200 Montaser Marai Suad Abdullah Shifting the fulcrum 164 A Balkan success story 204 Phil Rees Tarik Dodic Imperishable souls 168 Twenty years with the people 208 Rafaat AlRefaie Thembisa Fakude The ‘voice of the voiceless’ for two decades 172 Two decades on … it’s the same Al Jazeera 212 Ramsey Zarifeh Yaser Abuhilalah Palestine in Sarajevo’s heart 176 The digital future 216 Rawan J Damen Yaser Bishr Once upon a time before Guantanamo 180 Telling Hanifa’s story 220 Sami Elhaj Zeina Khodr The ‘little box’ that became an enlightened project 184 The surprise festival 224 Shihateh Awad Zeinebou Bent Erebih Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Introduction

During the past 20 years, Al Jazeera has attracted the attention of many researchers at academic the establishment of the network. towards people, regardless of their At the end, we would like to extend institutions and research centres across the world. This clearly indicates the pioneering role it has Neither does it list Al Jazeera’s race, colour or religion. our gratitude to all those who played, a role that can rarely be described in just a few words. It was once said that: “Since accomplishments and successes, participated in the making of this Al Jazeera was launched, it has become very diicult to lie.” although some of the articles touch Two decades have passed and book whether by giving us new ideas upon some of these. This book is Al Jazeera has maintained the values or writing its articles. Special thanks This book is not an academic study. It encompasses what Al Jazeera’s family has to say about a collection of vital humanitarian and principles that have brought it go to the book’s Arabic editor Aref Al Jazeera on its 20th anniversary. A small committee from Al Jazeera’s staf was formed to stories told by those who lived those such popularity. It has also constantly HIjjawi, English into Arabic translator supervise the making of this book, with Ahmed al-Sheikh as head of the committee, stories in various parts of the world, met the need for modernisation and Aref Ahmaro, English editor Carla Muneer al-Daymi, Ezzeddine Abdelmoula, Muhammad Sidi Baba and Muhammad Vall as exposing what was happening behind complied with the requirements of the Bower and Arabic into English members and Araft Shoukri as member and coordinator of the project. The committee’s main the scenes and revealing the feelings modern age, including the adoption of translator Mays Al-Shobassi. We target was to tell the story of Al Jazeera over the past two decades through the words of its own they could not convey on screen or new methods of communication and would also like to thank our Creative people, those who have witnessed happy and diicult events and reported facts happening on through reports and live interviews media tools. They were two decades Department colleagues who have the ground as they were in order to convey the voice of the voiceless to the entire world. during news bulletins. These articles of originality and renewal. designed the layout of this book. are an attempt to express the spirit This book does not record the history of Al Jazeera, though some of its articles talk about and mission of Al Jazeera and its bias The Supervising Committee

10 11 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera starts a new 20 years Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani Chairman of the Board of Al Jazeera Media Network

Twenty years ago, there was a turning point in the history of During those 20 years, Al Jazeera In 20 years, Al Jazeera focused For 20 years, Al Jazeera has Arab media that left people and researchers studying and produced what others for long on the entire Arab world, relected remained controversial. Some loved analysing it for a long time. It was the emergence of Al Jazeera; decades could not. It has become people’s hopes, revealed their pains it, some criticised it, while others a free, brave and creative voice in a world where people had a leading name among its and expressed their ambitions. changed their stance towards it grown used to oicial Arab media. competitors. It seeks to present the overnight. However, Al Jazeera never truth through utmost transparency For 20 years, Al Jazeera stood by gave up its commitment to the truth, Al Jazeera was born to break the normality of restrictions and and strives for excellence and the side of people all over the world. to transparency and to balance. fabrication that prevailed at that time. It came to end falseness distinction through professionalism It defended their right to knowledge In the coming 20 years, Al Jazeera and relect reality as it is to its audience. and accuracy. and freedom of expression. will take the same path.

12 13 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera starts a new 20 years Mission steadfast Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani

It will continue to seek and present the truth through honest, high quality reporting. It will dig deeper into the current afairs of the Arab world, searching its history and current situation for what is common among its people to reinforce it and what is diferent to accept and understand it.

During the coming 20 years, we will understand our world better and will become even more prepared to keep up with innovations in form, content and multimedia. Al Jazeera will be the irst to use whatever is new in traditional and digital media and will keep up with all kinds of advanced training and technical quality.

The past 20 years were an ever-renewed journey on all levels. And in the coming 20 years, Al Jazeera will always assume leading positions in innovation and creativity. Our mission will always be an authentic one, with solid values and noble goals.

14 15 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera at 20: Always Genuine, Always Pioneering Mostefa Souag Acting Director General

This book is a token of love and appreciation for Al Jazeera as it media, acknowledged by friends and those who attempt to compete with it, name. Did not the great poet Abu celebrates its 20th birthday. It was written by people whose love for foes alike across the world’s regions, sometimes devolving into jealousy or Tammam once write: it never wavered, whose lives and careers are inextricably joined languages and cultures. Joining the outright antagonism, especially among to Al Jazeera. Their devotion has been all-consuming: They have ranks of Al Jazeera has become a those of unscrupulous journalistic If God wants to spread a hidden virtue spent their lives and energy to serve Al Jazeera, at times more than source of pride, at times coming standards, who have dedicated their He sends it the tongue of an envious their children and loved ones. before ailiations of homeland and “weapons of mass distraction” to man family. burying truths in order to serve private In return, Al Jazeera has given them loyalty, appreciation, fame interests. It is perhaps this “envy” that The vast number of tongues that have and a solid reputation in the world of professional and authentic Al Jazeera has also raised the ire of has made Al Jazeera a household “been sent” to take shots at Al Jazeera

16 17 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera at 20: Always Genuine, Always Pioneering Mission steadfast Mostefa Souag

have done nothing but add to its fame, glory hearing from me. So I relented, telling him that our unprecedented diversity, in race, people”. Al Jazeera also continues to and creativity, and it is truly welcome in and popularity. there were dozens of factors, but I wanted to colour, creed, language and culture be an ever-innovative organisation that the Arab world. However, I ind myself focus on three: freedom, professionalism and (more than 80 nationalities under one has proved its leading, competitive role thinking: “Al Jazeera is a pioneering When I use the word “envy” I don’t mean the funding. I explained the important role played roof). in the modern world of “new media” media organisation, not a competitive typical linguistic/moral deinition of the term. by these three factors in shaping the popularity through its various digital platforms. one. Others seek to chase it but fail to I mean the deep psychosis that is a cocktail of Al Jazeera. The oicial was not convinced. This is the spirit that launched It aims to constantly be a genuine come close. Every time they think they of emotions, incentives and hatred that leads “There are many media organisations in Al Jazeera 20 years ago. On our and pioneering player in the mosaic are getting close, Al Jazeera reaches some parties to target Al Jazeera, silence it, Germany, France, Britain and elsewhere who journey, we’ve gained experience, of today’s media, providing the best new heights, and they wind up where diminish its remarkably increasing impact have those three factors,” he said. “But they’re wisdom and conidence. Now services for an audience of various they started: chasing but not coming and question its professionalism. When the not as successful as Al Jazeera.” I exchanged Al Jazeera celebrates its 20th ages and backgrounds. close.” dust settles, we ind that these attacks only knowing glances with some of my colleagues anniversary, reairming its hurt them, exposing their biases and lack in the room. We smiled and said, almost in commitment to the Code of Ethics it Some of Al Jazeera’s visitors, This is Al Jazeera: Always genuine, of professionalism, and often revealing their unison: “Then it must be the blessings of the adopted and implements on a daily especially journalists, ask about always pioneering, always innovative, servitude to those who openly oppose free saint buried under this building.” We always basis, and its editorial policy based on Al Jazeera’s competitors, and if always in the service of people and a speech and do everything in their power to give this answer when we get this question. the highest standards of professional Al Jazeera would like to see higher calling. repress professionals and make sure that truths journalism. This commitment has competitors appear. Without a are either buried or distorted. “A saint?” made Al Jazeera a school of doubt, honest competition is a good “So for this let the competitors journalism, denied only by the blind or incentive to achieve greater quality compete.” – Holy Quran (83:26) Talking about Al Jazeera’s success reminds me “Yes, he must have been a good man.” “envious”. of a chat with a key foreign oicial who led his country’s delegation on a visit to the network This saint is our team spirit, illed with feelings As it enters its third decade, a couple of years ago. He repeatedly asked of loyalty and dedication to Al Jazeera continues as a leading about the secret behind Al Jazeera’s success. Al Jazeera, from the day of its birth until media organisation with its multiple I told him that his question should be directed today. You can ind that spirit still burning with channels broadcasting in diferent to the countless researchers who have studied enthusiasm, you can ind it in the faces of the languages, attracting the attention of the Al Jazeera phenomenon, and suggested members of our team, in the way they talk, millions of loyal viewers who trust its that he could ind hundreds of academic behave, work, and take pride in what they credibility and admire its courage and papers on the internet. But he insisted on are doing. They are the ones who make up commitment to them, “always with the

18 19 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The cofee shop and a journalist’s impartiality Abd Alqader Faeez Bureau Chief - Tehran

On a spring day in late April 2011, our plane landed at Benina airport, near Benghazi in Kalashnikovs and faces were etched Brega was one of the main enemy and even put bounties on our eastern Libya. It wasn’t my irst time covering a war, but this time was diferent. with troubled expressions. battleields between the heads, I couldn’t resist going to the I spent that night at the hotel reading revolutionaries and forces loyal town’s cofee shop. When we landed, I was received by an armed revolutionary who took a wooden stamp from about Libyan politics, history, to the country’s ruler, Muammar his pocket and stamped my passport with a large “Welcome to the New Libya” imprint. I economics and society. Gaddai. Parts of it would swing It was managed by a young Libyan knew that stamp would restrict my movements, both inside and outside of the country. back and forth between the two. who didn’t speak much but who I hadn’t realised that I was soon would stare at those who entered. Everything en route to the Tibesti hotel in Benghazi suggested that a violent revolution to learn an important lesson about Although Gaddai’s forces had The journalist in me couldn’t trust had reached its peak in the city. Slogans were written on the walls, young men wielded impartiality. identiied some journalists as the anyone and like many residents of

20 21 Vision forward looking The cofee shop and a journalist’s impartiality Mission steadfast Abd Alqader Faeez

eastern Libya, Fawzi was vigilant around asked him bluntly. He knew about my personal I felt obliged to know the truth, and him, the revolutionaries would have. strangers. Ours was a friendship built on support for the revolution and when the opportunity arose, I asked Fawzi was a suspicious person. He caution. He thought for a moment. “I support the asked how I could separate that the commander of that battle why was impartial.” revolutionaries, but I also have a ine from my professional impartiality the revolutionaries hadn’t done The cofee shop was a microcosm of the war relationship with the government forces. while reporting. He called it my anything to help Fawzi. As I left Libya, I asked myself why I that waged outside: sometimes, it hosted I serve tea for everyone and I don’t care “schizophrenia”. How could a had survived, despite my impartiality, revolutionaries and their talk of freedom and about their political ideas or behaviour,” he journalist report information without “Why would we?” he answered. “We while he had not, and wondered a new Libya; at other times, its tables were concluded. expressing their feelings, he have always suspected his loyalty. If whose impartiality was more honest illed with government forces. Fawzi was wondered. the government forces had not killed – mine or Fawzi’s? playing the dangerous game of impartiality. I had a long discussion with Fawzi about impartiality. He believed it wasn’t just In May, following days of battles, the One evening I asked him: “How do you deal a matter of professionalism or good revolutionaries declared their inal with the government forces?” journalism, but a shield that could protect victory and took complete control of somebody from death. Impartiality meant Brega. It was a Wednesday. Calmly, he answered: “Just like I deal with Fawzi was accepted by everybody. He was I decided to go to the cofee shop to the revolutionaries and with you. For me the nobody’s friend and nobody’s enemy. He meet Fawzi. I sat at the same table only diference is that the government forces served tea for everyone. where I’d sat before. A young boy like their green tea with almond, while the asked me if I wanted tea. revolutionaries like theirs without.” One evening, Fawzi shared his knowledge of tea with me, explaining how when it was Noticing my surprise, he told me “Why are you being so impartial?” I asked irst introduced to Libya, it was considered somewhat indiferently: “Fawzi is him. ‘shameful’ for Libyans to drink it. Little by not coming. They killed him. The little it began to be accepted - initially only government forces killed him before “To stay alive,” he answered. “I have a family being allowed for men. In time, it became they withdrew, right in front of the and two children.” a feature of every Libyan household, even revolutionaries who did not lift a making its way into folk songs. Fawzi was inger to help him. They just let him “Which party do you support - the revolution even impartial when discussing tea. die.” and change or Gaddai and his brigades?” I

22 23 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The sleepless Al Jazeera Abderrahim Foukara Bureau Chief - Washington & New York

In the winter of 2003, as the then US president George W. Bush mission. But I also remember that Al Jazeera managed to penetrate international matters, particularly the was preparing for the US invasion of Iraq, Al Jazeera decided Al Jazeera’s popularity among the various UN units, allowing invasion of Iraq. to transfer me from Washington DC, where I had worked as UN employees, including its then millions of Arab households to its correspondent, to New York to cover the developments secretary-general, Koi Annan, better understand the complicated During the following two years, of the Iraqi ile inside the United Nations. To accomplish this helped facilitate it – opening oicials’ processes that take place there. Al Jazeera covered many mission, I was also asked to open a new bureau inside the UN doors and speeding up the issuance I knew that Arabs had long controversial stories out of the UN. headquarters. of approval for Al Jazeera’s oice wondered about the structure of this there. international organisation and its Then, suddenly, during one of the I’ll admit that I felt it was diicult to carry out this double inluence upon and role in various UN’s long nights of heated disputes

24 25 Vision forward looking The sleepless Al Jazeera Mission steadfast Abderrahim Foukara

over international crises, an unprecedented particularly within Arab nations. development took place. One of the UN As I was reading his report live on screen, Secretariat’s oicials leaked exclusively to I felt that almost every line contained a me a report prepared by German prosecutor political bomb. It led to ingers being pointed Detlev Mehlis, who had been assigned at prominent Syrian igures, including to lead the UN investigation into the inluential politicians. assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Raiq al-Hariri. The 50-page report Initially, I thought it was peculiar for was written in diicult legal language that Al Jazeera to broadcast the full report, Al Jazeera’s interpreters managed to especially at a time when most people in the translate. Middle East were asleep. But I later realised that it had caused a signiicant shift in a The unique nature of the report prompted region where it was the only network with Al Jazeera to take what seemed at the the courage to go against the grain with four time to be an unusual decision. As I was hours of live coverage, starting from 19:00 in being interviewed live by Al Jazeera’s New York, the sleepless city. Jamal Rayyan, I heard a colleague in Doha whisper to me through my earphones. “Get ready to read the full report live in a while,” they said. I read it, while the interpreters simultaneously translated it from English into Arabic - for four consecutive hours.

I don’t know how well known Mehlis was among the German public before being asked to investigate the assassination. But I know that when the report was leaked, he became famous across the world,

26 27 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Where my mind and soul is free Abdullah Elshamy Correspondent - Al Jazeera English

It was a Friday evening in 1996, and a technician was testing my breaking news events, watch the But the extent to which this would which is, perhaps, the burden you family’s new satellite dish at our home in Lagos, Nigeria. news bulletins and consume its change my life and shape my behold as a journalist – conirmed I was eight years old, and for the next three hours, I sat in front programmes. personality had never truly crossed that I had made the right choice in of the TV screen, watching this channel called Al Jazeera that my mind. joining Al Jazeera. was being broadcast from somewhere far away, wondering Then, in 2010, a friend from whether I would ever fulil my dream of being on camera. Al Jazeera Arabic called to ofer That changed in 2013, when I was When I think back on my time in jail me a job as a reporter in West arrested. now, I see it as a reminder of just In the months and years that followed, I constantly turned Africa. And with that, my childhood what a rewarding job journalism to that channel that had irst captivated me – to follow aspirations began to be fulilled. The 10 months I spent in prison – is – full of the hardships that come

28 29 Vision forward looking Where my mind and soul is free Mission steadfast Abdullah Elshamy

with the satisfaction of telling the news in the Looking back on it now, I think that time right way. may have done me good, but the diicult memories remain. But at the beginning of my irst night in jail, I was haunted by the thought of spending Between August 2013 and June 2014, a years in that place. For the irst two weeks, campaign of support and solidarity that I mostly slept and ate nothing. It was only reached hundreds of millions ensured that when I learned that my family and my friends I and other colleagues detained at the time at Al Jazeera were keeping my case alive, were released. that my fears began to recede. Will I always be at Al Jazeera? That’s a Freedom is not a luxury to me; it does not question only time will answer. But I will come without a hefty price. I returned often certainly always appreciate what I have to that thought when, ive months after I was learned here, the experiences I have had, the irst detained, I started my hunger strike. memories I have built and the support I have received. Jail has changed the way I see and think about the world. Prison is a world of its own; For me, Al Jazeera is not just a place of an underground life separated from humanity work; it’s the place where my mind and soul where you must endure long hours of waiting will always feel their best. and doing nothing.

It requires patience to overcome this, which is why I started reading and meeting other inmates – both to break up the time and to turn it into an experience that could be advantageous.

30 31 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera: Quality and courage Ahmad Al-Raysouni Vice President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars

People in the Arab world, particularly the intellectuals and politicians, have diferent points today, the question remains: From but the real practical starting point “And He [God] taught Adam the of view. But they all agree that the situation in the region is not good and drastic changes where do we start? for reforms is a truthful word. names – all of them.” [Verse 31 from and extensive reforms are required. But how and from what point should these changes and Words are our means of Surat Al Baqara, the Quran] reforms start? This they disagree on. We start with words communicating. Using words, we teach others what we know. And “Then Adam received from His Lord In 1950, an al-Azhar sheikh, Khalid M. Khalid, released his famous book From Here We Start. God taught Adam, the irst man on words were Adam’s irst weapon in [some] words…” [Verse 37 from Another al-Azhar sheikh, Mohammed al-Ghazali, responded with a book entitled From Here Earth, words so that he might speak. the battle of life. His ammunition was Surat Al Baqara, the Quran] We Know. Sheikh Khalid then disagreed with his own opinions and retracted the content Man thinks about reforms and the names of things. of his book. A controversy followed and its consequences grew until it reached court. Until projects to implement those reforms, Using the weapon of words means

32 33 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera: Quality and courage Mission steadfast Ahmad Al-Raysouni

to name things and events and to describe committed against Adam. We were used to oicial Arab TV channels them with qualities in order to distinguish mastering low quality and fabricated news. them from each other and to eliminate “Then Satan whispered to him; he said: ‘Oh Al Jazeera came as a revolution against all of ambiguity and confusion. Adam, shall I direct you to the tree of eternity this. and a possession that never ends?” [Verse “And He [God] taught Adam the names – 120 from Surat Taha, the Quran] The Arab world and Arab viewers were all of them. Then He showed them to the surprised by the arrival of a channel from the angels and said: ‘Inform Me of the names of The truth was; that tree was not the tree of Gulf that enjoyed freedom and courage. It these, if you are truthful’. They said: ‘Exalted eternity or everlasting possession. Satan broke the prohibition rules and exposed the You are. We have no knowledge except what was deceiving Adam. Adam believed this taboos. Its motto, in word and deed, was You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is deception and forgot that among the names The Opinion and the Other Opinion. the All-Knowing, the All-Wise’. He said: ‘Oh God taught him was something called ‘lying’ Adam, inform them of their names’.” [Verses and ‘deceiving’. Through Al Jazeera, Arab viewers and 31-33 from Surat Al Baqara, the Quran] intellectuals started to listen to the various From here we should start; by naming things points of view direct from the people who One reason for corruption is the failure to by their original names and describing them hold them. refer to things by their names. What is worse by their real qualities. We need a free word. than that is when these things are referred And only then could we recognise what is Despite this, there are still some who will ind to by other names, speciically by their right and what is wrong. a reason to oppose Al Jazeera. To them, I opposites. For example, when corruption say: If you work hard to do something and is called ‘reforms’ and reforms are referred And then came Al Jazeera you succeed, you get double credit, and to as ‘strife’, or when oppression is named if you miss, you still get some credit. Little ‘justice’ and what is false is called ‘right’, or Twenty years ago, a strange media incidents or small mistakes do not spoil a when the oppressor is the leader, the traitor organisation was established. Why strange? huge amount of good work. is named ‘loyal’ and the loyal are referred to Because it possessed two things we had as ‘criminal’. never before witnessed in Arab media – professional quality and a wide range of This deception was the irst crime freedom.

34 35 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

An optimistic outlook for the next 20 years Ahmed Al Sheikh Media Advisor - Chairman’s Oice

I can’t believe 20 years have passed since I joined our strengthened the terriied hearts and Those irst journalists were so wondered at how a lame could Al Jazeera. weak wills of Arabs who had been enthusiastic about this new project, emerge from the darkness, at how beaten by long years of silence. though they had no guarantees it a voice could rise from the depths I was a middle-aged man when Al Jazeera was born. From would turn into the great success its of oppression to break an enforced the very beginning, it shook the Arab world, giving it freedom, I’ve aged as I’ve watched Al Jazeera organisers promised. silence. awareness and a sense of pride. Only those who understood growing up. And here we are today, what Arabism meant knew what Al Jazeera was doing. It was 20 years on, recalling those past There were many beautiful memories It was beautiful then and its born in an era of darkness, but it enlightened the minds of decades and looking forward to and great achievements. The continued determination makes it those who had for ages been constrained by oppression; it future ones. world welcomed the channel and even more beautiful now. Twenty

36 37 Vision forward looking An optimistic outlook for the next 20 years Mission steadfast Ahmed Al Sheikh

years on, I am still excited to be a part of it questions. It is time to let our cameras go honourable profession is capable of breaking and still eagerly anticipate its future. deep inside the heart of the Arab world, to oppressive restrictions in order to convey a The past 20 years have been full of disclose what is common among Arabs, to message to its audience. accumulated experiences, and it is time to put it under the spotlight and to let people build many more. think about it. It is time to address all people, especially the young; to present to them, through our There are many unanswered questions we Arabs have so much in common and so social media platforms, information that must seek to address. Why has the Arab few diferences. But politics and wars have boosts their will to make informed decisions nation failed in war, in peace, in development led us away from our mutual interests. It is when required. In an era of mobile phones and in devolution of power? Why was the time for us to heal the wounds that intruders and social media platforms, quality remains idea of Arab unity erased and replaced by into our homeland are trying hard to keep our sole way to excel – through the accuracy the diferent identities of multiple countries? bleeding. It is time to truly get inspired of our information and the excellence of our What eliminated the idea of an Arab national by our great history. It is time to look for pictures, audio, language and ideas. identity that would unify all Arabs under one what makes us forgive each other without umbrella? Why have Arabs absorbed the becoming weak, what makes us stronger It is so sad to witness the bloodshed taking complex ideology of sectarianism and why without becoming extreme, and what place in many parts of the Arab world. is each ethnicity selishly seeking its own brings us together in unity and away from Al Jazeera has managed to direct attention interests, ripping apart our common welfare? radicalism. to this and it must continue to do so. We Why have our ‘neighbours’, who intruded must demand unity as our inevitable destiny into our world 70 years ago, managed As we pause for a while, I remember and regain our united identity. to break us apart after we had been the spirit we had at the beginning; the united, historically and geographically, for spirit that drove us each day to reach the That is my wish for you, our beloved thousands of years? Why have we weakly highest levels in the media world. It is time Al Jazeera. surrendered to others though we have a vast to reinforce this spirit so that we might homeland enriched with a great history of maintain our leading position. It is time for struggle? us to master the media profession as one based on rules and regulations, which Arab It is time to pause and answer those media have so far failed to comply with. This

38 39 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

One day, I’ll go back to Sanaa

Ahmed Al-Shalai Yemeni Afairs Editor - Al Jazeera Arabic

Satisfaction is a priceless feeling. I’ve always been satisied with my work at Al Jazeera, whether It challenged restrictions and taboos, dream that Al Jazeera helped to come [Change] Square was very much a during the irst 10 years, when I worked as a ield correspondent in Yemen, or the last two, which and opened a door for viewers to see true; a turning point that I believe part of this dream. Every time I feel fed I’ve spent at its headquarters in Doha. I was even satisied with Al Jazeera before I joined it, when a diferent world. This one channel led will one day lead to our democratic up with this world, I yearn to go back I was just a viewer. I used to spend long hours watching and learning from to a drastic change: After long years of salvation despite the atrocious scale of to that square which has become a Al Jazeera. I saw in it a new world of media freedom. silence and oppression, people in the the price paid. symbol of Yemenis’ dreams to rid their Arab world learned how to speak, to country of its bad inheritance. I belong to a generation that has learned a lot from Al Jazeera. I was almost 20 years old when protest and to demand freedom. Yemen may represent a diferent it was launched in 1996. I used to watch the BBC when I was young because it was my father’s And then, the Arab Spring, the dream image of the Arab Spring to those In 2011, Yemenis expressed their favourite channel. But, Al Jazeera gave the Arab world a diferent example of a TV news channel. of our generation, was born. It is a seen elsewhere, but Sanaa’s Taghyir eagerness to obtain their right to

40 41 Vision forward looking One day, I’ll go back to Sanaa Mission steadfast Ahmed Al-Shalai

peace, justice and freedom. Al Jazeera was Former Yemeni President Saleh used to there. We reported the developments from only watch Al Jazeera. He knew how much Sanaa, Bayda, Taiz, Aden, al-Hudaydah, it inluenced people. Every time he faced Amran, Marib and other parts of the country. diiculties in the country, he used to hold Al Jazeera accountable. Al Jazeera’s voice was the strongest and the most truthful, and that is why people wanted He and others put a lot of pressure on to listen to it. We, the journalists working in Al Jazeera’s team in Yemen, trying to force us the revolutionary squares, were the people to change our approach. But we never gave most capable of describing the scenes we up. encountered. Some of the protests were peaceful; others were forced to become I haven’t stopped thinking about my homeland violent. since I left it in April 2014, after the Houthis had approached the capital Sanaa. I decided The Yemeni revolution was diferent. It started to lee an inevitable danger. The situation there with a call for the fall of President Ali Abdullah exploded a few months later. Saleh’s government, but ended up 10 months later with an initiative that forced him to step Journalists pay the highest price in such down. circumstances. As always, Al Jazeera remains in the ield despite all the challenges and I recall other experiences from my time as a diiculties it encounters. It is still in Yemen journalist. In 2005, Yemeni security services today. tapped my mobile phone and widely leaked one of my personal phone calls with my wife in As for me, I am in the Doha newsroom, working Sanaa. Then came threats and arrests before among colleagues of various nationalities. 2011. In 2010, our team barely survived an But still, I yearn to return to the ield … and to attack in Dhale when a group of extremists Sanaa. opened ire and threw stones at us.

42 43 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The Arab Spring and the Spring of Documentary Films Ahmed Mahfouz Managing Director - Al Jazeera Documentary

I remember very well how I felt when the ousted Tunisian president As the revolution began in Egypt, that the events unfolding in Egypt On January 27, I again called Zine El Abidine Ben Ali led his country. I couldn’t believe it. Could I immediately wondered how we would be. our producers and stressed the Arabs really do this, I wondered. Since when had Arab leaders could document such a historic importance of ilming as events responded to the will of the people? I felt happy and hopeful. But I event. I contacted a number of the On January 25, our producers escalated amid calls for a ‘Day was also worried: would this be just a passing moment or could it Al Jazeera Documentary Channel’s managed to ilm the main protests in of Rage’. By the end of the day, become a turning point? producers in Egypt and asked them Cairo, Alexandria and Suez – as well communication with Egypt had been to keep their cameras ready. Tunisia’s as the government’s violent reaction to cut of. I knew something big was The answer didn’t take long to arrive. And it came from Egypt on revolution may not have been properly them. coming. January 25, 2011. documented, but I wanted to be sure

44 45 Vision forward looking The Arab Spring and the Spring of Documentary Films Mission steadfast Ahmed Mahfouz

I spent January 28, watching the news and characters in this revolution; to search for the hoping that our producers had been in Cairo’s spirit of the sit-in, for the human and cultural Tahrir Square to ilm the sit-in that was being dimensions of the revolution. staged there. On January 29, I was relieved to hear from a few that they had. The results were excellent documentary ilms such as Manufacturing the Truth, Tahrir Diaries Over 18 days, our producers, using 18 and Suez: Cradle of Revolt. cameras, had managed to document every stage of the revolution from each of the At the Al Jazeera Documentary Film revolutionary centres. Festival in April 2011, I proposed a series of documentary ilms with the theme of ‘diaries When Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, of the revolution’ and suggested that they stepped down, our challenge became working be co-productions between the Al Jazeera out what to do with such a huge amount of Documentary Channel and other production material and how best to use it to present such companies. Together, we’d co-produce 20 a historic moment. documentary ilms for the 20 days of the revolution. It was the irst such co-production I asked our producers to submit proposals project in the Arab world and, through it, we for possible documentary ilms based on the became the only organisation to visually and material they had. We received dozens of comprehensively document this historic event. similar suggestions. The event had been one of For the irst time in history, we managed to the most signiicant in modern Arab history and visually record our history in an in-depth form. these producers had been at the heart of it.

I asked them to take a diferent approach to that adopted in the news coverage; to see the story through the eyes of a documenter, rather than a news reporter; to look for the main

46 47 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera: A global brand Ahmed Marzouq AlFahad Executive Director of Projects

I came to Al Jazeera from an important position in an important corporation, Qatar Gas, Of course, Al Jazeera was a well- I was from Qatar, he immediately Those in attendance came from where I had worked for 12 years. I was on track to become a project director, so when I known global brand – although I mentioned Al Jazeera. He wasn’t a all over the world, but whenever I decided to join Al Jazeera instead, it was against my father’s recommendations. He believed hadn’t fully appreciated just how well fan. But whether they like it or not, introduced myself to somebody new, the energy sector was more stable and secure. known. people around the world know it. they were familiar with Al Jazeera.

But I was excited about Al Jazeera’s newly created project division, where I would be able I remember being on the Paris During my graduate studies at HEC Al Jazeera holds fast to its to establish the policies, procedures and culture of executing the transformative projects the underground one day when a man Paris, we had to move from one professional code, giving careful company was planning. from North Africa grew curious table to another in order to meet as consideration to the words and about my origins. When I told him many fellow participants as possible. terminology it adopts rather than just

48 49 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera: A global brand Mission steadfast Ahmed Marzouq AlFahad

following the jargon used by others. But, of course, what truly makes it stand out among other international news channels is the fact that so many of the biggest stories in the world are taking place right here in the Middle East: wars and conlicts in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, among other places. Where other media organisations must rely on limited sources, Al Jazeera has a large number of correspondents at the centre of these stories. As a result it can dive into the very heart of them, analysing events in greater depth.

Al Jazeera’s coverage and analysis is vital to accurately presenting news from the Middle East to the rest of the world.

Here, I will quote Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the US Congress: “You’ve got a global – a set of global networks – that Al Jazeera has been the leader in, that are literally changing people’s minds and attitudes. Viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it’s real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you’re getting real news around the clock ….”

50 51 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Breaking the siege... and a news bulletin Ayache Derradji Bureau Chief - Paris

Every journalist who works at Al Jazeera thinks of him or herself On a summer day in 2008, I boarded worked hard in Athens and Cyprus lesson about humanity. I may have as a diver coming out of water with a pearl in their hand, just a ship heading towards Gaza. It was to prepare for the journey. They felt seasick, but the determination to as the animated word “Al Jazeera” emerges from the water an unprecedented initiative. The ended up not with ships or yachts, reach our destination was stronger in the graphic title sequence that announces the beginning of Israeli authorities had seized control but with two simple wooden boats – than my seasickness. every news bulletin on the Al Jazeera Arabic channel. Pearls are of those regional waters and this and 40 activists aboard them. hunted in the depths of the seas, and Al Jazeera has presented was the irst attempt to break the My satellite phone was my only a new form of news coverage – diferent to the shallow news Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip. I was a journalist on a mission to means of communicating with Arabs had gotten used to - that tells people that a news story cover a news story, but in every Al Jazeera, and Al Jazeera was must come from the depths of events. For a long time, the organisers had hour of that trip, I learned a new the only way in which the world

52 53 Vision forward looking Breaking the siege… and a news bulletin Mission steadfast Ayache Derradji

could follow the progress of the two boats. out that drinking champagne may not be the the boats. But it was Al Jazeera that had But the telecommunications network was most appropriate way to celebrate breaking believed in it and been there for that historic not as good then as it is now and I had to the siege of Gaza. He threw the bottle in moment. constantly check the phone’s batteries. the sea and celebrations continued, with activists embracing one another as though One of the funniest things I remember The two boats sailed close to each other. they had already arrived. about that trip was that Gaza’s port did not The other one carried skilled ishermen and, have an oicial entry and departure stamp every now and again, we could smell their That inal part of our journey seemed to pass for passengers – it had never received grilled ish. But we were satisied with our so slowly. There it was – Gaza, right in front any before - so one was made just for canned food, vegetables and bread. of us. And the people of Gaza were ready to this special occasion. Our passports were welcome us. Young men swam towards us. stamped on our departure day. And thus, There were two things we watched carefully: Fishermen sailed their simple boats closer our passports became historic as well. ‘Gaza our route to Gaza and the Israeli warships to ours. They could not believe that the two port - entry/Gaza port - departure’, it said. we expected to intercept us at any time. But, boats they had heard about on the news had I still occasionally open my old passport to despite their repeated threats, they didn’t. actually managed to reach them. Neither the last page to take a look at it. That stamp Perhaps the Israelis thought we wouldn’t could we. seems like a pearl caught from the depths of succeed. the sea. We had reached our destination and Gaza But after two days of continuous sailing, had embraced us. except for a few stops to check or ix the engines, we could make out roofs in the I will never forget one speciic scene: as distance. The Gaza Strip was in sight. we arrived, a 60-year-old Spanish activist scooped up some Gazan sand, put it in her We suddenly forgot our seasickness and mouth and swallowed it. And then she cried headaches. Exhausted activists began to – like a child reunited with her lost mother. smile and then to laugh. When one activist produced a celebratory bottle of champagne Every television channel had been given from his bag, ready for arrival, others pointed the chance to send a reporter on one of

54 55 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The story of Al Jazeera Mubasher Ayman Gaballah Managing Director - Al Jazeera Mubasher

A colleague once decided to cut a live broadcast of a signiicant event because a news bulletin channel that would focus solely able to overcome the obstacles we the Mubasher With programme, had to be aired at its scheduled time. That was when the idea of Al Jazeera Mubasher was on live events, liberated from the encountered and, in April 2005, allowing viewers to call in and share born. restrictions of a regular programming Al Jazeera Mubasher was launched. their opinions. That irst episode schedule. lasted for seven hours, and the One of the main challenges in any newsroom is to balance the needs of diferent viewers: the In July 2006, war erupted in Lebanon. phones continued ringing even viewer who wants to follow one event live and the viewer who wants to watch a news bulletin As with any new idea, the process Viewers were eager not only to watch after it had inished. Even in these that summarises the developments in multiple stories. of implementation was not always what was going on but to talk about pre-social media days, it was clear easy. Still, with team work and it. So, during the irst days of the that people didn’t want simply to Motivated by the need to ind a solution to this challenge, we decided to launch an independent administrative support, we were war, Al Jazeera Mubasher launched ‘receive’ information but to engage

56 57 Vision forward looking The story of Al Jazeera Mubasher Mission steadfast Ayman Gaballah

with it, to interact with one another and to window ofered Facebook and Twitter users have a platform that would allow freedom of the chance to deliver their messages on a expression. TV screen. Some reacted with amazement, unable to believe that their views were being This reinforced the idea that live interaction shared on Al Jazeera. was as important as live broadcast. The Egyptian revolution soon followed the Al Jazeera Mubasher soon launched its SMS Tunisian one. A few days after it started, service, becoming the irst Arab TV channel to Al Jazeera Mubasher positioned its camera do so. This gave viewers the chance to share inside Tahrir Square. For 18 consecutive days, their opinions without having to wait for a the channel broadcast live footage, allowing scheduled programme or spend long hours on our viewers to watch the revolution as it the phone. unfolded and to comment on it. The protesters set up giant screens in the square from The service had its supporters and its which they aired Al Jazeera Mubasher. When opponents, but the continuous increase in the the Egyptian regime was overthrown, the number of participants conirmed a willingness protesters held a giant banner on which they within the Arab world to express opinions live had written, in the font used by the channel: at a time when social media platforms were “Al Jazeera Mubasher - Breaking News: The just starting to emerge but were not yet widely People Overthrew the Regime.” The day after used. the revolution succeeded, Al Jazeera decided to launch Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr (Egypt). In mid-2010, the channel decided to add a strap to the side of the screen that would At the heart of the Al Jazeera Mubasher story show viewers’ Facebook and Twitter is the concept of freedom of expression on comments. It was a novel concept at the time TV and the belief that to be able to exchange and its launch coincided with the success of ideas is essential to the evolution and the Tunisian revolution. Our new social media development of our nations.

58 59 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Why Al Jazeera journalists argue with each other Barry Malone Online Editor - Al Jazeera English

We like to disagree at Al Jazeera - over email, face-to-face, at editorial meetings, in the cafeteria, at its way into our building - and into “international” news sites but a similar this young century: “Mediterranean gatherings outside work. There is always a colleague who thinks your perspective is wrong. our heads. But it is usually quickly incident in India be ignored? Everyone migrant crisis”. All newsrooms debate stories. But there aren’t many newsrooms with more than 50 passports. overturned. Is it our place to call that is talking about Malala, but what about The Al Jazeera English online team has that advantage, and we cherish that statistic. Whatever group extreme? Why is the conlict in Nabila Rehman in Yemen? Rather than a quick debate, this was you think you know about the world, you probably don’t. When we plan out our coverage, there Somalia being reported only through more of a murmuring. Days - perhaps is rarely black and white. Instead, there are as many shades - more - than the nationalities and life the prism of the impact it could have It was a thought like those above - weeks - went by and as more and experiences of those you’re working with on any particular day. on the West? Don’t we care more a journalistic gnawing - that led us more people were thrown into the sea about what it means for Somalis? Why to decide that we would no longer from upturned boats, as more and Sometimes, of course, conventional wisdom reported by other big media organisations inds should a train crash in New York lead headline one of the biggest stories of more bodies washed up, and as it

60 61 Vision forward looking Why Al Jazeera journalists argue with each other Mission steadfast Barry Malone

became clear that most of them were leeing Syrians visit our websites and watch us. war, the media persisted in deeming them Syrians are Al Jazeera journalists. We have migrant. Not people. Not man, not woman, not large audiences in the African countries from child, not baby. Not even refugee. which so-called “economic migrants” depart. Migrant. Also Afghans, Iraqis, Eritreans, Somalis. These are not people we just report on. They are our This didn’t feel right to us. But in journalism, audience. And they work here. while an emotional response is important, we also need evidence. Above all, we need Journalism is not perfect. Sometimes it accuracy. So we looked at the facts. According does harm. Sometimes it is self-important, to the United Nations, the overwhelming sometimes it is slow to criticise itself and majority of the people arriving on Europe’s sometimes it is slow to debate what impact its shores in rickety boats were leeing war. The framing of a story has. largest number among them were leeing Syria, a country in which an estimated 400,000 people But that’s not good enough. There were clear have been killed in one of the most vicious, political reasons why some governments said annihilative and complex conlicts of our times. “migrant” and not “refugee”. And journalism at its best must challenge those reasons. Many others came from Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Eritrea and Somalia – all places from Substituting refugee for migrant was a step which people are commonly, or should be that sparked a debate. The most appropriate commonly, given asylum. These people were word, though, for those risking everything in the refugees. Mediterranean is more prosaic: people. At Al Jazeera, we never forget they are that. We publicly announced through a blog on Al Jazeera English that we would call them “Why Al Jazeera will not say ‘Mediterranean that, sparking a debate that would draw in both migrants’” and “Malala and Nabila: worlds other news organisations and aid agencies. apart” are available to read on aljazeera.com.

62 63 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Tears of despair Chris Gunness Chief Spokesperson for UNRWA

Since its launch, Al Jazeera has blazed a trail in being editorially This is particularly true of the fashions that bewitch news editors, broke down the notion of news as open to multiple narratives and alternative viewpoints, ive million Palestinian refugees particularly in ‘the West’. seen from a certain capital, which particularly those of the most vulnerable and marginalised UNRWA serves. They are truly the characterised so many international communities on our planet. From the perspective of a multi- dispossessed of the earth; people What was groundbreaking when broadcasters then and still does, national organisation like the United Nations, this openness whose voices have been all but Al Jazeera irst set up shop - the even today in our media landscape allowed the voices of the oppressed and disadvantaged to extinguished in the mainstream concept of news centres that were of placeless bloggers. Back then, it be heard as never before. Suddenly there was a broadcaster media and whose stories have been revolving hubs going on air as day allowed Al Jazeera to break free of prepared to shine a light into some of our world’s most obliterated by politics and history, dawned and of air as night fell - traditional editorial silos. conspicuous editorial black holes. obscured by the passing fads and was felt editorially. It efectively

64 65 Vision forward looking Tears of despair Mission steadfast Chris Gunness

Perhaps the most high proile example newsworthy injustices. of this was the work we did around that iconic image of Yarmouk, the Palestinian Allow me to end with a personal observation. refugee camp on the southern outskirts of It was Al Jazeera Arabic that captured Damascus. It all began on March 31, 2014, one of the most unbearably painful and when an UNRWA worker – who was by embarrassingly public moments of my no means a professional photographer - life, when during the 2014 Gaza War, after casually took a photograph that captured an interview had ended and I thought the a massive river of nameless faces waiting camera was of, I broke down and sobbed for UNRWA food aid. Their narrative had disconsolately. languished in obscurity until then. Al Jazeera was among those leading the way to tell the To this day, I can hardly bear to view it. But story behind the image. It eventually went in retrospect I have Al Jazeera to thank for viral. Yarmouk had touched the imagination going with that private moment of grief as of a generation and become the icon of one the story that summarised that tragic day. of the most pitiless conlicts of our age. If my tears served to focus international attention on the tears of helplessness Palestinians living under blockade in Gaza and despair being shed by hundreds of or amid Israeli occupation in the West thousands of people in Gaza and if global Bank are other telling examples of stories audiences for once focused on the plight of that Al Jazeera will tell where other media ive million exiled and dispossessed people, outlets seem reluctant. Many journalists then I don’t have one scintilla of regret; and I ask: “What’s new today after 10 years of have Al Jazeera to thank. blockade and 50 years of occupation?” The Al Jazeera answer is not to shrug and abandon the story, but to dig further, to ind fresh insights and reveal new aspects of the humanity that lies at the heart of these highly

66 67 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The countdown Edin Krehić Senior Editor - Al Jazeera Balkans

10, 9, 8... Not even that is funny. to them, one large wall display was reporter in my home city. waiting to go live. Al Jazeera Balkans The stopwatch was running ahead of the launch of Al Jazeera Balkans. It was 11/11/2011. Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera was about to start broadcasting. Usually, reporters dream of taking a “When you watch Al Jazeera and read it on the web, there is one thing you will never do,” Goran English news bulletins were being helmet and kevlar vest emblazoned Milić, the news and programme director of Al Jazeera Balkans told a few of us. broadcast live on the TV screens The countdown continued: 7, 6... with the word PRESS and reporting hanging on the walls of our newsroom In those few seconds, a kaleidoscope from a warzone. In the Balkans, we What would that be? in Sarajevo. Footage our colleagues of images from two decades before didn’t have to go anywhere in the had shot in the ield played out: bomb rolled in my head, of a time when early 1990s. The war had come to our “You will never laugh!” explosions, blood-illed streets... Next I had, by chance, become a war front door. I worked at Oslobođenje

68 69 Vision forward looking The countdown Mission steadfast Edin Krehić

then, the oldest daily newspaper in Bosnia and about the smuggling of Kurds through Bosnia someone else does not want printed: perforate eardrums or the earth (1871-1946): “A journalist is the only Herzegovina, where I was the deputy editor- and Herzegovina and later being acquitted by everything else is public relations.’’ trembling... You don’t hear the screams writer who, when reaching for the pen, in-chief and newsdesk chief before coming the Supreme Court. I remember each detail of people nobody wants to hear. Those does not hope for immortality.” to Al Jazeera. I witnessed massacres, when from our Srebrenica 360 and Sarajevo Under The countdown was nearing the end: are the people we interview. grenades fell in streets illed with people; or Siege specials, which the web department of 5, 4, 3… I managed, too, to think of people in the queue for water; I wrote about children Al Jazeera Balkans created in Bosnian, English, The countdown was ending: 2, 1… who would be the main actors in murdered and wounded by snipers while going Arabic and Turkish and which was published When you see videogame-like footage, our stories, who have no hope of to class in basements; circled the rare stalls prominently across the network. popular on social media, of a rocket Did our colleagues elsewhere in the immortality either. with food that had been smuggled into the being ired from a warplane and network sigh with relief like this when city, priced similarly to blood diamonds. Life I also remember how dejected I felt when sticking into the ground, you don’t they launched? The countdown has inished... was the cheapest, just as it is now, across the a foreign TV station would refuse to show feel the wind blowing all around that world. footage from war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina, moment, nor do you hear the whizz I managed to think of the words of The news has started... with the explanation that it was too bloody and and explosion which can almost Italian writer and editor Ugo Ojetti My wife often says that I remember too much, that it would disturb viewers in some peaceful which is why I am able to write books. I know country, where young people were deciding that. what to wear for a night out.

I recall the smallest details: From the sentence We are now thinking about clothes, while “Good night Dubrovnik, good night Dubrovnik somewhere else, people are dying and folk, good night all my dreams...”, which I had starving. I know that it will always be so. published as a 17-year-old student in the youth Someone will always be thinking of fashion newspaper Sigma, in a story dedicated to the while others cry over the dead. most beautiful Croatian city on the Adriatic coast, besieged in 1991; to every street I All we can do is fairly report on it. walked and every person I talked to on the Whenever we publish disturbing footage, outskirts of Sarajevo, where they lived next to which is usually marked with the disclaimer – trenches on the frontline. I remember the time I DISTURBING, I recall George Orwell’s (1903 was sentenced to a year in jail because I wrote - 1950) words: ‘’Journalism is printing what

70 71 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The Al Jazeera family Eman Al Amri Manager of Training Delivery Media Training & Development Centre

It was a typical sunny day in Doha. The receptionist at the I was tasked with contacting the diiculties we encounter only bring of the Gaza Strip. I saw it when I DG’s oice greeted me as he did every day: with a big smile. spouses of those who were missing. us closer together. looked into the eyes of the son of Everything seemed normal, except for the large number of It was one of the most diicult Ali Hassan al-Jaber, an Al Jazeera missed calls displayed on the screen of my oice phone. missions I’d been assigned in I felt that same sense of belonging cameraman killed in Libya. And I the two years since I’d joined the to an Al Jazeera family when we heard it in the words of the wife of I quickly discovered that this wasn’t any ordinary day. We had organisation, because Al Jazeera’s welcomed our returning colleagues Al Jazeera correspondent Luti al- lost contact with our team covering the revolution in Libya. We relationship with its employees is who had been captured by Israeli Masoudi, who had been captured didn’t know where they were or who had captured them. Their not merely about work. Everybody forces aboard the Mavi Marmara in Libya, when I called her to let her families were calling our oices, desperately seeking news. here belongs to one family, and the vessel, which had broken the siege know he was doing well. Crying, she

72 73 Vision forward looking The Al Jazeera family Mission steadfast Eman Al Amri

said: “I don’t know what happened to my help them be the future of the media in their husband. But I’m sure Al Jazeera will never countries and to relect what is truly going forget its staf and will do its best to bring on in the region. them back home safe.” I remember how at the end of one of the Al Jazeera not only reports the news, it also Al Jazeera Ambassadors courses, tears seeks to raise awareness among an Arab rolled down the face of a participant as he audience, equipping young Arabs to cope received his certiicate. In that moment I with the rapid progress under way in their became even more certain that Al Jazeera region. is not only the channel of ‘The Opinion and the Other Opinion’; it is also a family and “Al Jazeera’s Ambassadors” was an initiative an unprecedented project in the sharing of designed for this purpose by Al Jazeera’s knowledge. training centre. Through it, we organised workshops in many Arab countries, where Al Jazeera staf shared their skills and experiences with those in attendance. Young Gazans were trained to document Israel’s repeated violations and to report on the sufering of those around them. Syrian refugees in the camps along the border with Turkey were shown how to use their cameras to record acts of oppression committed against them.

From Jerusalem to Nouakchott and Khartoum, we have strived to ofer young Arabs free professional training courses to

74 75 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera: Biased towards humanity Eman Ayyad Principal Presenter - Al Jazeera Arabic

I’ve been a part of the Al Jazeera family for 18 years. Together, Al Jazeera has been targeted since Operation Desert Fox. It wasn’t their disappointments, heard their we have witnessed wars and occupations, assassinations and it launched simply because it is only viewers who turned to us, but voices and conveyed their ambitions explosions, tragedies and victories. diferent; because it shattered the international news channels such as for freedom. stereotype of Arab media. CNN. Al Jazeera was born into a dark decade in the history of the Al Jazeera chose to raise awareness Arab world at a time when Arab media was a mere tool – the In 1998, two years after its launch, it As it faced opposition on the one after decades during which voice of threats and the conveyor of fabricated news – rather became known internationally as the hand, Al Jazeera’s popularity grew awareness had been suppressed by than a platform to raise awareness and promote freedom. only TV channel airing footage of US on the other. Arab viewers had other Arab media organisations. That missile strikes on Baghdad during longed for a platform that expressed awareness was at the core of its

76 77 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera: Biased towards humanity Mission steadfast Eman Ayyad

‘journalism for humanity’. small shop. He looked at us. I approached Others drew colourful graiti on celebrating the birth of its 5,001 This is Al Jazeera. It embraces and asked him about his story. Ibrahim was the walls of their temporary homes, baby. people. Since it launched, it has This is the story of Al Jazeera and, through from the Syrian city of Daraa and had been trying to inject a sense of joy and been biased towards humanity, and it, my own. I have lived its stories and working at the shop since he’d led with his perhaps to add some colour to Al Jazeera shared all of those it always will be. conveyed its values. parents and eight siblings. The school at the their lives. We eventually reached experiences with those refugees. refugee camp didn’t have a place for him. the refugee camp hospital as it was Today, as Al Jazeera grows older, I look back I tried to record an interview with him, but he on the past 20 years and recall events that refused. I asked him about his working hours changed the world and stories that changed and daily wage and what he would like to be me. Two particular visits to refugee camps in the future. His answer was immediate. stay in my mind. “A teacher,” he said.

To meet those whose stories I reported Ibrahim didn’t realise that going to school in news bulletins every day, whose plight was the only way to achieve his dream. Or I would question representatives of maybe he did, but he just didn’t want to let international organisations and politicians go of his dream. about was powerful. But I wasn’t prepared for the scope of the misery I was going to On another day, we went to Al Zaatari witness in the refugee camps. refugee camp in northern Jordan. The names of its streets attracted my attention. It was a cold winter’s day when we travelled There was Freedom Street, Victory Street, in UN vehicles towards Al Baqa’a refugee Democracy Street, Jasmine Street, Zaitoun camp in Jordan. The aim of our visit was to Street – names intended to express the check on the situation of Syrian and non- dreams of a displaced people. Eighty- Syrian refugees who had led their war-torn thousand people live in this camp, our guide homelands. told us. Young men, women and children were in the streets, trying to sell as many of I saw a 13-year-old boy standing in a very their possessions as they could.

78 79 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera in China Ezzat Shahrour Bureau Chief - Beijing

“Al Jazeera has successfully managed to introduce China to Arab viewers in one week, China’. I tell Chinese media In the irst episode, Al Jazeera’s In June 2002, Al Jazeera opened while Arab-speaking Chinese media has failed to do so for 50 years,” said the then Chinese organisations: ‘Learn from Al Jazeera anchor Jamal Rayyan started the its bureau in Beijing, becoming foreign minister, Li Zhaoxing, while meeting with the then Director General of Al Jazeera, even if it is in Qatar’.” show from the Great Wall of China, the irst and only Arabic-speaking Waddah Khanfar, in 2006 at the oicial Guest Palace in the Chinese capital, Beijing. announcing: “This wall was built news channel broadcasting from The Chinese minister was referring by the ancient Chinese to prevent the country. It chose its bureau The minister wasn’t just being polite. His comment was based on fact and reports received to Al Jazeera’s week-long Eye on invaders’ attacks. Al Jazeera has staf carefully: selecting people who by China’s embassies in Arab capitals. China show; the irst in a series that now turned this wall into a cultural were luent in the language and would also go on to cover Sudan, bridge between two civilisations.” understood the Chinese culture. The minister continued: “Arabs have a proverb that says: ‘Pursue education even if in Turkey, Russia and Iran.

80 81 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera in China Mission steadfast Ezzat Shahrour

It marked a turning point in how the the alicted province, a Chinese oicial us at Al Jazeera” I hadn’t anticipated her Chinese authorities dealt with foreign media explained that Al Jazeera’s coverage had answer. “Really? I’d walk all the way to Doha organisations. Chinese oicials agreed to helped to raise awareness of the scale of the if I was given that opportunity,” she said. be interviewed live on Al Jazeera’s shows; disaster, resulting in a low of humanitarian something that was unprecedented on aid from Arab countries. When Al Jazeera’s Beijing bureau began its foreign and even local media channels. operations, it had just three employees. We Al Jazeera’s inluence in China expanded now have 20. We report China’s news to But journalism is a very diicult profession in even more following its coverage of the 2008 an Arab audience and developments in the China, and that is ampliied when you work Beijing Olympics, the 60th anniversary of the Arab world to the Chinese via Al Jazeera’s for a channel whose logo is “The Opinion… creation of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese-language social media pages. and the Other Opinion”. It is that sentiment and the SARS and H1N1 outbreaks. We will soon launch our Chinese-language that explains our exclusive coverage from website. Tibet shortly after the so-called “revolution Covering such a geographically vast country of the monks” in 2008 and of the unrest with such rich cultural heritage is not easy. Twenty years after its establishment, in the Muslim Uighur-majority Xinjiang But Al Jazeera managed to cross the Great Al Jazeera is recognised all over the world, province, where the authorities had imposed Wall of China and uncover new regions for and we, at the Beijing bureau, are proud to a complete information and media blackout. our viewers: becoming the irst Arab media be a part of this success. Enraged by our coverage, the Chinese organisation to go inside North Korea, foreign ministry summoned Al Jazeera’s presenting a view of that country that went correspondent on several occasions. beyond nuclear reactors and missiles, and entering Myanmar when so few others did. However, Al Jazeera’s coverage of the earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan I will never forget the South Korean province in 2008, killing more than 80,000 translator who greeted us at the airport with people, restored the good relationship such childish joy, declaring: “I couldn’t sleep between the channel and the Chinese all night. I called all my friends to tell them authorities. In a speech delivered before I would escort Al Jazeera’s team.” When I Arab ambassadors during their visit to jokingly replied: “Then come and work with

82 83 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Biscuits from little hands Fairouz Ziani Principal Presenter - Al Jazeera Arabic

Mahmoud stood to my right, Abdul Baset to my left and Fatima sat on my lap as her grandmother Fatima disappeared and then returned Mahmoud asked me: “Will you be That night, as I was reporting live from told stories of war and displacement, holding back her tears as she shared tales of their sufering. with some peanuts and a piece of back?” the hill, I looked at my watch and saw paper on which she had written that it was 11pm. The refugee camp Other children joined us - Sadan, Amina, Louay, Mohammed and Ahmed; the circle growing a message. Mahmoud brought a “In the evening, I will be on that hill was a light in the distance. I imagined bigger and bigger still. skipping rope and asked if I’d play with outside the camp, but it will be late. Mahmoud standing there looking at him. We jumped and laughed from the You’d be sleeping as it is a school the hill and the lights of the cameras. Mohammed held out his hand. I tried to decline the biscuit he ofered, made with love by his depths of our hearts. night,” I replied. I heard some voices. I heard his voice mother to pack into his school lunchbox, but he insisted that I take it. Other little hands followed, calling me. I didn’t know if it was real ofering their biscuits too. When it was time to say goodbye, “I’ll wait!” he said. or if I was just imagining it.

84 85 Vision forward looking The Arab Spring and the Spring of Documentary Films Mission steadfast Fairouz Ziani

Go to sleep my little baby… Tomorrow is a Before going on air, we would sit on the articulate sentences, she conveyed living, not the dead,” he told me. metres from where we stood, they told better day… pavement in front of a camp where hundreds of so much, without even mentioning the us. Go to sleep my little baby… Syria will be back refugees leeing the war in Syria had settled. bread and milk. As I walked among the gravestones, to as it was once… apologising to those buried beneath We decided to go live regardless, and Go to sleep my little baby… You are the future Um Mutaaz told us: “Yes, I’ll talk about how Then, when the camera’s light went for disturbing their peace, Turkish what was supposed to be a 10-minute and you are hope… diicult it is to go inside and outside this camp. of, she said: “Our homeland is more soldiers arrived and told us to leave. live broadcast ended up lasting for half I’ll talk about the shortage of basic needs – we important [than bread and milk] …. ISIL snipers were positioned only 50 an hour. Doha - October 17, 2015 don’t have bread, milk, lour and many other Syria is more important. Let the things.” whole world listen to the sufering of That was the message I wrote after returning the Syrians. Isn’t Al Jazeera the best from reporting on the Syria-Turkey border. I wanted to tell her: “But we need to focus platform for our voices?” It conveyed some of the feelings I couldn’t on…” but that phrase seemed so inappropriate express on screen, which was already considering the tragedy she was living. “How We left the refugee camp and overloaded with tragic tales of war and am I supposed to tell her what is more worthy continued our journey. With each new displacement. of being spoken about?” I wondered. “Aren’t day, came a new story. we here to be with Um Mutaaz? Isn’t one of our Every time I come back from ield coverage, I mottos ‘To be with people’?” On another day, we were heading ask myself the same question: “Have I covered towards the Jarabulus border crossing, all that is happening?” The answer is always So I hushed the voices inside me and decided which had been seized by the Islamic the same: “What screen, what coverage to listen to whatever Um Mutaaz wanted to tell State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). We and what report could cover all of what is the world. wanted to get as close to Jarabulus as happening?” How can I report what happened we could so our team went ahead to with Um Mutaaz before and after our live One… two… three… We are live. choose the best spot. broadcast, even though it is as important, maybe even more so, than what has been Without any introduction, Um Mutaaz began “Is this a cemetery?” I asked my covered on screen. to share her story, explaining how she had colleague as we arrived. led war and death and her yearning to return Here is the full story: to her home and neighbourhood. In perfectly “Don’t be afraid. Harm comes from the

86 87 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The Stream, creating ripples since 2011 Femi Oke Senior Presenter - The Stream / Al Jazeera english

It’s May 2011, and I’m in Brooklyn, New York watching something extraordinary on my laptop. This is raw, addictive, sensory- online. At a time when traditional where they read out tweets”. It wasn’t overload viewing, and for me and so media journalists were agonising a compliment. Critics were annoyed It’s hard to tell where my computer ends and the show begins. People appear on screen, lined many followers of @AJStream around over the ethics of broadcasting a that the new technology being up in little boxes, and they’re chatting to each other from around the world, connected to a the world, it is love at irst sight. single tweet, giving the social-media experimented with didn’t always studio in Washington, DC via a beta version of a Google Hangout. There’s a guest in the studio community access to an international work. My co-host Malika Bilal vividly sitting on a magniicent, retina-destroying orange sofa. Perched next to him is digital producer The concept was simple - create news network was revolutionary. remembers a time the show decided Ahmed Shihab-Eldin, balancing a laptop on his knee, monitoring live tweets and Facebook a space for netizens to discuss to try some open source technology comments from viewers. And trying to hold the whole thing together while suring on his own important news, current afairs and In the early years of The Stream, I’d and experiment with an alternative to computer, the host Derek Ashong. cultural issues on Al Jazeera TV and often hear it described as “that show Skype. It failed spectacularly on live

88 89 Vision forward looking The Stream, creating ripples since 2011 Mission steadfast Femi Oke

TV. Sometimes Skype connections were so dedicated an entire show to their questions bad that guests looked like they were being and followed up with two more episodes beamed up to the Star Trek Enterprise. Even on Ebola. Every single show from day one I, ardent Stream fan-girl, would roll my eyes was made because of, or with, our global every time somebody started to speak but audience. you couldn’t hear them because they had forgotten to unmute themselves. This was The original team created a digital doorway pretty much every show. for the millions of people who admire Al Jazeera and invited them to be part of the Frankly, there were executives at our Doha network, too. For me, a tweet, a Facebook headquarters who were not impressed with question or an Instagram picture represents a what they were seeing. The Stream was breaking down of the elite hierarchy that often creating live, unpredictable television and determines how and what news is delivered. online stories that looked like nothing else on We’re used to journalists telling us what’s the network, and they didn’t know what to going on in the world. The Stream community make of it. lips the script and makes Al Jazeera’s coverage stronger because of it. By 2013, when I joined the show, it had a solid fan base. I don’t think we would have We haven’t stopped experimenting either, thrived if the audience hadn’t embraced The and if you follow us online you’ll be in a Stream so passionately. We asked for stories, prime spot to watch the team try out new they shared them, and we told them. Before technology. Watch for links labeled “test” - the Occupy Wall Street movement became a then brace yourself. The Stream has been global phenomenon, the irst protesters came creating ripples since 2011, and we’re not to the show with their grievances. Months about to stop now. before the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was international news, viewers told The Stream about the deaths of friends and family. We

90 91 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Telling the Palestinian story Ghada Oueiss Principal Presenter - Al Jazeera Arabic

In early 2009, Al Jazeera sent me to the besieged Gaza Strip. Palestinians – from the very youngest But Al Jazeera has encouraged me not distinguish between civilians Israel’s war on the territory had just ended and I was among to the very oldest – are. to go where few others dare – to and military personnel. It is a region the irst to be allowed to enter. As soon as I passed the Rafah the people. And the truth doesn’t besieged and destroyed; where crossing, I immediately understood what people meant when How can a journalist cover the contradict impartiality. Palestinians cannot even catch the they referred to it as “a big prison”. developments that take place ish in their sea and where even olive in occupied Palestine and apply A single story is to be told here – trees have been targeted. As an Arab journalist, I was familiar with the Palestinian cause. the rules of balance and the “The a piece of land, one of the most But it was only then that I realised the full horrors of an occupier’s Opinion and the other Opinion”? At densely populated in the world, has A diferent approach must be war on civilians. It was only then that I understood how strong irst, I thought it would be diicult. been targeted by weapons that do adopted to tell this story – ‘just report

92 93 Vision forward looking Telling the Palestinian story Mission steadfast Ghada Oueiss

the truth and it will serve the oppressed’.

In the summer of 2014, Israel launched a new war against Gaza, preceded by a military campaign in the occupied West Bank. What Al Jazeera’s cameras managed to capture during that conlict was even more brutal than what had been inlicted upon the Strip in 2009.

How, I wondered, could the world stand by, watching those crimes being committed against civilians?

I knew then that I needed to interview Israeli oicials live on Al Jazeera. My interview with the Israeli government spokesperson Oir Gendelman inspired an article in the Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. It was seen as an unprecedented blow against Israeli propaganda.

Only then, did I realise the true power of the media – to expose an unbalanced war and its impact on an occupied people.

94 95 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Meeting the future Giles Trendle Acting Managing Director - Al Jazeera English

After years of reporting and ilmmaking in the Middle East, mainly moving across to Al Jazeera English are not addressed. of assaults on media freedom - for the British media, I joined Al Jazeera Arabic in 2004 with fresh when it launched in 2006. It has been whether intimidating, attacking, hope. a wonderful journey. Yet, I see that each of these kidnapping, imprisoning or killing challenges allows us to reairm our journalists. Al Jazeera promised something diferent: a chance to report on And as I look to the road ahead, two core principles, stand up for what we events and people in the Middle East from a diferent - and more great challenges loom large: One believe in and meet the future. Of course, journalists have often complete - perspective. is hugely worrying, and the other is been targeted in the past, but hugely exciting. Both are potentially One of the challenges is what there seems to be a growing I have now been with the Al Jazeera family for 12 of its 20 years - threatening, in diferent ways, if they appears to be an increasing number propensity for governments and

96 97 Vision forward looking Meeting the future Mission steadfast Giles Trendle

protagonists around the world to deliberately dubbed ‘innovative disruption’, whereby the will be the diferentiating factor in the content and the talent of our teams. Despite the dangers and the put journalists in their crosshairs. Being a media landscape is being shaken up by new market. These are our core products. These disruption, it is these that will help journalist who is dedicated to telling the truth technologies, new platforms, new players are our core strengths, which can ensure Al Jazeera stays ahead of the - factually, accurately and impartially - seems and new trends that are all challenging - even And in this respect, Al Jazeera has a help us navigate the lux and luidity game and will be around to celebrate to be an ever more perilous career path. threatening - established market leaders. strong advantage in the quality of our of the media landscape. for many more decades to come.

Perhaps the world is more dangerous, or Some consider the scale of disruption facing perhaps journalism has lost its sheen of the TV news industry as comparable to what independence in the eyes of some. Whatever printed newspapers experienced over the the reason, any assault on media freedom is last decade or to the challenge faced by the an assault on freedom of expression. music industry when the online sharing of audio iles took of. I believe it’s a challenge Over the years, Al Jazeera has had bitter that is nothing short of existential. experiences in this regard – having seen some of its journalists killed, and others Al Jazeera has proven that it can beat arrested, sentenced and imprisoned without the best, winning international awards for charge. outstanding digital content and technological innovation. But the market never rests and And I feel proud that Al Jazeera is at the just as quickly as change occurs, so more leading edge of seeking ways to defend change is expected to come. It’s fast, exciting media freedom, most recently through its and requires news media organisations to publication of the International Declaration on be agile, adaptive and to work diligently to the Protection of Journalists in collaboration get and stay up to speed with the changing with the International Press Institute. times.

The other challenge is very diferent. It Although many talk of technological relates to the digital revolution sweeping the advancements, I believe it is creativity that will news industry and creating what has been be critical. Creativity, more than technology,

98 99 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

A kidnapped correspondent Hamdi Albokari Correspondent in Yemen - Al Jazeera Arabic

A group of masked armed men stopped our car, pointed their weapons at us and said: “Get who were working with Al Jazeera - said could locate the targets and make any move, we will blow up the out of the car, now.” cameraman Abdul Aziz al-Sabri and locations of air strikes. Of course, I room,” they told me. driver Munir Sadeq. It was January had no such thing. “What do you want?” I asked. “You must be mistaken. I’m 18, 2015, and we were in the Yemeni They came back later, took me to a Al Jazeera’s correspondent Hamdi al-Bakari.” city of Taiz. An hour later, they took me alone house and chained my feet. I stayed to a remote room away from the looked up in that room for 11 days. I They answered with their guns pointed at our heads: “Shut up and don’t say a word.” They took our mobile phones and house where they had kept us. The later learned that my two colleagues violently searched us. They told me room was so small it could barely had been held in other rooms in the They blindfolded us, led us to their car and took of. I was with two independent contractors to hand over an electronic chip they accommodate one person. “If you house.

100 101 Vision forward looking A kidnapped correspondent Mission steadfast Hamdi Albokari

Those were diicult times, during which I the national dialogue in Sanaa and examined ethics of this profession. believed I was going to die at any moment. the atmosphere among Yemenis as they The hardest part to endure was the mock hoped for an end to the crisis. But war soon To me, Al Jazeera is not only a media executions they conducted. erupted in Dammaj in Saada province and organisation that makes you a professional other neighbouring districts. I went to cover journalist, but a school where you learn the I can’t think of a worse situation than being the war in west Saada, near the borders with values of courage and sacriice in order to kidnapped. It afects not only you, but your Saudi Arabia, then in Amran, until the Houthis report the truth to the people. I was satisied family, friends and colleagues. reached Sanaa. with the professional duties I had so far carried out. As I awaited death, I remembered key In the beginning of 2015, I moved to Maareb moments in my professional journey with and then covered the war in Aden. I returned Our kidnappers released us on January 28, Al Jazeera. I stored them in my mind, to Taiz as the war escalated and started to 2015. I was surprised by the scale of local, believing I would never get a chance to write take on regional and international dimensions. Arab and international solidarity and the role them down. But, here I am, putting those played by Al Jazeera’s administration and memories in writing. It was a diicult journalistic experience during staf to save us. It made me feel proud to be which I - and our brave cameramen Mujib a part of such an organisation. I joined Al Jazeera in late 2006 as a news Sweileh, Samir al-Nimri, Amin Rushdi, Khaled and interview producer in Yemen. I became Rajeh and other independent contractors - Today, as I write this article in a correspondent in 2010. I covered the daily came close to death several times. commemoration of the 20th anniversary of news of the revolution in Taiz in 2011. In Al Jazeera, I would like to express my 2013, I covered the activities of the Southern But this time it was diferent. I had been solidarity with every imprisoned journalist. I Movement, or the al-Hirak al-Janoubi, in kidnapped and was being psychologically would also like to take my hat of to all our Aden, the government war on al-Qaeda in tortured. I believed I was going to die soon. colleagues who are bravely covering the Abyan and Shabwa provinces, along with news in conlict zones. Courage, challenging other security and political activities in the Let it be, I thought, I have no regrets. During our fears and focusing on humanitarian cases country. my 10 years with Al Jazeera, I had been are the core values of journalists who serve completely satisied with my work, knowing people and help them gain their right to a In 2014, we covered the developments of that I had always been committed to the decent life.

102 103 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Journalism’s ‘martyrs’ Hanan Ali Al Thani Head of Central Archive News/Programmes - Al Jazeera Arabic

Since its launch, Al Jazeera has played a leading role in Arab and international media, raising One of those ‘martyrs’ was Ali Hassan of Libya’s national hero, Omar al- Several of its employees have awareness and enhancing people’s understanding of their rights and freedoms. Al Jaber, a cameraman who had Mokhtar. sacriiced their lives for the sake of covered the war in Afghanistan and reporting the truth. Al Jaber was not It also played a signiicant role in the Arab Spring, relecting the reality of the revolutions in Arab been in Iraq and Kuwait during the Gulf I didn’t know Al Jaber personally, but I the irst. Tareq Ayoub was killed in a nations. Al Jazeera’s reporters and cameramen have made sacriices to achieve this mission. War in 1990. He joined Al Jazeera’s was deeply afected by his death. He 2003 US air strike targeting Some have been killed while carrying out their journalistic duties. They didn’t carry weapons, but team covering the revolution in Libya, represents a perfect example of the Al Jazeera’s Baghdad bureau. cameras and microphones. Still, they were killed by despotic regimes that had also killed their using his camera to convey the truth sacriices Al Jazeera has made since own people. of what was unfolding there. The last its launch in 1996. During the Arab Spring, others were pictures he took were of the tomb killed in revolutionary squares as they

104 105 Vision forward looking Journalism’s ‘martyrs’ Mission steadfast Hanan Ali Al Thani

tried to report on the attempts to gain freedom Al Jazeera’s Arabic website. He was killed and justice taking place there. while covering the battles between the Syrian government and armed opposition in the city of We cannot forget the Syrian media activist al-Sheikh Maskin in Deraa. Mohammad al-Masalma. He revolted against the Syrian regime, medically assisted We also remember Al Jazeera’s cameraman the injured and reported, as Al Jazeera’s Mohammad al-Asfar, who was killed by a correspondent, on the Syrian revolution and Syrian government sniper, and Zakaria Ibrahim, the sufering of the Syrian people. who had iled several ield reports focusing on the situation of besieged and displaced The moment of al-Masalma’s death was Syrians. captured on camera. None of those who saw that video will forget it. He held his microphone We often watch scenes of conlict on in his hand and tried to cross the street but was Al Jazeera, both at home and at work. We shot dead by a sniper. It was an indescribable are afected by the things we see but often and unforgettable scene. forget that those responsible for letting us see them are journalists and cameramen who Also in Syria, media activist Mohammad al- endure great hardships to bring us the truth, Qasem escorted the Free Syrian Army and sometimes being detained and physically and provided humanitarian relief to displaced psychologically abused in the process. That is Syrians until he, too, was shot dead while why we must promote and support legislation covering the events in that country. to protect them and push governments around the world to respect the freedom of the media Syrian journalist Mahran al-Deeri had worked so that journalists might report the truth without for the Syrian oicial news agency, SANA, until fear of being targeted. he decided to stop reporting the government’s false news. He believed in a free media and May the souls of all our ‘martyrs’ rest in peace. started working as a correspondent for

106 107 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

“Are you Al Jazeera?” Hasan Zidane Executive Producer of Promotions Network Creative Directorate

It is diicult to sum up 19 years of my life and work at Al Jazeera I would ind myself surrounded by his invention and the documents many dreams. in just a few lines. people who wanted to discuss their he had proving that it was his but own, often desperate, plight. “Are which he’d never been able to ile Those dreamers believed that As the head of the promos department, I have travelled to you Al Jazeera?” they would ask to the responsible authorities, and Al Jazeera could open doors for diferent Arab countries in order to shoot promos in the ield. wherever I went. People trusted us a researcher wanted to ask why them. It might have honesty, integrity I remember going to Egypt in 2006, on Al Jazeera’s 10th and they wanted to talk. the results of his studies had been and determination, but it doesn’t anniversary. It was my irst time there, and the only thing I had ignored. have the keys. in common with many of those I met was Al Jazeera: everybody An intellectual wanted to debate, wanted to discuss it with me, whether to praise or criticise. an inventor wanted to show us There were so many stories and so I remember one old woman most

108 109 Vision forward looking “Are you Al Jazeera?” Mission steadfast Hasan Zidane

clearly. We were ilming an interview, when I thought it would be a golden chance I felt a hesitant tap on my shoulder. I turned to shoot an interview with her, but our around and saw her, smiling broadly, with cameraman was busy ilming with a couple of fresh, hot loafs of bread in her somebody else. I asked her to wait until we hands. were inished with that interview so that we could speak with her and ofered her a chair “Yes, can I help you?” I asked. on which to sit while waiting.

“Are you Al Jazeera?” she responded. I rushed the other interview so that I could speak to her. But when I turned around, I “Yes, how can we help?” found her seat empty. Then I spotted her at the end of the road, holding a young man’s “I want to speak on Al Jazeera.” hand and getting onto a bus. She was still smiling. I smiled and asked: “What do you want to say?” I lost some great promo material, but I won a memory that would stay with me forever. She took a bite of the fresh bread in her hand and said: “Al Jazeera is fresh … just like this hot bread.”

And there it was: a perfect promo. In just a few simple words, she had conveyed what hours of brainstorming couldn’t.

She didn’t ask for help. She didn’t want to complain about anything. She just wanted to talk about Al Jazeera.

110 111 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Refusing to be silenced Ibrahim Nassar Manager of Teleport Technology & Network Operations Division

On a daily basis, I am reminded of the woes of the Palestinian Al Jazeera always strives to be the own stories being told on Al Jazeera. oblivious to the crime that was being people in the Gaza Strip – of their hardships and the challenges voice of the voiceless, and during committed against them. of living within the conines of an illegally blockaded tiny strip of the war on Gaza it was no diferent. This jamming technology, called land. But while we were reporting on geo-blocking, efectively stopped Of course, Al Jazeera has every detail of that war, we learned the Gaza Strip from being able to encountered attempts at censorship The war on Gaza was a humanitarian crisis of huge proportions. that Al Jazeera’s signals were receive Al Jazeera signals. Without before, whether politically or There was a shortage of food, water and medical supplies, but being blocked, using jamming being able to watch our reports on commercially driven. But it is there was never a shortage of hope. technologies, so that those inside their plight, the people of Gaza felt something Al Jazeera cannot accept. the Gaza Strip could not see their alone and as though the world was

112 113 Vision forward looking Refusing to be silenced Mission steadfast Ibrahim Nassar

In line with the values of Al Jazeera, and unshaken by the eforts to block our journalism, I, in coordination with the Al Jazeera Technology Team, launched an initiative to allow the people of Gaza to access Al Jazeera. The result was the Al Jazeera FM Radio project.

By utilising FM radio, the people of Gaza were once again be able to hear the news – and to know that they are not alone, that their stories are being told.

The launch of the Al Jazeera FM Radio project was born out of our conviction that everyone has the right to receive unbiased news and to hear both sides of the story, as well as our determination to stand irm when confronted by those who wish to silence us.

114 115 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera: recognising the power of story-telling to shape diferent versions of the world. Ingrid Falck Manager of Programmes Documentaries / Al Jazeera English

It was my father, a man with strong principles of social justice, who irst introduced me to commentary track locates the power and authority in the story through is visually dominant? Is the character the old African proverb: “Until lions have their story-tellers, tales of hunting will always glorify of the story with the narrator rather some thoughtless editing, framing objectiied or empowered through the hunter.” Fast forward three decades or so and I am working for Witness, Al Jazeera than the main character. and shot selection. All of these the imagery? What is the overall English’s lagship documentary strand, and I’m talking to a ilmmaker about his rough cut. issues are relatively easy to repair messaging of the piece? It’s a documentary about an impressive Kenyan botanist and his discovery of a grass seed We discuss how to redress this and by interrogating each scene, asking: that could potentially hold the secret to food security in Kenya - but the irst edit of the move on to the visual messaging Whose story is this? Where is the In the end, the re-edited ilm ilm is a disappointment. We work through the ilm and I point out how the ilmmaker has, of the piece. Again unintentionally, power-base of the story? Who owns does ine justice to the Kenyan unintentionally, undermined the authority of his main character. He’s done this by constantly the ilmmaker has reduced the this scene? Is the character a victim protagonist and brings an engaging talking about him, instead of letting the Kenyan tell his own story, and the dominant main character’s visual centrality or an agent in their own story? Who story of innovation and expertise

116 117 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera: recognising the power of story-telling to shape diferent versions of the world. Mission steadfast Ingrid Falck

from the global south to our audiences. But diferently. For us at Al Jazeera, it’s not it reminds me of that old idiom from my enough to think about what stories to cover: youth. And it reminds me still, every day, of we also question how they are told. I’ve my responsibility at Al Jazeera: To position worked for some 28 years in international authoritative, empowered and active story- television and nowhere else has this been tellers, from communities which are usually such a central part of the general discourse excluded from the media, centrally within around output. This is what I love most their own stories. about working at Al Jazeera and to my mind this is what puts Al Jazeera way ahead of its When Al Jazeera says it gives ‘voice to competitors. the voiceless’ and presents ‘the human story’, it speaks to a long-held passion Whether it’s Kenyan botanists, Syrian of mine. I am delighted to have these refugees, Chinese villagers or Cuban kinds of conversations with hundreds of comedians, when these people have real ilmmakers, to steer our documentaries ownership of the global airwaves to tell away from the old-fashioned ‘us and them’ us their stories in their own words, they style that dominates in many other media challenge the very way we understand the organisations. world. I believe that, despite the actions of politicians and warlords around the globe, While we seek a range of perspectives it is the stories we tell that ultimately shift and presenters, I am drawn to story-telling perceptions and that allow other versions of that challenges dominant narratives, that the world to be imagined and even achieved. elevates disempowered voices and that eschews the prevailing, often Western, I am very proud to have played a small part perspectives. It ills me with pride to be in Al Jazeera’s history of bringing new stories part of a global media network that actively and story-tellers to our screens, giving the encourages this, questioning assumptions ‘lions’ of the world some of the glory for a and leading the way in looking at the world change.

118 119 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Just 20 years Jaafar Abbas Advisor - Chairman’s Oice

Every time someone talks about Al Jazeera’s 20th anniversary, about bombing Al Jazeera’s Doha sometimes several times a day, As our launch date approached, I get confused – it feels more like 120 years. For the network’s headquarters in order to silence it, between Al Jazeera’s administrative journalists began to arrive and pioneers, it is hard to believe that so much history has been even if just for a few days, during the and HR building and its main piloting sessions commenced. made in just 20 years. US invasion of Iraq. Then there is headquarters. We would work 12 We were all well aware of the that logo – now recognised all over hours a day. It wasn’t compulsory; huge responsibility that fell on There has been one exclusive news story after another; the world. we willingly worked such long hours our shoulders and of the need to employees killed, arrested and harassed; bureaus targeted in order to build this signiicant produce our very best. I still recall and shelled; talks between the former US president, George I remember how, before launch, I media symbol in the heart of the Al Jazeera’s Chairman of the Board W. Bush, and the former British prime minister, Tony Blair, would run back and forth every day, Qatari capital, Doha. working hard every day with his key

120 121 Vision forward looking Just 20 years Mission steadfast Jaafar Abbas

advisers, ensuring that any administrative A number of Arab states accused Al Jazeera and inancial support that might be needed of collaborating with Mossad, British was available, at any time, to solve any intelligence or the CIA. Those who were problem. irritated or enraged by Al Jazeera sought to produce their own ‘antidote’, launching That launch team was professionally and competing satellite channels. socially integrated. On any day, they might prepare pilot news bulletins, produce One of my best memories is of how documentary ilms and create talk shows, Al Jazeera itself turned into a news story suggesting topics, discussion points and as Western channels reported on what interviewees. Then, in the evening, they they called the ‘Al Jazeera phenomenon’. might all gather at a colleague’s home or CNN even embedded a journalist within our head together towards Doha’s seaside Qalaa newsroom. cofee shop. Soon, a visit to Al Jazeera’s Doha Everyone agreed on one basic idea: the headquarters featured on the agenda of channel would be a platform for “The almost every high-proile foreign oicial Opinion … and the Other Opinion”. visiting the state – not because it was oicial protocol, but out of personal interest. One The logo was initially suggested by the of the most memorable was that by then anchor Jamil Azar, while news anchor Jamal Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, who Rayyan announced the birth of the channel, declared: “This matchbox! All this noise is reading its very irst live news bulletin. coming out of this matchbox?”

The channel presented balanced news His words were an airmation of exactly bulletins and interviewed controversial what it was that made Al Jazeera great – not igures who had been “politically blacklisted” its oices or studios, but its determination to in various countries. shine a light on the world.

122 123 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Living up to its motto Jamil Azar Principal Presenter - Al Jazeera Arabic

When Al Jazeera’s general manager asked me to come up with be – a challenge to media controlled And its inluence on Arab public committed to the motto we chose a motto for the new channel, I consulted members of the board by ruling regimes and an articulation opinion has even been observed all those years ago. It strives for the and then wrote three suggestions down on a small piece of of courage and impartiality. by non-Arabic international media truth and delivers it to its viewers, paper. I still have it today. It reads: Uncensored, The Opinion organisations. In its April 26, 2004 it reports the news objectively and and the Other Opinion and Professionalism, Objectivity and Through this motto, Al Jazeera has edition, Time magazine listed it focuses on people. In so doing, Pioneering. managed to enforce a culture of Al Jazeera as one of the world’s 100 it has gained the conidence of its dialogue and freedom of expression. most inluential people. audience and become a number one Two days later, I decided to submit only the second option. It It has become the channel of ‘The choice for those looking for truthful seemed to perfectly sum up what this new channel aspired to Opinion and the Other Opinion’. Al Jazeera has proven itself to be information about developments in

124 125 Vision forward looking Living up to its motto Mission steadfast Jamil Azar

Arab countries and, indeed, the rest of the ruled by the standards of free journalism. world. Still, in every step we take, we face As we celebrate Al Jazeera’s anniversary, challenges. But for millions of people, we must remember that this is not simply Al Jazeera is the means through which they a tradition as it might be for many other can express their ambitions in a world that is international organisations. The emergence constantly changing, sometimes threatening of Al Jazeera was not just the beginning their very survival. It is a big mission and of an organisation; it was the start of a the goal is noble. But we have shown that phenomenon, the likes of which will probably achieving it is possible. never again happen in the world of Arab, or even international, media. Al Jazeera had a direct and active role in changing the media landscape.

Why has Al Jazeera been distinguished TIME Magazine - Special edition from other media channels since it was 26 of April 2004. P.62 established? Why does it preoccupy decision makers in Arab countries and the rest of the world? It isn’t by chance. The very idea to establish Al Jazeera came from an analysis of the poor state of existing media in the Arab world and a far-sighted vision to change it. But translating this idea into a tangible reality could not be achieved through improvisation. Extensive consultations led to the creation of editorial guidelines that demanded the channel be

126 127 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The long road from Afghanistan Kamal Hyder Correspondent in Islamabad - Al Jazeera English

It was summer 2005 when a friend told me that Al Jazeera was of Kandahar, Afghanistan for CNN intensiied, the Taliban decided to launching a new English channel and asked if I’d be willing to and Al Jazeera was in the same Would I be willing to be part of leave. Early one evening, Mullah work for it. It’s a controversial network, he warned me with a compound. So I knew what it was such a network? My answer was an Omar’s special assistant, Tayyab smile. that made Al Jazeera controversial: overwhelming yes. Agha, came to our compound to tell Its bold, unadulterated search for the me it would be prudent for my team What he didn’t know was that I’d already spent time with truth. It went directly to the victims My journey from Afghanistan to and me to do the same. Al Jazeera Arabic journalists. to tell their story, showing the world Al Jazeera had been long. the agony of ordinary people paying I gathered the essentials I’d need During the winter of 2001, I was covering the bombardment the ultimate price of war. As the bombardment of Kandahar for the journey, leaving behind

128 129 Vision forward looking The long road from Afghanistan Mission steadfast Kamal Hyder

everything else I had collected over the six man team – myself and Saleem Shahzad – in Of course, as others led, we looked In 2010, just a year after people reporters to locations across the years I’d spent in the country. I knew the Pakistan, we knew we had our work cut out for ways to get in. When we entered returned to Swat, heavy rains country. journey back to Pakistan would be perilous, for us. Swat, we found the valley deserted. turned the rivers of the Hindu Kush For the past 10 years, Pakistan has and that I would never see some of my The streets were empty; the mountains into raging torrents. been in the eye of the storm. And the friends again. Pakistan was feeling the blowback of the orchards were full of fruit, but there Buildings were washed away and years ahead are likely to be just as Afghan war with suicide bombings and was nobody left to pluck it. people displaced. Almost 20 million critical. I told myself that if I made it back safely, I attacks on hotels, mosques and even were afected. would take a break from journalism to grow funerals. The country’s tribal areas were Al Jazeera was the only channel Ten years may seem a long time for olives and oranges on my farm. I would try being struck by US drones and other aircraft, inside. The world relied on us for a Recognising the scale of the an individual, but for this network, it to forget the things I had seen – the rows of as many places became no-go zones where view of what had taken place there. catastrophe, Al Jazeera sent is just the beginning. children lined up ready for burial, victims of ordinary people seldom ventured. bombs dropped by ighter jets. Al Jazeera was gaining respect for its After a couple of years on the farm, tucked balanced reporting. It wasn’t viewed as away in the Himalayan foothills, it was another foreign channel with a narrow time to go back into the ield. A massive agenda, but as one willing to look at every earthquake had struck northern Pakistan angle of the story. and Kashmir, killing tens of thousands of people. The stories we reported on were often our own. As a conlict brewed in the Swat Valley, The following year, I lew to Doha to meet the military ordered civilians to leave the the team that was setting up Al Jazeera area. An exodus of almost 2.5 million people English. In this talented group of people, ensued. Many members of Al Jazeera’s there were no biases; national borders and team in Islamabad, including our producer religious diferences meant nothing here. Hameedullah Khan, came from Swat. His family was lucky to have escaped unharmed, After months of training, we inally went on but the family home was demolished by the air on November 15, 2006. With just a two- retreating Pakistani Taliban.

130 131 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The art of knowing a little about a lot Kelly Jarrett Executive Producer of News Output Department / Al Jazeera English

The day begins with cofee, a green smoothie and the between English, Arabic, French and bulletin. is activated, local channels are headlines; international leaders attend crisis meetings, a natural occasionally Spanish to make their downlinked and a correspondent is disaster, an important election, a space discovery. On the points. I intervene, and we settle on It’s going to be a long day. called to go live. We’re the irst to journey into work, I think of ways we could tell those stories and a guest segment. break the story. ways other networks might tell them. How can we best help our A conversation with the news editor audience understand and engage with the news of the day? It’s almost the top of the hour, so about how to plan for an opposition Then, just as heart rates in the attention turns to the screen. It’s protest despite a government newsroom begin to normalise, one At the oice, I walk straight into a heated debate about a time to rally a weary overnight crackdown is cut short by an of the agencies cuts to a live news story we should cover - two impassioned people switching team to persevere through their last explosion. The breaking news ticker conference by a military leader.

132 133 Vision forward looking The art of knowing a little about a lot Mission steadfast Kelly Jarrett

“Does anyone speak the general’s language?” I ask. An archivist and a media manager reply. One is whisked away to a sound booth to begin simultaneous interpretation.

The general announces a coup.

More cofee arrives, which means it’s time for our morning editorial meeting; two breaking news stories, international leaders at a crisis meeting, the aftermath of a natural disaster, important elections inspiring a generation, a new discovery in space, opposition protests despite a government crackdown, a high court ruling in a controversial case and an important football game.

134 135 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

I remember … Khalid Albaih Sudanese Cartoonist

It is November 1996, and I am full of teenage fury. My father has I remember my father being thrilled Nasser’s Voice of the Arabs (Sawat I remember how, before Al Jazeera, seized the remote control for the only television in our home in at the idea of an all-news, Arab- al-Arab) radio service. It was the irst my father rarely watched the 9 Doha, Qatar, and is searching for the new satellite channel that made channel. For my father, it radio channel to broadcast across o’clock news, and when he did, it has started airing from the same city. He is excited because ofered a glimmer of optimism; a the Arab world, speaking out against was mostly for the comedy value. many of his journalist friends who were facing persecution in reminder of the dreams of pan- imperialism and in defence of He’d laugh at the poor quality of Sudan have joined forces with others from across the Arab Arabism on which he, like so many Palestine. In 1954, it had declared: the propaganda; the stories about a world to bring this new channel into being. I’m angry because others across the region, had been “The Voice of the Arabs speaks for “great leader’s” achievements here it has ruined my chances of ever watching Seinfeld in peace raised. He had grown up listening the Arabs, struggles for them and or there, whether opening a water again. to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel expresses their unity.” tanker or delivering a rousing speech

136 137 Vision forward looking I remember … Mission steadfast Khalid Albaih

to “the party’s” followers (looking back, I “Jeeb Al Jazeera [switch to Al Jazeera],” suspect that those times spent watching people were shouting. alongside him provided the initial inspiration for my career as a cartoonist). In fact, my I think, from that moment on, Al Jazeera father rarely watched any Arab television became the most watched news outlet in the channels, unless there was an Adel Imam region. We had a voice: a voice that asked movie on. questions and started debates, a voice that had for so long been silent. I remember in 1997, my whole family travelled to Sudan for a summer vacation. Al Jazeera is a part of my life, as it has been One of the irst things I noticed was how a part of every Arab’s life for the past 20 everyone – in barbershops, restaurants, years – whether you agree or disagree with ++ = Revolution social clubs and private homes – was it, which is, after all, the whole point. watching Al Jazeera. They knew each of the presenters by name and the airing I remember the Bin Laden tapes. I remember times of each of the shows. It showed them the footage of Baghdad being bombed at the shared struggles of those living in the night. I remember Sami al-Hajj, Tayseer region and gave a voice to the possibility Aloni, Tareq Ayyoub. I remember …. for change. My father and, I believe, many others in the Arab world, had suddenly stopped laughing at the news.

I remember being in the common room of my university dorm in the UAE on September 11, 2001, as the second plane crashed into the World Trade Centre in New York. Khalid Albaih

138 139 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Scenes from Baghdad M’hamed Krichen Principal Presenter - Al Jazeera Arabic

I have visited Baghdad six times; twice as a student and four times as a presenter for Al Jazeera. At the end of each visit, I left Iraq with accompanied by Iraqi director Imad who passed away at an early age. more mental images than could ever Bahjat and Yemeni cameraman During my irst two visits, towards the end of the 1970s, Iraq was a glorious country experiencing have been conveyed on a TV screen, Mansour al-Ibi. We were there to I still remember the sufering of the prosperity and power. But in each of my professional visits, I found a country that had which is, after all, unable to capture record episodes of Al Jazeera’s A Iraqi people at that time and the fact deteriorated since I’d seen it last. The irst of those four visits was during the late 1990s, as Iraq the feelings of a presenter. Guest and a Cause programme and that, despite their hardships, their sufered under an international embargo; the second came the day before the 2003 US invasion; interviewed prominent Iraqis, including pride and generosity remained. the third lasted for two months; and the fourth was to mark the irst anniversary of the invasion, During the irst visit, during the physician and artist Alaa Bashir, poet which also coincided with the so-called war on Fallujah. late 1990s, as Iraq endured an and playwright Yousef al-Sayegh, and Qatari director Farid al-Jabiri and international embargo, I was Moayyad Ne’ma, a great cartoonist Moroccan producer Abdul Salam Abu

140 141 Vision forward looking Scenes from Baghdad Mission steadfast M’hamed Krichen

Malek joined me on my second visit in 2003. Masqouf dish if it is going to cost us our lives,” the residence of our friend Hamad al- Mansour and Abdul Qader Ayyad, During that visit, I cemented my We were there to present a special episode of I told them. “How can we stay in Baghdad Khalifa, the head of the oicial Qatari headed to Iraq to cover the irst reputation for cowardice, refusing to Today’s Cause, observing the atmosphere in when even the diplomats and UN inspectors delegation to Bagdad who had kindly anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. leave the building for the 24 days of Iraq as it anticipated what seemed to be an have left?” let us stay at his deserted house. our stay. “Do you think you will be safe inevitable military strike. When we arrived in Eventually, that house turned into our Each morning at breakfast, we would by staying inside and not going out Baghdad, we found a city in a state of deep We returned to Doha. One day later, the US studio. argue about how many shells had onto the street?” one of my colleagues sadness. At the airport, we ran into the well- war on Iraq began. fallen the night before. Every night was asked me. I knew very well that I known British journalist Robert Fisk, who The fourth and last visit was in April spent in absolute darkness due to the wasn’t safe, even inside, but I just joked that only journalists head towards those The third visit was the longest and the most 2004. A team, led by Samir Khader power cuts in the building that hosted couldn’t bring myself to step out. places from which others are leeing. Little did efective. For two months, we aired a daily and including presenters Ahmed our oice and our rooms. he know that I wasn’t one of those journalists. political programme, the irst of its kind in the I was only there to present a programme. history of Al Jazeera, entitled Iraq: After the War. Every day, we would tackle a diferent When Al Jazeera’s then director-general, aspect of life under occupation. Every Muhammed Jassim al-Ali, asked me to stay day, I would meet with Abdul Salam Abu in Baghdad to cover the imminent war, I told Malek, Farid al-Jabiri and our amazing Iraqi him I was “too much of a coward” to do colleague, Tareq al-Yaqoubi, who worked as so. He tried to persuade me. “All the ‘guys’ our interview producer even though he is, in are with you. Maher Abdullah, Majed Abdul fact, a highly talented picture editor. We would Hadi, Mohammed al-Abdullah and all of select our topic and then start ilming while the Baghdad bureau staf.” But he couldn’t simultaneously looking for guests. convince me and neither could my colleagues Farid and Abdul Salam. They were both We were lucky to have an amazing Iraqi driver hoping that after work, we could go to a who knew every corner of Baghdad. Thafer riverside restaurant to eat the famous Iraqi ish would ind the houses of our suggested guests dish Masqouf. I was just hoping to get straight and then drive them to the studio and back into a car heading towards Syria and then again – all before the start of the curfew. He take my light back to Doha. “To hell with this would then return to the studio to drive us to

142 143 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

A matter of inspiration Mohamed Abuagla Executive Director – Technology & Operations Division

Inspiration is undeniably the greatest force that can transform I have considered myself a part of For a youngster growing up in the safe, the governments of the region our lives. It opens the doors of freedom, innovation and Al Jazeera since its inception on Middle East, TV stations were part practiced the ultimate in safety. creativity. It is the nucleus of change and positive thinking. November 1, 1996, although I have of how the government controlled only oicially been working within it its citizens. They ofered only one I witnessed, as did millions of others, Throughout history, few entities have managed to inspire since mid-2013. Since its launch, point of view and covered every the transformative inluence of masses of people in the same manner as Al Jazeera. Many Al Jazeera’s message, style, courage movement of their country’s ruler Al Jazeera on almost every element outside of it have written about its inspirational force and a large and coverage has intrigued and and his crew. Nowhere were any of society. Its energy touched number of studies and papers have discussed its success and captivated. voices of opposition allowed, let the upper echelons of power and inluence. alone appreciated. If silence is inspired the oppressed to ask the

144 145 Vision forward looking A matter of inspiration Mission steadfast Mohamed Abuagla

questions that had long been taboo. As I worked with the team to commence continuing to inspire people over the next wave of digital media Compared to 20 years ago, the digital transformation of the network, the next 20. We have already started transformation. If you thought the Al Jazeera is big. Compared to 20 The gravitational force of such energy is I challenged my team to think even more working with other technology last 20 years were impressive, what years from now, we’re still a baby. almost irresistible and in my case absolutely outside the box when it comes to providing giants to jointly plan and develop is to come will wow you. desirable. But I remained an outside member the best technical and operational solutions technologies and solutions for of the team until fate brought me through to ensure not only the success of Al Jazeera’s doors in mid-2013. Al Jazeera’s mission but the ability to grow the mission into new and uncharted Shortly after becoming a part of the network, territories. I challenged my team to accept I started to realise that the secret behind greater responsibilities and invest more time the massive success of Al Jazeera is simply and efort in improving the technological its people. The team is inspired by the and operational landscape within the mission of the organisation. Working under network. I further challenged them to step tight deadlines, in tough conditions and outside their comfort zones, to question the making personal sacriices are part of daily industry status quo and to challenge the business operations. Every member of the industry to deliver at the level of Al Jazeera’s team realises that their role is critical to the expectations. success of the network’s mission. Driven by a sense of mission, the team Personally, I felt that my biggest challenge rallied behind the digital transformation was to belong to a group of such driven initiatives, rose to the challenges and and mission oriented people. The questions realised that they needed to transform in my mind were not about my abilities in themselves irst in order to successfully a professional sense, but in a human one. transform the workplace and, ultimately, the Would I be able to feel the same sense of mission of Al Jazeera. mission? Display the same courage? Step up to make the sacriices when needed? As we complete our irst 20 years, we look forward to leading the media industry and

146 147 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Africa’s ‘own Al Jazeera’ - at last Mohammed Adow Senior Correspondent - Al Jazeera English

“Africa needs its own Al Jazeera.” with the story already written. The It is a narrative abhorred by Africans, African story would continue to frame is the same; only the names who have called incessantly for be distorted until the continent I’ve heard this said many times, but it’s more than a mere and dates change. The plot lines are more positive stories, such as how developed its own media resources phrase. It’s a statement that carries great meaning for the cast in stone: tribal enmities, horriic quickly the continent has embraced – ones strong enough to be people of the continent; people who are tired of seeing their bloodletting, egregious corruption, technology and connectivity, to be heard above the clamour of the nations portrayed as impoverished, corrupt and helpless by comical ruling dynasties. told. international media. Western media. For them, in short, Africa is a But such pleas had fallen on deaf “Africa’s own Al Jazeera,” they The world, many Africans believe, comes to report on Africa continent of unending horrors. ears, convincing many that the called it.

148 149 Vision forward looking Africa’s ‘own Al Jazeera’ - at last Mission steadfast Mohammed Adow

Proponents argued that the continent not language channel. only needed an outlet that told real African stories, but one that would eventually Anyone watching its inaugural hour would become a catalyst for political and economic have immediately understood that this change. channel was going to lean heavily towards Africa. There was a reporter live in the Darfur What they wanted was what Al Jazeera region of Sudan, covering a conlict that was Arabic had done for the people of the Middle being largely ignored by others. There was a East when, in the late 1990s, it became dispatch from Zimbabwe, which had hitherto a voice for those who had never heard of been closed to journalists. Then there was a free media and who lived, like so many Mogadishu, Somalia’s lawless capital, as it Africans, under governments unaccustomed came under the control of the Islamic Courts to scrutiny. With its courageous Arab Union. journalists, it had inspired a new sense of pride among the Arab public. With bureaus in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Abuja and Abidjan, the network eschewed But huge obstacles stood in the way the ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ parachute of the establishment of a pan-African journalism of other outlets. broadcaster. For one, there would be no shortage of governments willing to harass For the past 10 years, its teams of dedicated such a network to its demise. And if it were African journalists have told the African to be truly continent-wide, it would have story. And the love with which the channel to navigate a number of complex issues, has been received by the people of Africa, such as language, distribution, funding and who form its largest audience, says it all – regulation. Al Jazeera may not be exclusively theirs, but Africans do, at long last, have “their own It never came to pass, but in November Al Jazeera”. 2006, Al Jazeera launched its English

150 151 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Al Jazeera.net… A renewed spirit Mohammed Mukhtar Al Khalil Manager of Online - Al Jazeera Arabic

It was May 2000 and I was about to embark on a new challenge the reputation and popularity the searched word on the internet. It routine as sometimes happens with as one of those chosen by Al Jazeera’s management to channel had already gained. was a challenge we had to rise to – things that at some point seem establish its Arabic website. The mission was clear: to maintain covering the news with dedication challenging but soon become the spirit of Al Jazeera’s journalism on a diferent platform. It But you cannot plan for the news, and professionalism at a time when mundane. We were wrong. As time was a challenge we embraced with a mixture of enthusiasm and and when our website was just so many eyes were turned to us. passed, we realised that this job is fear. nine months old, the events of an ongoing challenge. September 11, 2001 took place. We had started our work with so We worked day and night to ensure that the site launched on much enthusiasm, believing that It is one that requires us time at the beginning of the new year and that it was worthy of Al Jazeera became the most it would one day turn into a daily to constantly keep up with

152 153 Vision forward looking Al Jazeera.net … A renewed spirit Mission steadfast Mohammed Mukhtar Al Khalil

technological progress. In 2003, we has not turned into some kind of traditional published a story about how new mobile media tool that is ighting to stay alive, but phones would be manufactured with built- has instead opened new channels. Last year, in cameras. We had no idea then that these the number of clicks on the website’s main phones would one day become people’s irst page increased by 20 percent. choice when ilming footage, taking stills or suring the internet. This represents a victory not only for the Al Jazeera Network, but for Arab media as a When social media platforms emerged, whole. we encountered yet another challenge: to commit to the core values of our profession We can look back with pride at what we in such an open and unstable space. Have have achieved and know with certainty that we succeeded? I belief we have, where the challenges continue. many others have failed.

And then the Arab revolutions erupted. As events unfolded in diferent places almost simultaneously, we had to keep on top of them all. We did so. And when the counter- revolutions sought to prevent people from using newer tools, we were able to beneit from our past experiences to revive older tools, such as online blogs.

At a time when the amount of traic on news websites has been expected to decline in line with the rise in social media, Al Jazeera. Net has shown that electronic journalism

154 155 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

In the hands of Al Jazeera Moncef Marzouki Former President of Tunisia

In the early 1990s, I was the head of the Tunisian Human Rights League. At that time, the rights activists were suddenly able dishes in an attempt to prevent the Al Jazeera would play a key role League’s battle with the government of then President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali over human to convey our messages and talk Tunisian people from having access in my own life and the history of rights violations, speciically torture, reached its peak. The government had imposed media openly about the violations taking to Al Jazeera. But Tunisians went democracy and human rights in restrictions on our league: local press was not allowed to publish our statements and our place in Tunisia. It was a strong blow ahead and installed them on the Tunisia. My irst interview on the forums were only permitted to take place under extreme levels of surveillance. I had to use to the dictatorship-controlled local roofs of their buildings regardless. channel was with Ahmed Kamel pay phones to call the international press and Amnesty International in order to report on media. Those satellite dishes were like the in the late 1990s. It became my suspected cases of torture and death. irst signs of civil resistance and irst public attack on the Tunisian The government responded by trying revolution. government. Similar acts of But all of this changed overnight, when Al Jazeera was established in 1996. We human to control the distribution of satellite condemnation followed during the

156 157 Vision forward looking In the hands of Al Jazeera Mission steadfast Moncef Marzouki

eight times I was invited to appear on “The Al Jazeera was, and still is, a relection of Al Jazeera’s coverage of Arab revolutions Opposite Direction” programme, which had the reality that other Arab channels try to has played a major role in their outbreak opened Arab minds to the real meaning of conceal. The violence we currently witness, across the Arab world. But no one can deny dialogue, albeit an often heated one. In the whether in heated arguments on the screen the challenges Al Jazeera currently faces as summer of 2000, while speaking on or in the developments taking place in ‘counter-revolts’ take place by those who Al Jazeera, I called on the “dictator” to Aleppo, Taaz and Ramadi, is the reality oppose the uprising of oppressed people respect the constitution and not run in the of the Arab world that Al Jazeera openly and fear that other revolutions could take 2002 election. I was immediately sacked presents to us. place. from the Medical University of Sousse. In October 2006, I called on the Tunisian Al Jazeera is not only the relection of our Al Jazeera has had to pay an expensive people to prepare for civil resistance and to emotions and feelings. It is also a space for price for its successive achievements; a use modern technology to peacefully oust Arabs to think strategically about the main price paid in the freedom and lives of a the tyrant. issues facing us. It is true that television number of its reporters, to whom we owe programmes cannot always provide an gratitude for their sacriices. I would like to Four years later, what I had called for in-depth insight into our causes, but this is express my personal appreciation to all of happened. where Al Jazeera’s website steps in. I have Al Jazeera’s staf for the role they have had the honour of writing and also of reading played. Al Jazeera ofered Arabs an alternative to the views of key Arab intellectuals on it. media run by oppressive regimes; outlets Since I currently don’t assume a political known for their uninformative content and Another of Al Jazeera’s achievements has position, and although I’ve never been political and ethical failings. Today, it remains been the promotion of the Arabic language, known for praising rulers, today I would like the role model, competitor and example and consequently the reinforcement of to acknowledge the great man who stands other Arab channels seek to imitate. Arab unity. The presence of presenters behind this all and without whom Arab from various Arab countries on Al Jazeera’s history might have looked very diferent: Instead of underestimating the intelligence screen has increased Arab pride in a channel Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. of the people, Al Jazeera has shown respect they view as a space for political and cultural for the truth and the honourable profession integration. I, and many Arabs, owe this man and all of of journalism. Al Jazeera’s staf one phrase: Thank you!

158 159 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

A journalist’s diaries from Tahrir Square Montaser Marai Journalist - Al Jazeera Media Network

At around noon on February 11, 2011, I was deeply depressed. I felt as though we were trapped the Egyptian protests were not among massive protests on the coming the authorities’ attempts to paralyse in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and that the revolution had reached a deadlock. its headlines. But half an hour later, Friday, January 28, in what was telecommunications and internet the channel realised that something labeled ‘A Day of Rage’. Al Jazeera services, activists managed to send But, by evening, everything had changed. signiicant was happening in Cairo. aired special coverage of the protests their contributions to Al Jazeera. in Tahrir Square. The main actor in its On the morning of January 25, a friend made a bet with me. Something signiicant was going to My friend called me to say: “I win the coverage was the citizen journalist. My task in the newsroom was to happen in Egypt, they said. By midday, I started to receive messages from friends about massive bet. The revolution has started.” Al Jazeera provided an online platform collect all the video clips sent from the protests in Tahrir Square. As the police surrounded them, they angrily questioned why Al Jazeera on which videos and pictures from protest squares. I felt helpless being so was not reporting on the events underway there. When Al Jazeera’s 23:00 news bulletin began, Egyptians were called upon to stage Egypt could be uploaded. Despite far from Tahrir. It wasn’t just the feeling

160 161 Vision forward looking A journalist’s diaries from Tahrir Square Mission steadfast Montaser Marai

of a journalist hoping to be a witness, but of hospital that had been hastily set up in the yard an impartial stance between the that Mubarak was going to deliver be anything but the day the revolution a young Arab who had never voted in free of one of the buildings in Tahrir Square was protesters chanting “The people a televised speech to announce inally succeeded. But Mubarak’s elections. I was eager to go. packed with the injured. Those killed had been want the fall of the regime” and the that he was stepping down. But the speech had seemingly led to the transferred to hospitals. government itself. It was a ine, almost opposite happened. He refused to opposite of what he had planned. By On the evening of January 30, I arrived at vanishing, line; a daily conlict between go. The protesters were enraged the evening, the protesters were still Cairo’s airport, carrying just a small suitcase The tragedies I witnessed on that day peaceful protesters demanding dignity and disappointed. I was worried and chanting: “The people want the fall of so that I wouldn’t attract attention. A state reduced me to tears. The endurance of the and freedom and an oppressive depressed. I wondered how much the regime.” And fall it did. of instability prevailed at the airport. I got my revolutionaries and the setting up of sand government. Journalist Majed Abdul longer the protesters would stay in the passport stamped and left in a hurry. Some barricades at the entrances to the square had Hadi says: “Impartiality is the worst square. My birthday is a few days after activists were waiting for me outside. We got prevented a massacre from taking place. It had kind of bias. It puts the killer and February 11, but I felt as though I was in a small car and took of, using back alleys to also foiled an attempt to end the revolution. the victim on equal grounds.” I have February 11 looked like it was going to reborn on that day. avoid army checkpoints. Tahrir Square was the never found a better expression of my ‘safe zone’ for journalists. I spent my irst night In the evening, we heard news of another position at that time. in a safe place that nobody knew about. possible attack on the square. We had to spend the night at the ield hospital, lying We continued our coverage for days. On the morning of February 2, supporters of among the injured and, most probably, the While some media organisations the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, were dead. One man screamed all night long. He’d set their cameras up on the roofs of mobilised. Everything seemed normal until they had an epileptic seizure but nobody could buildings, Al Jazeera’s team kept theirs arrived at Tahrir Square and started to throw get his medication because the square was inside the square. stones at those gathered there. I was in direct besieged. A state of fear had descended upon contact with Doha, reporting the news of the it. Every day, the number of protesters clashes. Then suddenly, thugs riding horses increased, while bad news arrived from and camels entered the square and began to Every day, as I reported the news live, I outside the square: the government attack people. All night long, I reported on the interviewed protesters with various political was determined to stay and the army’s number of casualties. ailiations. I am not Egyptian, but I felt as stance towards the revolution was though I was one of them. My job as a unclear. But we didn’t realise the full scope of what journalist forced me to separate my personal had happened until the next morning. The ield feelings from my professional duties, to take On February 10, the protesters heard

162 163 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Shifting the fulcrum Phil Rees Manager of Investigative Journalism Investigative Journalism Directorate at Al Jazeera

It was October 2001, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A month earlier, US President After two decades in the I watched as American warplanes George W. Bush had declared corporation, I had been inculcated dropped bombs on Taliban positions I was with ighters from the Northern Alliance - remnants of the his ‘war on terror’, with his epoch to balance any issue or conlict near the Shomali Plain, which was mujahedeen who had worn down the Soviet military during the deining phrase: “You’re either with with views from both sides. I had once full of almond and cherry 1980s and were now ighting the Taliban. us, or against us.” followed its style guide, only using orchards but was now lifeless. And the word ‘terrorist’ when it was in the as I listened to news reports on They controlled just a slither of the country, but the West was As a journalist reporting on the war mouths of others. Western outlets, I grew increasingly using them as a proxy ground force to topple the Taliban for the BBC, I was neither. concerned about how the future ‘war government, which had refused to hand over Osama bin Laden. on terror’ would be framed.

164 165 Vision forward looking Shifting the fulcrum Mission steadfast Phil Rees

It was at that time that a US missile struck group a voice in political debate often forced For half a century, the region’s people had Al Jazeera’s oices in Kabul. it underground and towards greater violence. been denied a voice as authoritarian rulers, often backed by the West, prevented them The shock of an apparently deliberate attack After the July 7, 2005 bombings in London, from shaping their destiny. on fellow journalists was accompanied by I appeared on Al Jazeera as a guest. “A another realisation: while Western journalism violent action often leads to a violent After the Egyptian president, Mohamed had always been criticised for its occidental reaction,” I said, referring to Britain’s role Morsi was overthrown in June 2013, I had perspective, it was now overtly taking sides. in the invasion of Iraq. The BBC said lunch with a former BBC editor. He told me my comments were unauthorised and that he disapproved of the coup by Abdel By 2001, Al Jazeera had gained a reputation inappropriate. Fattah el-Sisi, but then remarked that the for widening the parameters of debate in Egyptian people were trapped “between a the Arab world. At the same time, a contrary It later emerged that the suspected rock and a hard place”. phenomenon was taking place within the ringleader of the bombers, Mohammad Western media: a tendency to embrace the Sidique Khan, used the invasion of Iraq to “The Muslim Brotherhood,” he asserted, language and sentiments of the ‘war on justify his actions in a videotape delivered to “was just as bad as the Egyptian military.” terror’. Journalists adopted the logic of the Al Jazeera’s Islamabad bureau. former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani: To equate a military dictator with a “Those who practice terrorism lose any right Khan made another point that was democratically-elected president is an to have their cause understood. We’re right. overlooked by the Western media: he felt example of the false equivalence that They’re wrong.” voiceless. “Our words have no impact upon satisies the balance principle in much you, therefore I’m going to talk to you in a Western journalism. As the September 11 attacks changed the language that you understand,” he’d said. landscape of global journalism, Al Jazeera As the Arab world remains in the shadow of found a role on the world stage. During the Arab Spring, Al Jazeera English authoritarian rule, Al Jazeera stands alone widened the parameters of political debate in placing the fulcrum of balance in the true I’d always believed that the best journalism for a global audience by providing a platform centre of political debate. provided a platform for two warring sides for opposition groups, including the Muslim to establish a vicarious dialogue. Denying a Brotherhood.

166 167 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Imperishable souls Rafaat AlRefaie Correspondent in Syria - Al Jazeera Arabic

“You are a journalist .... Please ask them for a painkiller.” “You are a journalist …. Please ask At irst, I stood motionless. Then that scene plays out in my head now them for a painkiller,” he repeated, I started touching my own limbs. every time I feel any kind of pain. The young man’s plea was sincere. He didn’t see the hopelessness in my face. over and over again. Time seemed to stop in that moment and a piece of me disappeared with When I was asked to write this I bent down in front of him, my camera in my hand. For the irst time, it felt heavy. Then he disappeared into the dust. him. In my country, a man’s body article, I suddenly felt illiterate. But I could still make out the words is doomed to have more than one Writing is how I earn my living, but We were at the entrance of Omar bin Abdul al-Aziz hospital in the Maadi neighbourhood of of those carrying him: “We must grave, I thought. ive days passed and I couldn’t Aleppo, Syria. Its top loors had been damaged in the shelling. transfer him to another hospital. His muster a single word. foot must be amputated.” It was more than two years ago but

168 169 Vision forward looking Imperishable souls Mission steadfast Rafaat AlRefaie

Eventually, I decided that I wouldn’t do it.

Then I remembered that young man. After that day at the hospital, I found out his name. I learned that he had gone to Turkey for surgery and been given an artiicial limb. Then he’d returned to Syria and taken up arms against the government.

At Al Jazeera, we tell the stories of the oppressed, abandoned and ignored. Human beings come irst – this is the principle that guides us. Our reporting has sometimes managed to change the lives of those whose stories we’ve told. For our team in Syria, it ofers a form of ethical compensation: the sense of relief we feel when we see the stories of Syrians on Al Jazeera’s screens.

I do not know what became of that young man after he returned to Syria. In many ways, I don’t want to because I do not want his story to end. Some stories must continue in order for their characters to become ‘imperishable souls’.

170 171 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The ‘voice of the voiceless’ for two decades Ramsey Zarifeh Manager of Input - Al Jazeera English

Al Jazeera has always been a pioneer. Twenty years ago, it was pioneering in the way it newsgathering. and for a decade before that at We wanted to create a news brought news to an audience in the Arab world hungry for real-time - and real - information The idea was simple, and - one Al Jazeera Arabic, the editorial revolution, spin the world on its about what was going on around them. The ledgling network was, in a very real sense, decade on - has survived intact message has been clear and axis, and report from south to north. providing a voice to the voiceless: a phrase which - two decades on, and in a very diferent as the bedrock of our channel, unambiguous: People need to be We sought to shun the corridors of world - has become something of a motto for the network as a whole. indeed the entire network. It can be central to our storytelling, no matter power in favour of those who live summed up in three words: putting where they are in the world and no far from the seats of government, I joined Al Jazeera English as part of the launch team in 2006 because it was promising people irst. matter that nobody else is covering but whose quality of life depends on to do something diferent. In a media landscape dominated by talking heads, opinion their stories. decisions taken by the politicians and speculation, it was daring to buck the trend by trying a new approach to global From day one at Al Jazeera English, who are supposed to serve them.

172 173 Vision forward looking The ‘voice of the voiceless’ for two decades Mission steadfast Ramsey Zarifeh

We developed a new genre of storytelling - remains the same as it was when that has now become an industry standard: Al Jazeera was founded in 1996. the ‘First Person’, told through the eyes and words of one individual. It is not a One of the irst stories we put to air when replacement for powerful, correspondent-led Al Jazeera English was launched in 2006 reporting, but allowing people to take control was about a day in the life of an ambulance of their own stories is part of our DNA. driver in Gaza. The piece, told through the eyes and words of the driver as he went We looked at under-reported parts of the about his dangerous work saving lives, world - including Latin America, South Asia was everything it should have been - and and Africa - and invested heavily in them, everything our stories should always be: opening bureaus in, and shining a light on, compelling, eye-opening, thought-provoking places neglected by others. and challenging.

What is our mission as a network for the Our own challenge, as we move beyond the next decade? irst 20 years, is to remain a constant source of information and inspiration, even as the We need to stay true to our editorial roots, next decade is likely to be as transformative, and to our unique storytelling heritage. But disruptive and unexpected as the last. we also have to adapt to the digital age, embracing and exploring new technologies. We can no longer expect anyone to seek us out. We have to hunt down our audience and engage with them, wherever and whenever they want to interact with our content.

But as the news and information industry transforms, our mission - putting people irst

174 175 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Palestine in Sarajevo’s heart Rawan J Damen Senior Producer - Programmes / Al Jazeera Arabic

Wednesday, October 8, 2014 - I remember the day very well. I For me, it was a conirmation that weekly documentary programme on When I contacted my colleagues at received an email from two colleagues at our sister channel, Palestine will never be erased from any international channel to focus Al Jazeera Balkans to thank them Al Jazeera Balkans. The subject line read ‘Palestina U Fokusu’ – the world map and a validation of solely on Palestine. And its reach has for their initiative, I was delighted to Bosnian for ‘Palestine Under Focus’. all the work that our network and grown as Al Jazeera English and then discover that it had been the audience many independent ilmmakers and Al Jazeera Balkans began to translate that had requested a programme that Since 2008, I have been the supervising producer of Al Jazeera producers all over the world have and reversion its episodes so that they focused entirely on Palestine. Finding Arabic’s Focus and Palestine Under Focus series. The email was done to tell the Palestinian story. might be more easily comprehended similarities between their recent to announce that the latter’s episodes would be translated into by an international audience. Our ilms history and events in Palestine many Bosnian, reversioned and broadcast from Sarajevo. Palestine Under Focus is the only have been seen around the world. decades before, Bosnians sought out

176 177 Vision forward looking Palestine in Sarajevo’s heart Mission steadfast Rawan J Damen

these stories.

I realised then the signiicance of Al Jazeera Arabic’s English, Balkan and Turkish sister channels. Without them, we would never have been able to reach such a broad audience, sharing authentic Palestinian narratives with those who otherwise might not have had access to them.

So it was that Europeans who longed to know more about Palestinians were able to see documentaries about a isherman targeted by Israeli navy ships, a student unable to reach school because of the Israeli forces, a church in Nazareth set ablaze by Jewish extremists and hundreds of other ilms that illuminate life in Palestine.

That email inspired me to revive our work on a project that would bring all of the Palestine Under Focus ilms – more than 120 hours of documentaries – together on a comprehensive interactive website that let users explore the story of Palestine.

The result was the awarding-winning Palestine Remix. But that’s another story ….

178 179 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Once upon a time before Guantanamo Sami Elhaj Manager of Public Liberties And Human Rights Centre

One of the main things that encouraged me to join Al Jazeera was the atmosphere it provided for Of course, I became a humanitarian But my story seems far less tragic conference in Afghanistan’s Buldak its staf, allowing them the professional freedom to carry out their journalism without restrictions, case myself – and one that Al Jazeera when compared to those I witnessed region. I went with others to cover the and its focus on humanitarian perspectives. was relentless in defending. While in Afghanistan before I was detained. conference. We decided to report on I was in Guantanamo, my name the plight of Bedouin Afghan IDPs. My work with the channel took me to cities, villages and deserts around the world, until I found appeared daily on its screens and the I remember one story in particular. My myself in a dark cell in one of the world’s most brutal prisons: Guantanamo. channel ran a campaign that drew the team and I were in Quetta, Pakistan, At an IDP camp in Buldak, one attention of international human rights when we learned that Tayyab Agha, particular scene caught my attention. Despite the long years I spent there, I have never had any regrets. I have been able to convey the organisations to my situation and the secretary to the Taliban’s Mullah A young woman was washing clothes message I’ve always believed in, shining a spotlight on the plight of oppressed people. ultimately led to my release. Omar, was going to speak at a press in turbid water, without soap. She used

180 181 Vision forward looking Once upon a time before Guantanamo Mission steadfast Sami Elhaj

one hand to wash and the other to hold and brothers and sisters-in-law,” he told me. breastfeed her baby. A boy aged around three or four was next to her crying. We later learned that US air strikes had targeted their village, killing her family. Only this The scene seemed to convey so much about young woman, her two children and her mother the Afghan tragedy. I wanted to photograph it survived. All of their belongings were burned in so that the world might see who really bears the attack, and she carried the pouch wherever the consequences of war, of attacks carried she went. out by the US, as it claimed to promote peace, democracy and human rights. The scene afected me a great deal. That young woman, her babies and elderly mother I started to take photographs of the young didn’t even know that Kabul was the capital of woman. Beside her, I saw burned, blackened Afghanistan or that the US had launched a war bags that looked as though they had been against them, claiming to be ighting terrorism. in a ire. As I started to take pictures of her For me, that is the real tragedy – losing belongings, I noticed a copy of the Quran, everything for unexplained reasons. which had also been burned in places. On top of it was a red pouch. I tried to push it aside This is an excerpt from Sami al-Hajj’s upcoming so that I might take a clearer picture, but the book, My Story in Guantanamo. woman grew enraged. She started to shout at me; words I could not understand.

Shocked, I asked the translator to explain. Her mother came running. She pushed me and started to shout. The translator explained that she was saying I should not have touched the pouch. “This red pouch contains some of the body parts of this young lady’s husband, father,

182 183 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The ‘little box’ that became an enlightened project Shihateh Awad Senior Researcher - Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

In 1999, the former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak visited Qatar. Upon his arrival at the airport, When he made that comment, organisations had failed. But these It was the beginning of an enriching an Al Jazeera correspondent asked him about Egyptian-Qatari relations. “They are very good as he perhaps had in mind the huge channels had failed to inluence people experience, professionally and long as you [Al Jazeera] stay away from it,” he replied. Maspero building; the Egyptian Radio simply because they had failed to personally. and Television headquarters that host represent them. During Mubarak’s stay in Doha, the emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, escorted him on a thousands of employees and dozens Al Jazeera has presented a new form visit to Al Jazeera’s headquarters. Mubarak seemed surprised at just how “small” the oices of of TV channels and radio stations. I was one of the Egyptian journalists of news coverage. It has created this “annoying” channel were relative to its inluence in the Arab world. “All of this fuss is coming Mubarak couldn’t imagine that this who had come from Cairo to cover and adopted a media agenda that out of this little box,” he exclaimed. new channel had become so popular Mubarak’s visit to the Gulf. But a few transparently conveys information in a and inluential where huge media months later, I joined the “little box”. way Arab viewers – previously used to

184 185 Vision forward looking The ‘little box’ that became an enlightened project Mission steadfast Shihateh Awad

oicial media organisations that praised rulers were the components of the magic recipe for inluence upon their audience. we take pride in. But the challenges Al Jazeera, its management and its while neglecting audiences - were unfamiliar Al Jazeera’s continued success. A commitment are increasing. staf, to relect deeply upon the fast- with. to authenticity and professionalism and a irm Twenty years later, Al Jazeera is still developing technological revolution in belief in its media mission took Al Jazeera from the leading Arab news media platform, The 20th anniversary of the the current media space. But was this Al Jazeera’s only secret? being a mere media project to becoming an despite the challenges, conlicts and establishment of Al Jazeera Media enlightening one. changes. It is a great achievement that Network is the perfect opportunity for As I went inside that small newsroom, I found the answer to my question: the most Many years passed, and the “little box” grew professional media personnel in the Arab into a big network. Many new challenges came world, who enthusiastically believe in the along. values of freedom and the viewer’s right to know. Then came the Arab Spring, which erupted in a number of countries starting from late Behind them stands a wise administration 2010. It was a time when Al Jazeera started with the courage to bear the consequences of to reap what it had sown. It became known the channel’s achievements and the possible as the channel of the revolutions, the one that resulting crises between the country where relected the dreams of the people. the channel is based and its regional and international counterparts. But as well as providing an opportunity for Al Jazeera to reinforce its presence, the Arab All of these qualities were the characteristics of Spring also imposed new challenges. The the then new leadership of the State of Qatar. conlict between the revolutionary and counter- revolutionary forces resulted in the targeting of Standing by the side of the people, focusing on Al Jazeera. Revolutions in some Arab countries their ambitions for freedom and a decent life, coincided with parallel revolutions in the Arab being where the real stories were taking place media, relected in the emergence of a huge via a network of professional and experienced number of local TV channels considered reporters and presenting the news on time competitors to Al Jazeera in relation to their

186 187 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Covering an Israeli incursion into the West Bank Shireen Abu Akleh Correspondent in Palestine - Al Jazeera Arabic

I had a strange feeling as I stepped out of the Palestinian and a number of Hamas prisoners, forced to sleep at the oice. When it al-Turaii, suggested that we head presidential headquarters in the West Bank. It was March 28, who had been transferred there was eventually lifted for three hours, towards the Preventive Security 2002 – a spring day, although the weather was stormy. I didn’t before the invasion, were inside. All we returned home to grab some headquarters. I knew he wasn’t only know it then, but in the early hours of the following morning, night long, Israeli planes and tanks clean clothes and enough food to thinking as a cameraman seeking Israeli tanks would be preparing to roll into Ramallah. Israel shelled the compound. Israel then last us for a few days. We tried to exclusive footage: his brother had would call it Operation Defensive Shield. announced that it had detained the ilm and photograph the destruction worked there and he was worried security staf and their prisoners. we witnessed along the way. about him. We went there with On April 2, Israeli forces surrounded the headquarters of the another colleague, cameraman Preventive Security Force in Beitunia. About 280 employees A curfew was imposed, so we were Then my colleague, Muhammad Majeed al-Safadi.

188 189 Vision forward looking Covering an Israeli incursion into the West Bank Mission steadfast Shireen Abu Akleh

We travelled in a simple Jeep, taking an was a picture of his two nephews, the sons unpaved route because the main road was of his brother. Majeed pointed his camera closed. We knew it was risky. On the way, at Muhammad, capturing the image of the we ran into a CNN team travelling in an two children in his hand. For years, it would armoured vehicle. It was reassuring to know appear on Al Jazeera’s screens. we weren’t alone. On our way out, we were shocked to When we arrived at the damaged discover machine guns pointing at us. We compound, it was still on ire. Israeli tanks raised our hands. We’d been right there in had surrounded the headquarters but there front of the soldiers all this time, so why did were no soldiers positioned inside. No it seem like they had only just noticed us? one approached us, so we started ilming. They approached and asked the CNN team Stunned that nobody had stopped us, we to leave. Then a soldier pushed Muhammad crossed the outer yard and entered the up against a wall and began interrogating main building, which for years had seemed him, asking: “What were you doing? And like a fortress. Now it was empty and silent, what is that in your hand?” except for the sound of the wind that blew through the holes in the walls and the broken After they’d made some calls, we were windows. eventually allowed to leave and ordered never to return. But the question I asked We knew we were racing against time to ilm myself then, has remained with me ever the destroyed building. since: where does that ine line between protecting ourselves from danger and We noticed that Muhammad was no pursuing our responsibilities as a journalist longer with us. Growing worried about his lie? Of course, we care about our own prolonged absence, we decided to leave. safety, but still, something always seems to But just as we did, he returned, holding a push us to cross that line. photograph that he’d found on the loor. It

190 191 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Tragedies in Arakan Sohaib Jassim Correspondent in Jakarta - Al Jazeera Arabic

Myanmar has long been an elusive country for reporters. Ruled Al Jazeera started shedding light on March 2016 elections and to report northern and southern villages that by a military junta for decades, embroiled in a series of long- the plight of the Muslim Rohingya on the situation of Muslims, which the rest of the world’s Muslims have running conlicts between the army and armed ethnic groups and refugees in Malaysia, Indonesia was expected to improve as the never heard of. They are descendants with pervasive discrimination against its Muslim and Christian and Thailand 10 years ago. Our country underwent a democratic of Muslims from India and China and minorities, the country has had plenty to report on. But it hasn’t teams reached Myanmar’s western transformation. But what we found come from various minorities such been easy to gain access. state of Arakan, oicially known as was shocking. as the Rohingya, Bamar and Kamein. Rakhine State, shortly after violence Hundreds of villages from Myanmar’s The story of Myanmar’s Muslim minority is, perhaps, the most erupted there in 2012. We returned Most of Myanmar’s states have north to its south are inhabited by tragic in east Asia. to cover the November 2015 and Muslim residents. They live in remote hundreds of thousands of Muslims

192 193 Vision forward looking Tragedies in Arakan Mission steadfast Sohaib Jassim

who are not oicially recognised as part of shack or a small piece of land hosting the country’s population. thousands of huts where people live without food, healthcare, education, jobs or hope. Myanmar’s Muslims sufer from Years pass and new generations of children discrimination. Their access to oicial are born into the same existence. documents, education and job opportunities is restricted. They cannot move around The scene that most afected me was of a freely. But those with the worst plight are the four-year-old boy sat in front of his shack Rohingya, the oldest and largest minority holding his baby sister. They remained despite the fact that two million of them now alone like that all day long because their live in exile. parents needed to search for ish on the shores near the refugee camp. Everyone Like foreigners, Myanmar’s Muslims need was busy looking for food for their children. oicial permits to enter Arakan state. If It was easy to understand why the Rohingya obtained, they are allowed into speciic describe themselves as “Southeast Asia’s regions for just a few days or sometimes Palestinians”. hours. About 140,000 Rohingya refugees, whose houses have been burned down, A few hours before we left Arakan, we went live in dozens of refugee camps in central to perform the Friday noon prayer. Hundreds Arakan. More than one and a half million live of people were packed into a small wooden in northern Arakan. They are not allowed to mosque. At the end of the prayer, the imam leave or work outside their towns. They are recited a verse from the Quran: “Oh Lord, banned from ishing beyond a certain point. get us out of this town whose people are Theirs is essentially life inside a large prison. oppressors, and send us a supporter and send us a helper.” It was the irst time I’d By witnessing the situation in their refugee heard an imam reading this verse as he camps and surrounding villages, one realises prayed, but it perfectly described their that a prison can simply be a tent, a wooden sufering.

194 195 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

‘The real story is behind you’ Steve Chao Senior Presenter | 101 EAST - Al Jazeera English

Many years ago, a grizzled veteran reporter from the local It took me a while to fully grasp what It is the people assembled in the of Twitter and click-bait, this intrinsic television station I was working at in Canada pulled me aside he meant, and even longer to inject background, outside the burning value of journalism is sometimes after watching one of my stories. I had just been hired straight this advice into my reporting, but building, who have been left pushed aside. Television broadcasts out of college and was as green a journalist as could be. that lesson has guided me to this homeless or lost loved ones, that are replete with bulletin-style data day. matter. on the latest inancial crisis or of Staring hard at me, he said: “Listen … When you’re covering scientiic reports about issues like breaking news, like a building ire, remember, the real story is Stories are not just about the Stories are about people. climate change. It’s cheaper to use behind you.” facts. A ire enguling a building satellite imagery or photos captured doesn’t mean much on its own. But in this short-attention-span age by citizens to showcase a typhoon

196 197 Vision forward looking ‘The real story is behind you’ Mission steadfast Steve Chao

sweeping through the Asia Paciic than to more than a week, Al Jazeera devoted a change. Our investigation into the treatment have crews on the ground telling the story of year to covering the aftermath of the 2011 of refugees in Malaysia exposed those within the people living in the storm’s path. nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan. It did the United Nations who were demanding the same in 2010, after the earthquake in bribes for refugee cards. It was the stories of But this is where I believe Al Jazeera stands Haiti. the refugees who had been taken advantage out. of that proved the most compelling - and Such commitment has allowed us journalists later convinced the UN High Commission for At a time when news organisations to immerse ourselves in communities and Refugees to launch an internal investigation worldwide are retreating from having teams to better share their personal stories with and to ire those found guilty. in the ield, this upstart station from Qatar viewers. This, in turn, lets us more efectively has largely upheld the core value of our document all that is going right or wrong … The very essence of our role as journalists mission as journalists: to put people irst, and thereby hold power to account. is to document life and to do so in as giving a voice to the voiceless. compelling a manner as possible. In Haiti, we spent time at the refugee camps, Rudyard Kipling wrote: “If history were The examples are many. Since I joined the where we met Beken, one of the country’s taught in the form of stories, it would never network as a correspondent in 2009, our most famous folk singers. His life began on be forgotten.” assignment editors have dispatched me the streets of the capital, Port-Au-Prince. to join scientists living on sea ice in the Having lost his home to the quake, he was Journalism may be undergoing massive North Pole as they measured the acidity of again left with nothing. After sitting with him change, but people must remain at the heart the oceans to better predict how fast our for hours, he agreed to pick up his guitar. of our stories. climate is changing. They have allowed And in the glow of candlelight, with a crowd me to venture on horseback into the gathered around, he sang in poetic prose remote borderlands of Nepal and China about the joys and sorrows of life. It was a to document the lives of Tibetans as they moment that captured what so many have struggle to maintain their identity. endured in this impoverished nation.

In an age of parachute journalism, where In some cases, Al Jazeera’s commitment to a natural disaster merits coverage of little storytelling through people has helped bring

198 199 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

A great beginning and a good foundation Suad Abdullah Senior Coordinator - News / Al Jazeera Arabic

It was a summer’s day in 1998, and, having grown bored with Four days later, I received a call Manager’s oice, where I was to department played in establishing my work in banking and accounting, I’d decided to look for a inviting me to take a secretarial test. begin work as the assistant to his the foundations of the channel. new job. With copies of my CV and certiicates in hand, I began It lasted for two hours and there oice manager. knocking on the doors of diferent organisations. were many others participating. The door of the oice was always I was surprised to learn that I In that small oice, where the open to everyone and the General That was how I found myself standing in front of a small was one of only three successful General Manager and his deputy Manager would pass by each building, which I would later learn was known as ‘The Villa’, that applicants. worked, there was a spirit of department every day. He would hosted Al Jazeera’s administrative department. I submitted my dedication that relected the constantly watch Al Jazeera’s documents with little hope or expectation. The next day, I arrived at the General important role the administrative live broadcast and was often

200 201 Vision forward looking A great beginning and a good foundation Mission steadfast Suad Abdullah

seen rushing into the newsroom to give instructions. He had a unique ability to watch the screen and listen to his visitors simultaneously.

The General Manager would hold weekly meetings at his oice with the heads of other departments. The Chairman of the Board would visit almost daily.

The newsroom was like a beehive during special coverage, such as the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. At such times, a caravan would be hired and placed outside the building so that, during the long hours of work, people could sometimes catch a few moments of rest.

That was the great beginning of Al Jazeera: a time when, I believe, the foundations of a media monument were laid.

Some of my colleagues from that time are still here, working with the same level of dedication. Others have, sadly, passed away, leaving us with fond memories. But all of us have had our lives enriched by our experience here.

202 203 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

A Balkan success story Tarik Dodic Managing Director - Al Jazeera Balkans

Twenty years ago, as the Balkans were just embarking on the Bosnia and the region’s media was friendly match at home For many of us in the region, path of post-war reconciliation, it was diicult to imagine what brutally divided and just about light (we beat Italy 2:1). Al Jazeera became the dream we the region and its media landscape would look like in 2016. years away from Al Jazeera’s motto, hoped would one day become our The Opinion and The Other Opinion. Yet, things did change. Slowly, and reality. Frankly, even the most optimistic projection for the future mostly against all odds, good things looked slightly grim. It was a time when ordinary started to bless us. Global leaders When Al Jazeera became the irst Bosnians could ind joy in small began investing in the Balkans, in all global media player to invest in In November 1996, when Al Jazeera Satellite Channel was things, like having our national economic ields, except one: media. the Balkans, it was welcomed as a launched, we had just held our historic irst general election in football team play its irst-ever breath of fresh air.

204 205 Vision forward looking A Balkan success story Mission steadfast Tarik Dodic

The recognition Al Jazeera Balkans received landscape. Today, ive years on, as we at and the reputation it developed was built on Al Jazeera Balkans are preparing to the strength of the entire network, as well as celebrate our ifth anniversary, we are proud on our eforts to maintain the standards for and grateful that those years have been which Al Jazeera was known. built on the foundation of the overall global success of the network. When I was appointed managing director of Al Jazeera Balkans in 2010, I set a goal for As the Al Jazeera Media Network develops myself and the, at that time tiny, team: to new platforms and looks to create the future establish Al Jazeera Balkans as a regional of news coverage, we take pride in keeping media leader. up as an equal member of the Al Jazeera family. Ours is a rather diicult post-war society, with deep wounds on all sides. It was and still is imperative that our reporting is based on building bridges between peoples and fostering a spirit of tolerance and reconciliation. Thanks to the support and guidance of the Al Jazeera Media Network, we have been able to push boundaries in the Balkans, establishing new professional and ethical standards.

So far, it has been a challenging but rewarding journey. What seemed to many in the region to be a mission impossible, became the biggest and most important success story in the Balkans media

206 207 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Twenty years with the people Thembisa Fakude Researcher - Al Jazeera Centre for Studies

The description of the Al Jazeera Media Network is best living up to the promise of its motto. of Southern Africa, the answer that them long after other networks have encapsulated in its motto: the voice of the voiceless. immediately came to mind was that moved on. When South Sudan seceded from we do this because those voices For the past 20 years, it has provided award-winning journalism Khartoum, Al Jazeera English matter. Al Jazeera has also made inroads without fear or favour. was the irst international news into the ield of educational, organisation to maintain a presence That has been the driving spirit of academic and political research. Ever since the brand was established, the name has in the new capital, Juba. When I Al Jazeera. We pride ourselves in The creation of subsidiaries, such been associated with bravery, creative journalism and the was asked about this decision at the broadcasting the stories of ordinary as the Al Jazeera Center for Studies ampliication of the voices of the people of the Global South – time, as the network’s bureau chief people and in staying behind to tell (AJCS) and the Al Jazeera Center

208 209 Vision forward looking Twenty years with the people Mission steadfast Thembisa Fakude

for Training and Development (AJCTD), providing insight into their sociopolitical is among the initiatives that continue to complexities. We achieve this, in part, by position the network above the rest. encouraging homegrown journalism.

The AJCS and AJCTD have been Al Jazeera prides itself on employing instrumental in the training of journalists people from diverse national and cultural and the provision of in-depth research in the backgrounds. The composition of our staf Middle East. As such, the network has been helps us understand global demographics giving back to the community and to the and encourages healthy debate. The widely journalism fraternity. reported debate that took place within Al Jazeera English over the terminology When Al Jazeera started in 1996, it was used to describe those undertaking dubbed a “new phenomenon”, becoming desperate journeys to escape war is a the topic of a book, The Al Jazeera case in point. What started as a discussion Phenomenon by Professor Mohamed between journalists and management in the Zayani of Georgetown University’s School of newsroom concluded in a bold statement: Foreign Service. Al Jazeera will use the term refugees, not migrants. It was a move that inspired The creative and professional manner in other media networks and instigated which Al Jazeera has carried out its business conversations in political, academic and has undoubtedly changed the culture and humanitarian circles. understanding of journalism in the region and the world. Several media organisations Media institutions are going through diicult have subsequently followed suit, embracing times as budgets, advertising revenues similar approaches to journalism. and sponsorships dwindle. Despite those challenges, the network’s groundbreaking Providing context is critical to our journalism. work continues. Through context we elucidate stories,

210 211 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Two decades on … it’s the same Al Jazeera Yaser Abuhilalah Managing Director - Al Jazeera Arabic

When I iled my irst report for Al Jazeera in 1996, I couldn’t portable screens. prefer to consume their news as part other channels and social media watch it on screen because I didn’t have a satellite dish. Neither of a full bulletin on the big screen. platforms at the height of this could I watch it online, because the internet was barely used But each screen still has a role to digital transformation, Al Jazeera to send emails then. But, today, live broadcasting on the web play and an audience to serve. Al Jazeera appeals to both types of has managed to ind a source of competes with satellite broadcasts. audience – retaining its traditional proitable partnership. We have Watching a news package on a viewers while attracting new, taken pride in being pioneering, Where once people gathered together in front of a television social media platform may be faster, younger ones too. becoming the world’s irst TV at a speciic time and in a speciic place, many now watch easier and more convenient than news channel to broadcast live on individually, whenever and wherever they choose on small, watching it on TV, but some still In the competition presented by Facebook and Telegram. This has

212 213 Vision forward looking Two decades on … it’s the same Al Jazeera Mission steadfast Yaser Abuhilalah

enabled us to reach a larger audience and to identity, but it is not only an Arabic-speaking present a richer array of content. channel. It speaks for those who became homeless as a result of a tsunami as much This vast expansion in digital media may as it does for those who lost their homes have created confusion between the method to a barrel bomb. It takes the side of the and the target. But Al Jazeera is the same weak, the voiceless, the poor, the prisoners Al Jazeera; it now simply adopts several of conscience. But it also tells stories of joy methods to achieve the same target. and success. It strives to be the best and the bravest. After all, it is the content created by Al Jazeera that deines its spirit and identity. Al Jazeera will never be a bloodless screen. It is that content that explains why viewers It will always show images of the dead and have continued to watch it for two decades injured. But it will also depict happiness and – on the screen of their choosing. peace where that is to be found, for it is the variety, richness and honesty of our content And that content has not come without a that deines us. price – in the blood, lives and freedom of its staf and the bombing, closure and looting of its bureaus.

Digital expansion encourages us to maintain our editorial line and provides us with a huge amount of footage and information. We verify the authenticity of this material and present it to tens of millions of Al Jazeera viewers.

Al Jazeera has always taken pride in its Arab

214 215 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The digital future Yaser Bishr Executive Director of Digital

Our transformative journey over the past two decades has been rich with vision, passion, digitally connected generation. platform. As we continue to deliver and distribution, which is forcing spirited competition, determination, and commitment towards our audience. When we irst-class TV news, we are facing an media organisations to adopt launched in 1996, the internet was still on its way to becoming the commodity people know The wide portfolio of our digital ever-increasing chain of challenges cutting-edge technologies or risk and love today. products developed since inception that stands in the way of fully becoming obsolete. In other words, was a result of our constant captivating digital consumers. while quality original content is key Google was nothing more than a concept. Just 10 years ago, smartphones and mobile apps determination to deliver unmatched to succeeding on digital platforms it did not exist, Facebook was only known to a minority of early adopters, and social media high quality journalism to our One clear challenge is the is no longer the only diferentiator. was still misunderstood and feared by the majority. Only ive years ago, social media was audience through means that extend heightened innovation in not considered a source of news. All this was happening amid a coming of age of a new the boundaries of an aging TV newsgathering, production, formats Broadcasters need to rethink

216 217 Vision forward looking The digital future Mission steadfast Yaser Bishr

their role in the digital news value chain to curve to better serve and reach their and be able to achieve our strategy, educating our audience driven by our talented staf who acquire and adopt new diferentiators. This audience. we need to develop our competitive • Innovation in the way we gather, are focused on developing our new reality warrants radical adjustments edge in four key areas: produce, visualise and distribute innovation capabilities, and to refocus a sustainable low of innovation Our digital strategy is to be omnipresent • Become a magnet that attracts and content equipped with signiicant wealth of towards dominating digital experiences. everywhere on all platforms with an ever retains our most important asset – • Master the art of data science and knowledge and understanding of Moving forward, growing in the digital space innovative portfolio of digital products that talented people real-time analytics journalism, positions us for success. is taking on a new meaning, one that caters inform and educate our growing audience. • Original and high quality diversiied Al Jazeera is not here to follow - we to a new generation with its own habits, One good example is AJ+, which was content focused on informing and In summary, a new digital vision are here to lead. expectations, and dynamic intricacy, which started in 2013 by our innovation team is often emerging faster than what the as an experiment in storytelling targeting market can ofer. The key question becomes: millennials. Today it has become one of the “How can you anticipate your audience top digital-native video publishers in the needs before the audience and before the world. The success of AJ+ is a byproduct competition?” We believe that the answer of building innovation capabilities that lies in continuously listening to the pulse of rethink market needs, rely on advanced data our audience as well as creating a culture of analytics tools, develop deeper and more innovation. intimate relationships with audiences, and prioritise crossing the frontier in all aspects The next ive years will see dramatic of new products. Digital engagement changes in the way people receive and centricity is one of those aspects that consume content. This will be driven by requires continuous improvements to the rise of chatbots, Artiicial Intelligence methods of storytelling, creating better (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), driverless cars, social communities, two-way active wearable devices, and Virtual Reality (VR). communication channels, real time analytics, and pushing the journalistic cycle much Amid these innovations, content publishers further past distribution. and distributers increasingly face challenges to stay ahead of the technology evolution In order to maintain our global leadership

218 219 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

Telling Hanifa’s story Zeina Khodr Senior Correspondent - Al Jazeera English

I have been asked to share a story about the role journalists can At a time when many networks people hope. Hanifa’s family had escaped to play in the lives of those whose stories they tell. I can think of parachute teams in to tell a story, Lebanon. But once there, they faced many from the diferent countries and conlicts – military and we are there before, during and after It is the stories of those people a diferent kind of threat. political – I have covered over the years. a crisis. We don’t just cover a story that we share with the world – and, when it is in the headlines. We make sometimes, the world reacts. “I have no choice, I am doing this for You see, the media can change people’s lives. It can inluence the headlines. my family, even though it will destroy governments. It can bring about change just by being there. In one case, that reaction ‘saved’ a my life,” she cried when we met her And ‘being there’ gives even the 14-year-old Syrian refugee. in the border town of Arsal. And ‘being there’ is what Al Jazeera does best. most desperate and powerless

220 221 Vision forward looking Telling Hanifa’s story Mission steadfast Zeina Khodr

Hanifa had agreed to become the second who ofered help to contact the UNHCR wife of the family’s Lebanese landlord. It in Lebanon. We also contacted the was supposed to be a trade-of. Her father organisation’s oice in Beirut. was too sick to work, and the family could no longer aford to pay their $250 monthly The UN stepped in and found a new shelter rent. So the landlord demanded Hanifa in for the family, and I responded to all those exchange. who had sent me messages to tell them that their concern had – in one way or another – This child’s life had been one tragedy after saved Hanifa. another, but she did smile as she showed us photographs of the 22-year-old cousin she was supposed to marry. He had been killed ighting in Syria.

Apart from sharing her story with the world, there was little else we could do for Hanifa.

But as it reached millions of viewers, messages of solidarity and ofers of monetary assistance began to pour in. I couldn’t believe the number of people who’d reached out to us wanting to pay the family’s rent so that Hanifa wouldn’t be forced into the marriage. Some sent me emails; others contacted me via Twitter.

As journalists, we can’t get involved in collecting donations, so we asked those

222 223 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

The surprise festival Zeinebou Bent Erebih Bureau Chief - Nouakchott

We were getting ready to cover the international music festival But as we were setting up our We’d all received the same news. al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in Nouakchott, Mauritania, planning our story on how music was equipment, my phone began to ring. But nobody could conirm where the (AQIM). bringing people together and promoting peace. The only words the caller spoke gunire was coming from or who was The melodies we’d been expecting before hanging up were: “Sounds responsible for it. to listen to had turned into gunire. We were excited – at the prospect of getting to listen to the of gunire in Nouakchott. Sounds of African, Arab, European and American bands that had gathered explosions.” And then a reliable source called to We headed for the neighbourhood and at the opportunity of iling a report that was unlike the report that clashes were underway where the ighting was taking mainly political news the channel typically covers. I looked around at my colleagues in the heart of Nouakchott between place, inding ourselves caught in whose phones were also ringing. security forces and ighters from the middle of a gun battle between

224 225 Vision forward looking The surprise festival Mission steadfast Zeinebou Bent Erebih

AQIM ighters, who had taken up positions For the whole night, we stayed near the inside a house, and the security forces. scene of the clashes, managing to enter the house from which the AQIM ighters had Mauritania had become the leading story on been shooting and capturing remarkable Al Jazeera’s 23:00 news bulletin. Reporting footage of the weapons and equipment live, I summed up what was happening as they’d left behind. the sound of gunire could be heard in the background. Our coverage of that critical moment in the country’s history helped to propel our Once I’d inished, my colleagues in Doha popularity in Mauritania. urged me and the team to stay safe – our wellbeing was more important than the story, But what about the music festival? Well, we they said. But we didn’t feel fear. We didn’t managed to cover that as well. have the time to. As a team, we wanted to be up to the challenge and we had all the support we could have needed from our colleagues.

Looking back at it now, I wonder how I could have reported live in such a dangerous situation.

But it didn’t go unnoticed by Mauritanians, who followed our reports closely, overwhelming us with concerns for our safety and praising our commitment to following the story.

226 227 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast

228 229 Vision forward looking Mission steadfast