Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera   (Corporate media)
Motto	Setting the news agenda. Every story, every side. The whole picture. Hear the human story
Formation	12 November 1996
Headquarters	Doha, Qatar
Type	broadcaster

Al Jazeera is a Doha-based media organisation that was launched in 1996 and has become the most watched satellite television station in the Middle East. Owned by Qatar, the formerly editorially independent channel was assimilated into the commercially-controlled media, with concomitant mass resignation of those who refused to be part of the machine.

Background

Al Jazeera was conceived by two French-Israeli personalities, the brothers David and Jean Frydman, after the assassination of their friend Yitzhak Rabin.

Editorial freedom

In December 2010 US embassy cables, released by Wikileaks, contradicted Al Jazeera's claim to be editorially independent, despite being heavily subsidised by the Gulf state.

A spokesman for Al Jazeera said:

"This is the US embassy's assessment, and it is very far from the truth. Despite all the pressure al-Jazeera has been subjected to by regional and international governments, it has never changed its bold editorial policies which remain guided by the principles of a free press."

Freeview channel 235

Al Jazeera English ceased broadcasting in the UK on Freeview channel 235 on 30 September 2024, when Al Jazeera’s signal on the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) network ended.

On 8 October 2024, MikeD posted on X:

I’m surprised that more hasn’t been made of Al Jazeera’s removal from Freeview TV here in the UK. All these years having been easily accessible to the public only to be taken down under Starmer. No doubt for its uncompromising coverage of Gaza. Starmer is a dictator. @AJEnglish

Libya

Al Jazeera broadcast several propaganda stories during the 2011 regime change in Libya, including the story of Eman al-Obeidy, who went to a hotel frequented by foreign journalists, to bring to the attention that soldiers of the Libyan government were involved in acts of rape and torture, claims which were part of a bigger narrative to create international support for the operation.

On the morning of August 22nd 2011, Al Jazeera aired a 'live' report from Green Square in Tripoli, which claimed to show the capture of the Libyan capital by rebel forces. Scenes of jubilation and euphoria enveloped Al Jazeera’s reporter Zeina Khodr as she declared: "Libya is in the hands of the Libyan people". In fact, the Al Jazeera pictures from Green Square had been prefabricated in a studio in Doha, Qatar.

Banned in Israel

On 5 May 2024, Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously voted to shut down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel. Earlier the Knesset passed a law allowing the temporary closure of foreign broadcasters considered a threat to national security.

Al Jazeera called claims it was a threat to Israeli national security a "dangerous and ridiculous lie".

Reaction

Please watch and share OCTOBER 7

Reacting to the ban, Andrew Feinstein posted on X:

"In light of Israel’s decision to ban Al Jazeera I am sharing AJ’s film OCTOBER 7 as a gesture of solidarity, and to encourage others to do so. Please watch and share.

Hamas’s incursion into Israel on 7 October 2023 transformed the politics of the Middle East. Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit (I-Unit) has carried out a forensic analysis of the events of that day – examining seven hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones and headcams of dead Hamas fighters, and drawing up a comprehensive list of those killed.

In OCTOBER 7, the I-Unit reveals widespread human rights abuses by Hamas fighters and others who followed them through the fence from Gaza into Israel.

But the investigation also found that many of the worst stories that came out in the days following the attack were false. This was especially true of atrocities that were used repeatedly by politicians in Israel and the West to justify the ferocity of the bombardment of the Gaza Strip, such as the mass killing of babies and allegations of widespread and systematic rape.

In particular the I-Unit reveals that claims by the Israel Defence Force that it found 8 burned babies at a house in Kibbutz Be’eri were entirely untrue. There were no babies in the house and the 12 civilians inside were killed by Israeli forces when they stormed the house.

This was one of a number of incidents where the police and army appear to have killed Israeli citizens.

OCTOBER 7 is a deep dive into the events that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people, the significance of which will reverberate for decades.

Covid propaganda

AJ produced a number of early 2020 Covid propaganda videos, including "A Message to the World from Italians Under Coronavirus Lockdowns"; an Emmy-winning animated version of Craig Spencer's disturbing & dramatic "day in the life" of a New York City ER doctor; "Can COVID be Stopped?" featuring Dr. Leana Wen; and others.

 

A Document by Al Jazeera

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:UN Secretary-General invokes Article 99 on Gaza	Article	6 December 2023	UN António Guterres United Nations Secretary-General Gilad Erdan International Crisis Group 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict UN Charter	"Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the UN Security Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared."

 

Employee on Wikispooks

Employee	Job	Appointed	End
Peter Greste	East Africa Correspondent	June 2012	December 2015

 

Documents sourced from Al Jazeera

Title	Type	Subject(s)	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Goldstone: An act of negligence	Article	Gaza War (2008–09) Israel Benjamin Netanyahu Goldstone Report Richard Goldstone Hamas Dahiya doctrine Hannibal Directive Benny Gantz Gadi Eiskenot	4 April 2011	Noura Erakat	Downplay of Israeli aggression towards civilians during the Gaza War, causes scholars to question Richard Goldstone. Regardless of what may have been his best intentions, Goldstone has negligently, one hopes not deliberately, undermined the laws of armed conflict and emboldened those states, like Israel, who believe that it is a surmountable nuisance.
Document:ICJ to decide on emergency measures in Israel-Gaza genocide case this week	Article	Israel South Africa International Court of Justice Naledi Pandor Occupied Palestinian Territory Genocide Convention	24 January 2024	Al Jazeera staff	South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor will travel to The Hague to be present at the International Court of Justice as it rules on the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Document:Malala and Nabila - Worlds Apart	article	Malala Yousafzai Double standards	3 November 2013	Murtaza Hussain	A comparison of the treatments by Western Establishments of two young Pakistani women caught up in the 'War on Terror'; One of them treated as a hero, the other ignored.
Document:The UK government is on the wrong side of history… again	Article	Israeli–Palestinian conflict Hamas Priti Patel	25 November 2021	Ahmed Abu Artema
Document:UN Secretary-General invokes Article 99 on Gaza	Article	UN International Crisis Group António Guterres Gilad Erdan United Nations Secretary-General 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict UN Charter	6 December 2023	Al Jazeera	"Facing a severe risk of collapse of the humanitarian system in Gaza, I urge the UN Security Council to help avert a humanitarian catastrophe and appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire to be declared."

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.