The Palestinian Authority targets al-Jazeera 16 July 2009
Posted by foray in Kaddoumi, Kaddumi, Palestinian Territories, al-Qadumi, al-jazeera, arrests and expulsions, crackdown, الجزيرة, فاروق القدومي.add a comment
The Palestinian Authority is the latest Arab government to attempt to crack down on al-Jazeera.
The Palestinian Ministry of Information says al-Jazeera’s office in Ramallah has been closed down after the broadcaster aired a programme that amounted to incitement and sedition. It added that the ministry will take the channel to court and that the suspension of all its operations in the West Bank will continue until the judiciary rules on the matter.
During its Behind the News programme on Tuesday al-Jazeera broadcast Fatah member Faruq al-Qadumi’s comments at a press conference in Jordan alleging that current Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and other officials along with Israel had been involved in a plot to kill Yasser Arafat in 2004.
Walid al-Omary, al-Jazeera’s local director, rejected the accusations. “We regret this decision, which harms the freedom of expression and the press in this country,” he said.
What happens next?
History suggests the Palestinian Authority (PA) has little to gain by permanently expelling al-Jazeera’s employees, and both sides will eventually have to reach a face-saving compromise. The resolution of a previous al-Jazeera-PA spat shows how this may come about. (more…)
Al-Jazeera cameraman Sami freed from Guantanamo 2 May 2008
Posted by foray in US, al-jazeera, الجزيرة.Tags: al-jazeera
add a comment
Sudanese cameraman Sami al-Haj has been released from Guantanamo prison, after six years of detention.
Al-Jazeera Director General Wadah Khanfar said: “Sami will continue with al-Jazeera, he will continue as a professional person who has done great jobs during his work with al-Jazeera”
More news on al-Jazeera’s website.
Blair denies Bush conversation on bombing al-Jazeera offices 16 December 2007
Posted by foray in Blair, UK, US, al-jazeera, al-jazeera english, al-jazeera memo, media, qatar.add a comment
Confronted for the first time publicly about a purported phone conversation with US president George Bush in 2004 concerning a plan to bomb al-Jazeera headquarters in Qatar, former British PM Tony Blair has denied it ever happened.
The question was put to Blair this week during an interview with al-Jazeera, which largely focused on his current role as special envoy to the Middle East for the Quartet.
(more…)
Al-Jazeera’s Saudi Arabia breakthrough 8 October 2007
Posted by foray in Saudi Arabia, al-jazeera, qatar, الجزيرة.2 comments
In a remarkable turn of events, al-Jazeera will reportedly be allowed to open an office in Saudi Arabia before the end of the year. News of the dramatic development leaked out after a meeting between the leaders of Qatar and Saudi Arabia on 22 September.
Khanfar: Much ado about nothing? 9 September 2007
Posted by foray in al-jazeera, qatar, خنفر.add a comment
Al-Jazeera Director General Wadah Khanfar has responded to the speculation about his “diminished” role at the station after its management reshuffle (previously discussed on this blog here, here and here).
Back in June, Khanfar added a comment to the personal blog of BBC Global News Director Richard Sambrook. It simply said:
You shouldn’t believe everything you read in the press. Apart from my cholesterol, everything is under control.
He then expanded on his comments in an interview with Variety magazine:
I know what has been written, but I can assure you that Al-Jazeera will remain the same. There has been no change in our editorial line or our editorial policy. As far as I’m concerned, I run Al-Jazeera and I’m in charge. Mr. Kholeifi is responsible for financial and administrative issues, not the editorial line of the channel. In my opinion, this separation between the executive management and senior journalists is healthy.
News round-up: The Wadah Khanfar affair 26 June 2007
Posted by foray in al-jazeera, qatar, خنفر.add a comment
Wadah Khanfar – who has been dropped from the al-Jazeera board of directors – remains in the position of ‘Director General of al-Jazeera’. That, at least, is the title the Qatari press continue to give him. Khanfar put in an appearance yesterday on behalf of the channel at a ceremony to underwrite closer cooperation with Qatar University.
Egyptian online daily al-Mesryoon claims there is discontent and confusion among al-Jazeera staff since the new General Manager Ahmad al-Kholeifi has assumed many of the responsibilities previously held by Khanfar. It says the management reshuffle has favoured the US-friendly ‘liberal’ faction at the channel. (Some commentators have identified three competing ideologies within al-Jazeera: the Arabist, Islamic and liberal factions)
Nuri Yalcin cites a former al-Jazeera employee saying: “There will definitely be policy changes: Fewer veiled women employees and fewer Bin Laden tapes, for example.”
The following is an article that appeared in the Jordanian weekly al-Majd from 4 June (The original Arabic article is here) as translated by BBC Monitoring:
(more…)
Iran lifts al-Jazeera ban – due to management reshuffle? 31 May 2007
Posted by foray in Bila Hudud, al-jazeera, iran, iraq, media.add a comment
Iran has lifted its restrictions on al-Jazeera reporters, in the aftermath of the Bila Hudud al-Sistani ‘insult’ incident. Director of Foreign Media at Iran’s Ministry of Culture Mohsen Moqaddaszadeh said:
The channel is allowed to resume both its Arabic and English services in Tehran after it officially apologized to Iran and made some changes at managerial level.
Is this a reference to the al-Jazeera board of directors reshuffle that dropped Wadah Khanfar?
Meanwhile, Khanfar’s absence has raised eyebrows at the Asia Media Summit in Malaysia. Khanfar – still listed as “Director General of the al-Jazeera Network” in the official programme – was nowhere to be seen.
Change at the top: al-Jazeera network board of directors reshuffled 21 May 2007
Posted by foray in al-jazeera, qatar.3 comments
Qatar’s Deputy Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, reshuffled the seven-member al-Jazeera network board of directors, according to a Qatar News Agency dispatch on 15 May. The new appointments are to last for three years.
- Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer al-Thani, a member of Qatar’s royal family, will continue to hold the position of Chairman.
- Ahmad Abdullah al-Kholeifi takes up the position of Deputy Chairman and General Manager
(Wadah Khanfar, and the title he once owned – Director General – appear to have been scrapped from the board)
Other members of the board are:
- Hamad Abdulaziz al-Kuwari (Former Qatari information minister)
- Abdullah Mubarak al-Kholeifi (continues)
- Mahmoud Shamam (continues)
- Abdul Aziz Ibrahim al Mahmoud
- Mariam Rashed Yousuf al-Khater
So what does it all mean? Leave a comment.
Chatter from the web:
A thinly-sourced article in Echorouk Al Yaoumi sees an opportunity for al-Jazeera’s Algerian presenter Khadija Ben Guenna to take over the top spot at the channel, although she reportedly does not want the position.
Danny Schechter says:
There has just been a worrisome recent development at the one media outlet in the world known for its independence, Al Jazeera, where a new board has been named with a gutsy independent journalist replaced as managing director by a former Ambassador to Washington. You just know what that will result in — Foxera, was the formulation coined by one reader.
Iran, al-Jazeera spat continues 14 May 2007
Posted by foray in al-jazeera, crackdown, iran.add a comment
Iranian embassy officials in Abu Dhabi, UAE, today ordered the al-Jazeera television crew to leave the Emirates Palace Hotel ahead of a press conference by visiting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reported Gulf News.
Jail for civil servant, researcher in ‘al-Jazeera memo’ case; UK media blackout 11 May 2007
Posted by foray in al-jazeera, al-jazeera memo, media.3 comments
Two men have been jailed in the UK for breaching the Official Secrets Act by attempting to leak a memo describing details of a conversation in April 2004 between British PM Tony Blair and US president George Bush.
David Keogh, a communications officer at the Cabinet Office, was given six months while Leo O’Connor, a researcher for anti-war Labour MP Anthony Clarke, received three months
British newspapers are all reporting the story, but not what the memo contains. Because they can’t.
As The Independent noted:
Throughout the trial, the public and press were excluded from parts of the hearing which referred to the contents of the highly sensitive memo. It is a contempt of court to publish details of the memo.
What is known is that The Daily Mirror reported on the 
particular memo on 22 November 2005 in a front-page story. The original article (full text still available on the Mirror site here) stated that the memo indicated that Bush “planned to bomb” the Doha headquarters of al-Jazeera. One source told the newspaper the president’s reference to bombing the Qatari capital was in jest. Another source claimed the conversation was serious. The memo also allegedly “included details of troop deployments”.
Several British newspapers are now appealing to be allowed to report on more details of the case – including the information in the above paragraph. Justice Richard Aikens said the British press could reveal some of the background, provided they did it in a remarkably contorted manner, as The Guardian explained:
The judge suggested that the allegations could be “recycled,” but only if they were published on a separate page of a newspaper from that containing references to the trial.
The Mirror today could only hint at what their previous story had said:
Much of the trial was held behind closed doors after the judge said that “some individuals or groups in the Middle East might react very unfavourably to the contents of the letter”.
Details of the memo had already been revealed exclusively by the Daily Mirror and are therefore in the public domain.
But although our story was flashed around the world and is freely available on the internet, the judge ruled it could not be repeated in reports of the trial.
The original Mirror story prompted some al-Jazeera staffers to set up the “Don’t Bomb Us” blog. A flotilla of bloggers subsequently stepped forward – under the motto “I’ll publish the al-Jazeera memo” – to proclaim they would risk jail to release the contents of the letter.
