The Future of 24-Hour News
New Directions, New Challenges
Edited By Stephen Cushion and Richard Sambrook
Chapter 16: Networked Reporting on Al Jazeera English: Context, Challenges and Comparative Advantages
Extract
← 200 | 201 →CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Networked Reporting on Al Jazeera English: Context, Challenges and Comparative Advantages
TINE USTAD FIGENSCHOU
What does a broadcast news organization look and feel like when it’s no longer trying to just be broadcast? (promo clip for AJ+, 2015)
Since its launch in November 1996, Al Jazeera has expanded rapidly from being an obscure outsider and alternative Arabic news channel into a multi-language, multi-channel, multi-platform global media network. In addition to the news channel in Arabic and Al Jazeera English (2006), Al Jazeera Network has also launched a variety of specialized sports, documentary, children’s and live channels. In more recent years it has attempted to target regional markets outside the Arab region, such as Al Jazeera Balkans (2011), Al Jazeera Turk (2014) and Al Jazeera America (2014). Throughout this expansion the network has been surrounded by controversy, and its image problem has been a defining aspect of the network for some time (King & Zayani, 2008). Overall, Al Jazeera can be characterized as a fascinatingly unpredictable and unconventional media network in the contemporary global news landscape.
It is not only the Al Jazeera Network that has undergone a dramatic development over the last 20 years. The broader Arab media landscape has changed remarkably, with the development of a new Arab public sphere. In the competitive contemporary environment, Al Jazeera has expanded internationally, entering new markets in direct competition with major Western news media. In addition,...
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