About the Annivesary of Al Jazeera

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1996 saw the birth of two news behemoths: FOX News and Al Jazeera. Though the same age, these two organizations couldn't be more different.

FOX News went live on October 7, 1996, and today, November 1, 1996, saw the premiere of Al Jazeera in Arabic. Both are influential. FOX News reaches approximately four million viewers per day internationally, with 50% of those in the US. Actual numbers will depend upon breaking news. FOX is the top-rated news station in the United States, but it can't come close to Al Jazeera's influence and reach internationally.

Al Jazeera News reaches approximately 80-100 million viewers daily, with 98% of those outside the US. CNN International, though accessible to nearly 400 million households worldwide, reaches about 25 million daily. FOX and CNN are the primary cable channels in the US and require a paid subscription. Al Jazeera is available on satellite and streaming devices for free. 

Al Jazeera English launched as a 24-hour English language channel on November 15, 2006.

While a corporation owns FOX and focuses on emotion, shock entertainment, celebrities, partisanship, and a smidgen of news in its afternoon and early evening hours,  Al Jazeera came out of the gate dedicated to classic journalism. Factual information that informs without sensationalism, partisanship, or sides. It succeeded and continues to garner accolades from academia, change-makers, and the realms of the informed for its no-apologetic approach to reality. As it has risen in prestige and its programming increasingly focuses on complex news topics such as poverty, human rights, economics, global politics, and the environment, it continues to gain viewership internationally.

Created and funded by the Qatari government, Al Jazeera does have one glaring bias. They rarely cover the tiny Middle East nation of two million people. However, the rest of the world, the other 221 countries and territories Al Jazeera covers, cover it more in-depth, with less bias, commercial-free, and with more variety than even the venerable BBC. 

Outside of heavily the partisan United States, Al Jazeera is the go-to global news channel. The absence of commercials provides information-packed segments, news magazines, and documentaries. Its international staff is recruited from the best: The BBC, PBS, CNN, CBS, France24, and others. 

Al Jazeera is one of the few international networks to cover in-depth Africa and the global South. It was one of the few international news companies to focus extensively on human stories of poverty and the housing crisis in the United States after the 2008 crash. It provided the most intensive coverage of the Arab Spring and the Saudi war on Yemen, getting it blocked in many countries, including Saudi Arabia, not for lying but for reporting the truth. As the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize proves, going to two journalists, Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitry Andreyevich Murato of Russia, it is far more dangerous to report the truth than propaganda. 

Al Jazeera was a darling to US politicians for its clear-eyed reporting on Asia, including the Middle East—until the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Truth and facts on the ground didn't meld well with the "War-rah! rah!" chants of the Bush Administration at the time, so the channel was branded a 'terrorist' channel, and the divided states of America fell in lock-step, nibbling on appropriate soundbites and ignoring anything that didn't support the narrative. A decade or more later, America would realize the Iraq and Afghan wars were founded on lies. Viewers of Al Jazeera during the early 2000s figured that out much earlier. 

With its coverage lauded and increasingly recognized as superior, there was an attempt to launch Al Jazeera America in 2013. The channel could not overcome the stigma attached to it during the Bush years. It shuttered in 2016, but many innovative programs, including The Stream, TechKnow, and The Listening Post (must-see journalism for anyone in journalism), would find a place on Al Jazeera English.

Today, if you speak to most people who have traveled or lived outside of the United States for any length of time or who make a living on knowledge, global business, or diplomacy, you'll find Al Jazeera is a part of their trusted sources. Absent corporate sponsors, Al Jazeera is one of the few primary news sources in the world that rarely caves to politicians, corporations, special interests, or lobbyists. Yes, it does happen with coverage of Qatar. We're aware of at least one instance when lobbyists prevented a four-part documentary on the Israel Lobby from airing in the United States. Still, aside from isolated instances (no media is perfect), Edward R Murrow would be proud of what Al Jazeera has built and become.

Al Jazeera in Arabic means "The peninsula," so named for its host nation's geography.