Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DOHA104
2006-01-23 08:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Doha
Cable title:  

ENTERING ITS TENTH YEAR, AL JAZEERA COVETS GLOBAL

Tags:  PREL KPAO QA ALJAZEERA 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DOHA 000104 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE
BAGHDAD FOR HOSTAGE WORKING GROUP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2010
TAGS: PREL KPAO QA ALJAZEERA
SUBJECT: ENTERING ITS TENTH YEAR, AL JAZEERA COVETS GLOBAL
ROLE

REF: A. 05 STATE 217718

B. 05 DOHA 1765

C. 05 DOHA 1803

Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer, reasons 1.4 (b&d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DOHA 000104

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE
BAGHDAD FOR HOSTAGE WORKING GROUP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2010
TAGS: PREL KPAO QA ALJAZEERA
SUBJECT: ENTERING ITS TENTH YEAR, AL JAZEERA COVETS GLOBAL
ROLE

REF: A. 05 STATE 217718

B. 05 DOHA 1765

C. 05 DOHA 1803

Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer, reasons 1.4 (b&d)


1. (C) Summary: PAO met 1/18 with Wadah Khanfar, Al Jazeera
Managing Director, to discuss Ref A demarche and continuing
USG concerns with Al Jazeera programming. Khanfar described a
series of initiatives planned by Al Jazeera to mark its tenth
anniversary year with a view to positioning itself on the
global journalistic stage. Khanfar complied 1/19 with PAO's
request to provide the Baghdad Hostage Group with a copy of
the videotape showing American citizen kidnap victim hostage
Jill Carroll with her captors. End summary.

Continuing USG concerns with AJ programming
--------------


2. (C) PAO met 1/18 with Wadah Khanfar, Al Jazeera Managing
Director, to deliver the most recent DIA unclassified
snippets and discuss Ref A demarche. Khanfar said he had not
yet received Ref A talking points (delivered 12/15 to ForMin
Hamid bin Jassim by the Ambassador) from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. PAO summarized continuing USG concerns with
the professionalism of Al Jazeera's news and talk show
coverage, including the airing of terrorist-provided
videotapes; the channel's failure to present a diverse range
of opinions or to balance extremist views, in particular
where coverage of events in Iraq is concerned; inaccurate
reports on coalition military operations in Iraq; failure to
adequately double-source on Iraqi reporting; failure to
clearly identify sources; failure to run retractions; and
continued use of inflammatory language. Khanfar promised a
more detailed response to Ref A demarche and the latest
unclassified snippets after he had had a chance to review

SIPDIS
them. Meanwhile, he said, he continues to be concerned about
the USG's relatively recent insistence that Al Jazeera stop
airing insurgent-provided videotapes altogether. He
reiterated his previous insistence (Ref B) that Al Jazeera
had agreed only to air judiciously-edited portions of such
tapes and that he had never agreed to keep them off the air.

Al Jazeera Turns Ten
--------------


3. (C) "This year is our tenth anniversary. We are planning
many activities to globalize Al Jazeera's style and go

international," said Khanfar. Among the initiatives planned
are the following, he said.

The International Board of Visitors
--------------


4. (C) Khanfar said Al Jazeera has now established an
international advisory body consisting of respected
international journalism figures to assess and advise on Al
Jazeera operations. (Note: The suggestion originated with
former Ambassador Rick Burt of the Washington lobby firm of
Barbour Griffith Rogers. End note.) The new body, to be known
as the Al Jazeera International Board of Visitors, is due to
arrive in Doha on February 3, having reviewed Al
Jazeera-related material prior to their arrival. The group,
which Khanfar said AJ envisions as playing an
institutionalized international "quality assurance" role,
will spend two days in consultation with the channel's staff
in Doha and make its recommendations. The group will hold
regular meetings on a three-monthly basis thereafter.
According to a list provided by Al Jazeera's head of
International and Media Relations (Canadian citizen Satnam
Matharu),ten of the Board's proposed 15 members are:


1. Frank Sesno, former CNN Washington Bureau Chief, now
professor of public policy and communication at George Mason
University.

2. Richard Burt, senior adviser to the Washington Center for
Strategic International Studies (CSIS),former U.S.
Ambassador and former New York Times correspondent.

3. Christine Ockrent, producer and anchor of France 3
Television's weekly current affairs program, France Europe
Express.

4. Josef Jofee, publisher-editor of the German Weekly Die
Zeit.

5. Andrew Neil, former BBC journalist, chief executive of The
Spectator.

6. Yoichi Funabashi, Foreign Affairs Columnist for the
Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shimbun.

7. Allister Sparks, former editor of the South African
newspapers the Rand Daily Mail and the Sunday Express,
founder of the South African Institute for Advancement of
Journalism.

8. Enrique Santos Calderon, Editor of the Colombian newspaper
El Tiempo.

9. Fahmy Howeidi, columnist and deputy editor in chief of the
Egyptian Al Ahram newspaper.

10. Joseph Samaha, Editor in Chief of the As-Safir newspaper,
former Beirut manager of Al Hayat newspaper.

(The complete document with member bios has been emailed as a
PDF document to NEA/ARPI Shawn Thorne).
The Second Al Jazeera Forum
--------------

5. (C) Khanfar said AJ's second annual forum is scheduled to
be held in Doha Jan 31 thru Feb 2 and is entitled: "Defending
Freedom, Defining Responsibility." According to Khanfar, more
than 250 professional journalists have been invited from
Asia, Europe, the USA and the Middle East. (Fox, CNN, ABC and
NBC are among the US invitees, he said.) The themes listed in
the forum advertising seem to have global, rather than
regional, appeal. For example, one panel is entitled: "World
Media: Building Walls or Pulling Them Down?" and another,
"Media and Power: Democracy versus Dictatorship." One panel,
"Al Jazeera in the Mirror" will take "a critical look at Al
Jazeera" and at "the so-called 'Al Jazeera Effect' and how
satellite television has changed the way information is
disseminated. It will also look at the soon-to-be launched
English-language channel, Al Jazeera International." (Note
for Telesur watchers: Among those expected to attend,
according to Matharu, is Andres Izarra, the head of the South
American channel.) Khanfar and Matharu urged PAO to attend
the conference.


Al Jazeera Training Center expands its programming
-------------- --------------


6. (C) The Al Jazeera Training Center will keep in step with
this 10th-anniversary mode of expansion and
internationalization, said Khanfar. The courses will be
expanded and upgraded. Instead of short-term courses measured
in days or weeks, three-month, six-month and one-year courses
will now be offered by the training center. The one-year
courses in particular will focus on university graduates,
who, despite their technical journalism training, often lack
political awareness, he said. The Training Center will seek
to offer in-depth courses to such graduates focusing on the
philosophical, historical and political aspects of their job.
PAO asked about the trainers for these courses. Khanfar
replied that the majority of the trainers currently come from
the Thomson school of journalism in the UK (Note: as
discussed Ref C. End note.). He said Al Jazeera had begun to
develop a relationship with the Missouri School of Journalism
with an eye to signing a memorandum of understanding with
them (Ref C). He said the school's Dean visited Doha and
plans were fairly advanced to sign the MOU to implement the
expanded course offerings, when the school suddenly pulled
back and told AJ that given "the current atmosphere" and the
connotations attached to the Al Jazeera name, it might be
best to hold back on cementing the relationship between the
Missouri School of Journalism.

Khanfar provides copy of hostage tape
--------------


7. (C) Following the 1/17 airing by Al Jazeera of a tape
showing American citizen hostage Jill Carroll in captivity in
Baghdad, PAO reiterated the USG position that such tapes
should not be aired. Khanfar replied that Al Jazeera has said
from the beginning it would continue to air such tapes but
only in edited versions, as it did 1/17. He noted that Al
Jazeera continued to broadcast its condemnation of the
kidnapping and to call for the release of Carroll and would
continue to broadcast interviews with individuals calling for
her release during the course of the day. PAO asked Khanfar
for a copy of the tape, noting that Embassy Baghdad could use
the information possibly to help save Carroll's life. Khanfar
hesitated and said, "We have refused every request like this,
but let me see what I can do. I have to get some permissions
first." A copy of the tape was passed to PAO by AJ on the
morning of 1/19.

Comment
--------------

8. (C) In pursuing its global ambitions, Al Jazeera has been
quick to take advantage of the wide international media
support it garnered in the wake of the Nov 22 UK Daily Mirror
story alleging that in April 2004 President Bush had proposed
bombing Al Jazeera's Doha headquarters to Prime Minister Tony
Blair. (Note: The story has continued to play strongly on Al
Jazeera and in the local media, as the channel pursues its
efforts to obtain a copy of the classified UK government
memorandum allegedly containing details of the exchange.
Khanfar confirmed to PAO 1/18 that AJ hired a UK law firm in
early January to continue to pursue the matter. End note.)
Following the publication of the Daily Mirror story, Khanfar
traveled to London claiming he sought the truth about the
alleged conversation from the British government. Although
the UK government proved unresponsive, Khanfar attracted
support for AJ's position among British and international
media by organizing various well-publicized press events,
including a discussion seminar he co-hosted with the Daily
Mirror at the London Press Club. Khanfar is clearly using
this support to further his vision of an internationalized
AJ. Another element in his favor is the establishment of Al
Jazeera International, the English version of the channel,
due to be launched later this year. Although there are
reports of tension between the staffs of Al Jazeera Arabic
and Al Jazeera International, the standing up of AJI, with
its growing list of big-name media recruits from all parts of
the world, has certainly added a much wider international
scope to the Al Jazeera brand name. Al Jazeera Arabic
presently has a reported estimated viewership of between 40
and 50 million and targets primarily Arabs, who represent
about 18 percent of the Muslim world. AJI, with hubs planned
in Doha, Washington, London and Kuala Lumpur, hopes to appeal
to the English-speaking remainder of the Muslim world.
Together, if their joint vision works out as planned, they
will represent a pivotal element in US relations with both
the Arab and the Muslim worlds.

Comment continued
--------------


9. (C) Al Jazeera's approach to the kidnapping of Christian
Science Monitor reporter Jill Carroll seemed to turn on the
fact that she is a fellow journalist. The approach fits in
with AJ's apparent new strategy of positioning itself as a
central player in the global stage of journalism. AJ's airing
of the tape was restrained and was accompanied by a
forthright condemnation of such acts against journalists
worldwide. We feel it is also noteworthy that AJ has
continued to air appeals for Carroll's release (including,
most recently, an appeal from Jim Carroll, the journalist's
father) and continues its iteration of the "solidarity among
journalists" theme. Khanfar's decision to share a copy of the
tape (which AJ has never done before) may also be a
reflection of the importance he places on this theme. It will
be interesting to see in what way AJ's approach will differ
in future cases where the kidnap victim is not a fellow
journalist.
UNTERMEYER