What is Al Jazeera?

Al Jazeera is fully owned and operated by a parent company, the Al-Jazeera Media Network. This parent organization controls a variety of holdings bearing the Al-Jazeera brand, including the original Arabic channel, the English channel, and its American and Balkan offshoots. The Al-Jazeera media network, in turn, receives significant funding from the ruling royal family of Qatar, a delightfully sunny desert oasis nation situated on the Persian Gulf. Al-Jazeera and its supporters claim that it is editorially independent of its backers. This essentially means that the channel’s Qatari royal backers have no influence over the broadcaster’s content or coverage, much like how the British government does not directly influence the operations of the BBC despite funding it. In January 1999, the network started 24-hour broadcasting with a following of 35 million by 2000. It attracted those who wanted news that was untouched and uncensored by the officials and Al Jazeera provided just that. Despite all difficulties, the channel is one of the most successful news broadcasting networks out of Middle East. It was commended by Index of Censorship for staunchly refusing to censor its content and Brand channel listed it as the fifth most influential brand in the world. Al Jazeera continues to have a highly influential presence in the Middle East and a reputation of an open forum for its issues.

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