Al-Jazeera (which means "the peninsula," or "the island") was founded in 1996 in Qatar after the new Emir of Qatar, Shaykh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, purchased the rights to the Arabic TVdivision of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News Service. The BBC had been trying todevelop an all-Arabic television station in conjunction with the Saudi-owned Orbit Radio andTelevision Service. The joint venture failed after the two parties could not agree on issues relatingto the new station's editorial independence. (1) TheQatari monarchy, which also has closely aligneditself with U.S. policy in the Persian Gulf region, was embarking upon a limited course of politicalliberalization and believed that modernizing Arab media was central to its reform effort. The Emirof Qatar provided Al-Jazeera with an initial grant of $137 million, (2) allowing the station to retainmany of the BBC's recently hired Arab correspondents, many of whom are prominent Egyptian andLebanese journalists with western training. Prior to Al-Jazeera, Arab audiences could receive their news from either state-owned media or from several Arab satellite variety channels that broadcast both entertainment and newsprogramming. The news on all of these channels was, and still is, to some degree censored andcontrolled by state authorities. Even transnational, subscription-based Arab satellite channels tendto reflect the viewpoints of the governments of the countries in which they are located. (3) Therefore,many analysts considered Al-Jazeera to be a novelty in the Arab world, not only because it was thefirst 24 hour, all-news Arabic television station, but also because it allowed its commentators andguests more latitude in expressing their opinions (including criticisms of Arab governments) thanhad been previously regarded as the norm in the Arab media. In fact, the creators of Al-Jazeeramodeled the station's format after western news services such as the Cable News Network (CNN)and the BBC, professing admiration for western stations' roundtable discussion programs,one-on-one interviews, and documentaries. Although Al-Jazeera borrowed the format of CNN, its creators set out to differentiate Al-Jazeera from its western counterparts. Many of Al-Jazeera's correspondents were drawn to workfor the station because they felt that American and British coverage of the 1991 Gulf War was noteven-handed in that it paid insufficient attention to topics of interest to Arab audiences, such as theplight of Iraqi civilians during the conflict. Thus, Al-Jazeera believes that it provides an alternativeperspective, particularly to the American and British news media. Al-Jazeera's motto, "The Viewand the Other Point of View," reflects its desire to be an uncensored, authentically Arab news sourcefor Arabs. Although Al-Jazeera, like most 24-hour news networks, intersperses news updates with headlines, sports, and financial news broadcasts throughout the day, its regularly scheduledprogramming is unconventional when compared to other Arab networks. Al-Jazeera has programssuch as "The Opposite Direction," "Without Borders," "The Other Opinion," and "Open Dialogue,"each of which features a well-known host who facilitates a lively discussion with some call-inquestions and comments. Viewers of Al-Jazeera have noted that the station's staff often try toencourage confrontation by pitting guests with opposite viewpoints against one another in debate.This approach has proven to be informative and entertaining for many viewers; however, some Arabintellectuals have criticized the approach as being too sensationalistic and heated. Beyond Al-Jazeera's programming, many western critics have accused the station of creating inflammatory lead-in segments to news reports, which often feature montages of violence in theWest Bank and Gaza Strip, Afghanistan, or Iraq. These short snippets contain flashes of provocativepictures, usually of human suffering, accompanied by dramatic background music. Al-Jazeera calledits coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom, "The War Against Iraq," and used lead-ins that showedcivilian casualties in Iraqi hospitals, exploding bombs in Baghdad, and U.S. soldiers on patrol incivilian areas. Some suggest that Al-Jazeera is merely following a Middle Eastern tradition ofdramatizing news events by appealing emotionally to the viewer. According to Al-Jazeera'sWashington Bureau Chief, Hafez Al-Mirazi, "there is a feeling in our newsroom that you need to beas realistic as possible and carry the images of war and the effect that war has on people ... yourpopulation shouldn't just eat their dinner and watch sanitized images on TV and video gamesproduced by the technological whizzes in the Pentagon and say this is war." (4) Since its inception, Al-Jazeera has received an enormous amount of publicity for breaking many of the taboos of self-censorship in the Arab media. New York Times columnist Tom Friedman wrotethat Al-Jazeera is "not only the biggest media phenomenon to hit the Arab world since the adventof television, it also is the biggest political phenomenon." (5) Indeed, many Middle Eastern expertshave praised Al-Jazeera for creating a forum in which Arab opposition movements can freelycriticize their host governments without fear of retribution. According to Edmund Ghareeb, an experton Middle Eastern affairs, "it has raised the level of debate and opened the door for freer and moreaccurate news in the Arab world ... Al-Jazeera has helped satisfy a hunger in the Arab world. Itsdebates and discussion programs are tumultuous even by western standards." (6) However, for all of the praise Al-Jazeera has received, there has been an equal amount of criticism regarding the network's perceived lack of objectivity. Many western media analysts haveasserted that Al-Jazeera's western-style format is merely a cover for a reporting style that is slantedtoward a popular pan-Arab, pan-Islamist viewpoint. According to critic Fouad Ajami of JohnsHopkins University, "no matter how many Americans show up on Al-Jazeera, the station will pursueits own oppositional agenda. Al-Jazeera's reporters see themselves as anti-imperialists. These menand women are convinced that the rulers of the Arab world have given in to American might; theseare broadcasters who play to an Arab gallery whose political bitterness they share -- and feed." (7) Moafac Harb, director of network news for the U.S. government's Middle East Radio Network,known as Radio Sawa, has argued that Al-Jazeera feigns its objectivity by inviting U.S. and Israeliofficials to present their views, while carrying provocative analysis in the studio, or one-sided newsstories lacking neutrality prior to or following these same interviews. (8) U.S. Ambassador Chris Ross,a fluent Arabic-speaker who has appeared on Al-Jazeera several times, commented that "it[Al-Jazeera] has a clear point of view on the events it is presenting for analysis and discussion ...with Al-Jazeera what you often get is several people, but all at one end of the spectrum. So there'swork to be done to induce more balance. But on the whole the advent of Al-Jazeera and other Arabsatellite stations has been a great step forward in opening up the intellectual and cultural life of theArab world." (9) In May 2003, Britain's Sunday Times reported that Iraqi intelligence files uncovered after the Iraq war revealed that Iraqi intelligence had penetrated Al-Jazeera and had agents working there. (10) Shortly after this revelation, Al-Jazeera replaced its Chief Executive Officer, Mohammed JasimAl-Ali, who had been CEO of Al-Jazeera since its inception. According to press reports, thedocuments, which were obtained in Baghdad by the Iraqi National Congress, indicated that Al-Alimade clear to Iraqi agents that coverage would favor the Saddam Hussein regime. Al-Ali willcontinue to serve on Al-Jazeera's board of directors. Defenders of Al-Jazeera have decried criticism of the station, noting that all newspapers and television stations have some degree of bias and that Al-Jazeera has at least given air time todissenting opinions. According to the Beirut-based Daily Star , "in its coverage of the Intifada (Palestinian uprising), and the war in Afghanistan, Al-Jazeera has actually given a voice to every sidein the conflict, and done nothing more than televise the images its reporters are seeing." (11) In aninterview with the Christian Science Monitor , the chair of the department of journalism and masscommunication at the American University of Cairo remarked that "sure, the news we get in theArab world is slanted ... in the same way the news received in the U.S. is biased." (12) There has been considerable speculation as to why the station has been able to report the news freely, given the restrictive media environment in neighboring Arab states. Many commentators haveattempted to answer this question by pointing to the nature of the Qatari state, as well as to the effortsof the Emir of Qatar to liberalize Qatari society, while using these political and social reforms topromote Qatar itself and increase its regional and global influence.