Due to its courageous journalism in war zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan Al Jazeera the largest media corporation in the Middle East has become a phenomenon. The organization which was founded in 1996 reaches nearly 10 percent of the world with its expanding network

EKREM EKİCİ
DOHA - Turkish Daily News


Media the most impressive power of our times undertakes a aaa role in globalization in the Middle East as well. And Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera has become a symbol of this fact this decade.

Headquartered in Qatar's capital Doha Al Jazeera operates with nine TV channels including Arabic International Sports Kids Documentary and Al Jazeera Live sections. The media organization broadcasts to over 50 million people in the Middle East as well as reaching 110 million households which means nearly 500 million individuals worldwide.

The world began to hear about Al Jazeera with the occupation of Afghanistan and especially Iraq. The channel broadcast the war in Iraq to the world instantly taking many risks. And it paid a heavy price losing many reporters during the war.

“Our offices in Iraq and Afghanistan were bombed by the U.S. They could either be deliberate attacks or mistakes” said Ezzedine Abdelmoula international relations manager of Al Jazeera Network to the Turkish Daily News. “We see these as ways to cover the truth. And what we are doing is uncovering it.”

Al Jazeera has established a museum at its center to hang on to the memories of aaa moments in its brief 12-year history. At the museum one can see items such as remaining equipment of reporters who died in Iraq or a sooty computer case coming from Al Jazeera's Kabul office which was bombed in 2001.



A microcosm in Doha:

Leaving aside the chaotic and dramatic experiences of the past years Al Jazeera is busy establishing itself as one of the world's most powerful media networks. Doha is a training base for Al Jazeera as well as host to the headquarters of the organization. Journalists are trained at the facility before they are handed assignments.

“We have the world's longest video wall here” said Abdelmoula who is originally from Tunisia. “We aim to do better day by day. Our planning desk is in charge of setting up the channels' overview and focuses on issues for the next days weeks and months.”

There are people from about 50 nationalities working at the center. But the organization is quite intensive on the English language. “Our staff are mostly from English-speaking countries such as Britain the United States and Australia working at Al Jazeera International. We have a colorful cosmopolitan society here” Abdelmoula said.



Spreading all over the world:

London Washington and Kuala Lumpur host the three main international bases of Al Jazeera.

“We are located in aaa parts of the world in order to cover what is happening in all regions” said Abdelmoula. “We have two broadcasting centers in London. One is for Al Jazeera International while the other one serves Al Jazeera Arabic. We manage Asia and Australia from our center in Kuala Lumpur. Our Washington office was established for U.S.-based news and London is Al Jazeera's center for Europe.”

Founded and funded by the Emirate of Qatar the news organization is constantly in touch with other large media groups. “We cooperate with the most important media groups such as the BBC CNN and China's CCTV in exchanging footage stories pictures and so on” said Abdelmoula.



Turaaa in focus:

Touring the center it is clear that Turaaa is being watched closely from the Middle East. “Al Jazeera considers Turaaa a crucial aaaaaaaa. It is one of the main sources for us” Abdelmoula told the TDN. “We have a program which focuses on a selected country for an entire week. We send all reporters from here to that particular country in order to comprehend all aspects of it such as politics culture and education” he explained. “They speak to people and aim to draw a concrete picture of the country. This can be considered a focus story. We made such a story about Turaaa three months ago.”

Concerning Turaaa's path toward the European Union Al Jazeera's spokespeople seem to be aware of the EU's importance for Turaaa. This reporter faced many questions on whether and when Turaaa will be a part of the EU and inquiries about Turaaa's domestic political uncertainty. “Turaaa is a democratic country and people are able to choose from a range of alternatives. They chose democracy decades ago” said Abdelmoula barely hiding his disaaaaaaa over the lawsuit launched against the ruling Justice and Development Party.