(See the \u201ctimeline\u201d of Al Jazeera\/U.S. tensions.)<\/a><\/p>\n\nNot surprisingly, last year\u2019s announcement that Al Jazeera was planning an English-language channel generated intense interest and in some quarters, anger. Soon, there were announcements about the roster of well-known personalities in the AJI fold \u2013 veteran British talk host and interviewer David Frost, former \u201cNightline\u201d correspondent Dave Marash (AJI also made a highly publicized overture to Ted Koppel) and Josh Rushing, the ex-Marine best known as a lead character in the critically acclaimed 2004 documentary about Al Jazeera called Control Room.<\/p>\n\n
But the road to launching AJI was strewn with potholes. Initial projections for a debut in the first half of 2006 proved overly optimistic as word spread of the network\u2019s difficulties in finding satellite or cable distributors. In the meantime, a potential rival, the BBC World Channel, got a toehold in the New York market this spring. In June, an AP story on AJI\u2019s embryonic operation began by declaring that \u201cthe English-language Al Jazeera International TV network faces enough hurdles to make Olympic champion Edwin Moses tremble.\u201d2<\/strong><\/p>\n\nDespite all this, AJI officials insist they will soon launch an ambitious operation that could include more than 400 employees from more than 40 ethnic backgrounds staffing more than 30 worldwide bureaus attached to four main broadcast centers in Doha, Qatar; Kuala Lumpur Malaysia; London; and Washington, D.C. Yet since the delay, much of this has been shrouded in doubt and confusion.<\/p>\n\n
To try and separate myth from fact and to get a sense of what AJI is still planning, the Project for Excellence in Journalism\u2019s Mark Jurkowitz<\/strong> sat down with AJI commercial director Lindsey Oliver,<\/strong> who is responsible for marketing and distribution, in AJI\u2019s Washington offices. (Washington bureau chief Will Stebbins<\/strong> joined the conversation later. And Oliver responded to one question via email after the interview was completed. The interview below is an edited transcript of those discussions.)<\/p>\n\nWhile remaining circumspect about some of the details of distribution and programming, and insisting the problems are purely technical, not political,<\/strong> the AJI executives outlined the network\u2019s editorial philosophy, described the obstacles to getting on the air, and explained its relationship with the Arab version of Al Jazeera. Put simply, AJI seems to be operating with the idea that Americans are ready for a different view of world events that includes a focus on underreported regions of the globe and provides a diverse set of perspectives.<\/p>\n\n(Research assistant Jessica Goldings helped produce the interview transcript and the Al Jazeera timeline.)<\/p>\n\n
[has]<\/p>\n\n\n
Oliver<\/strong>: You\u2019re right; we were hoping that it would be on air before now. And because we set ourselves a schedule\u2026.of late spring early summer, and we found the technology, the connectivity wasn\u2019t ready for then, it might not surprise you that we\u2019re not going to give other dates now.<\/p>\n\n[launch]<\/p>\n\n\n
Q: The biggest single obstacle\u2026has it been simply connecting the four centers and making that work or is it the distribution issue? Is it a combination? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> No, it\u2019s not a combination. It\u2019s absolutely the technical challenges that we face\u2026This channel is going to be available to people all over the world. Quite frankly, we would launch if we had zero households in the U.S.\u2014that\u2019s not going to happen…So no, it\u2019s been purely the technology. This is something that hasn\u2019t been done before. I personally think it\u2019s going to be fabulous when it\u2019s all up and running, when you have Kuala Lumpur speaking to, arguing with, debating with, discussing with Washington and London, and Doha all at the same time and getting these views from different parts of the world.<\/p>\n\nQ: What\u2019s the potential audience reach of the network? Where will it ultimately be available? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> Well I would say everywhere, frankly. That sounds rather ambitious, but my target, that I actually set myself when we started just over a year ago, was to have 40 million households through contract deals at the time of launch\u2026 This is worldwide\u2014that\u2019s never been done before. And I\u2019m very pleased to say that we\u2019re going to hit that figure.<\/p>\n\nQ: Where are the 40 million households going to be? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> Well, everywhere in the world where English is spoken, frankly. I can give you some examples. We haven\u2019t actually announced many deals yet…But I can tell you that we have many million households committed to us in Germany, France, UK, Scandinavia. We have parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, and many more\u2026And of course in all of those areas cable and satellite capacities are severely constrained, so you do a deal with whichever carrier seems to be most appropriate. In order to fill in the gaps, at the outset, we\u2019ll also be on the internet, which is going to be fairly radical for a news channel.<\/p>\n\nQ: What about the issue of carriage in the U.S.? What can you say at this point? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> Well, I can say the U.S. we always expected to be a tough market, and it hasn\u2019t disappointed us (laugh)\u2026It\u2019s taken us about a year, I think, for us to go and speak to cable and satellite operators\u2026about what this channel is and what it\u2019s not. And it\u2019s not something you can do just in one glib lunch or meeting. This is a channel and a brand that tends to inspire very strong feelings\u2026And so, when you have your initial meetings with people you have to be ready to expect a lot of different reactions. To some people\u2026they really think it\u2019s a great thing. Other people are very skeptical\u2026Other people are frankly concerned and frightened that you may be supporting something they don\u2019t want to see supported.<\/p>\n\nI\u2019ve had countless meetings with cable and satellite operators in the U.S., but I have to say that the tone of the meetings is now completely different from what it was a year ago. You know we are absolutely open about who we are and what we\u2019re trying to do, and that openness I think has become appreciated by the cable operators and the more they hear about and the more they understand what we\u2019re trying to do\u2026the more they\u2019re realizing that this is a channel they ought to have within their bouquet\u2026I can\u2019t give you any names I\u2019m afraid, which is a little frustrating\u2026But we will have carriage on major cable and satellite operators at launch in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n
Q: I read the Joanne Levine piece in the Washington Post\u2026and she described some of the sort of institutional resistance, particularly in this country. I assume that was an accurate assessment. <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> Yes, there is a skepticism a lot of the time, or there has been\u2014much less now. But, for me, that\u2019s part of the challenge of what we\u2019re trying to do here. We are expecting our channel to challenge people\u2019s preconceptions; often I think they\u2019re misconceptions, about all sorts of things throughout the world\u2026I\u2019ve never been treated anything but politely and frankly, I would rather somebody came out and told me what their real feelings are and what their interest is\u2026than if they glossed over and politely ignored those issues, because these are issues that we have to deal with. As business, as a news network, we must deal with these misconceptions in certain markets that are there about Al Jazeera, and I\u2019ve always found it fascinating talking to operators and other people in the industry there and I\u2019ve usually found it extremely rewarding once I get into the conversation and they have the chance to talk to me and I have the chance to talk to them.<\/p>\n\nQ: Let me ask you about the editorial philosophy\u2026Are you primarily an international news channel? I know from your media kit that there is plenty of sports and entertainment programming. How do you describe yourselves? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> We are the first international news channel in the English language to come and to be based from the Middle East looking out. Now what does that mean? What it means is that our coverage and our understanding of Middle East issues is second to none. At the same time, we\u2019re broadening that. I mean, Al Jazeera in Arabic language has been very famous for a long time as being the expert with the access to issues and people, etc. in the Middle East. What we\u2019re doing is taking that expertise, broadening that and taking it to other areas of the world that are also underreported. That\u2019s why we have a bureau in Asia, in Kuala Lumpur. We have one in Europe and we have one here in Washington. Now London and Washington aren\u2019t necessarily what I would describe as underreported areas of the world, but what they\u2019re covering are the whole of these time zones that they\u2019re situated in. So for instance, Will\u2019s team here in Washington is not just covering Washington, the U.S.\u2014it\u2019s covering the whole of the American continent.<\/p>\n\nWhat we aim to do is to provide an insight into alternative points of view and news that\u2019s going on in parts of the world that tends to be underreported. For instance, we\u2019ll be very strong in Africa, our coverage of Africa, our coverage of South America, of course extremely strong in the Middle East… It\u2019s always interesting to hear what the other side is saying, but you want to feel that you\u2019re being heard in return, and that there is an exchange\u2014a dialogue\u2014rather than just sitting and receiving information\u2026 So not only will we take the western viewpoint into the Middle East\u2014which I think is very important\u2014we will also be taking the viewpoint of these other areas back into the places into the west where they don\u2019t get a lot of coverage at the moment.<\/p>\n\n
Stebbins (entering the discussion) :<\/strong> I think what\u2019s going to distinguish us from the rest is that we\u2019re not going to be your standard cable news channel. We will have a great variety of programming. We will be informative. We will be a source for breaking news. We will have half-hour bulletins on the hour, but we will also have longer format programming. Every hour will consist of a half-hour block of news, but in the second block will be longer format, and a lot of these programs in that second half hour will be commissioned pieces. So each broadcast center\u2026will be combing its region looking for original voices from that region.<\/p>\n\nQ: Since you talked about all those conversations you had with people who may initially have reservations, what do you say to people\u2026who automatically link you with the Arab satellite channel? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n[When people say]<\/p>\n\n\n
[question]<\/p>\n\n\n
Q: How do you respond specifically to allegations that Al Jazeera is an outlet for anti-American sentiment or propaganda? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nOliver:<\/strong> Al Jazeera is a news channel and as such it is by definition not pro or against any country and least of all an outlet for anti-American sentiment or propaganda. Al Jazeera hosts American analysts, commentators, and guests on a regular basis to ensure that they have balanced representation in their reports. They\u2019ve built their reputation on being independent, impartial, and unprejudiced and you can see that reflected on the screen in their news and current affairs programming. Their very vision, mission, and code of ethics clearly articulate that they look at issues from all sides. Inevitably some of their reports and programmers do challenge the official version of events. But they make no apology for that. One of the key roles of the journalist in society has been to challenge, to look carefully at all sides of an issue and present these points of view so that the audience can decide for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n[Americans]<\/p>\n\n\n
Oliver:<\/strong> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I think it\u2019s a vicious circle. You can\u2019t be interested in something that you know nothing about. And so if information and good news coverage of the rest of the world isn\u2019t very available to you, it\u2019s not surprising that you\u2019re not going to have a great interest\u2026I think there\u2019s an awful lot going on that does both directly and indirectly affect people in the States that they just don\u2019t know about.<\/p>\n\nStebbins:<\/strong> I think we\u2019ve begun from the premise that geography and culture inevitably affects one\u2019s outlook and affects one\u2019s perception of world events. And if one reports strictly from a single national context, that\u2019s clearly going to affect the way one reports. So what we\u2019ve done is we\u2019ve established these broadcast centers in four different parts of the world. So we\u2019re going to offer news from four distinct cultural perspectives to avoid this variation\u2014that we\u2019ll be giving a complete picture.<\/p>\n\n[the Washington Center]<\/p>\n\n\n
Stebbins:<\/strong> Well we\u2019ve been running a lot of exercises\u2026stories that have a bit of shelf life. So we\u2019ve had crews in Haiti, we\u2019ve had crews up in Canada, we\u2019ve had crews in Latin America and Central America, and\u2026we\u2019ve had crews in Texas and along the border. So we\u2019ve been producing stories that have some shelf life. Stories that we know will be issues that people want to deal with, editorial themes that we will be dealing with fairly regularly.<\/p>\n\nQ: Anything else you want to mention? <\/strong><\/p>\n\nStebbins<\/strong>: In terms of official attitudes towards Al Jazeera, there\u2019s certainly been a sea change in the U.S.. I think it can be dated with the appointment of Karen Hughes, the undersecretary of public affairs. There\u2019s clearly a recognition that there\u2019s a certain urgency that the U.S. needs to communicate to certain parts of the world that it\u2019s having a hard time doing. 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