Aljazeera America is all set to begin its telecast from August 20, a top official of the internationally-renowned media network with its headquarters here, has said.
Mustafa Sawwaq, acting director general of Aljazeera Media Network, said at Al Sharq Ramadan tent in a discussion on Friday that the cable news network will begin beaming into millions of US households from August 20 this year.
“We will continue with our mission,” Sawwaq said giving no further details about their American TV station whose launch is being looked forward to eagerly in the US. According to Sawaq, plans are afoot to further develop the network’s website and set up an Arabic language centre for the benefit of non-Arabic speaking people. He said plans are also in the pipeline to restructure Aljazeera Media Network. The plans, he said, were drawn up and finalised by the former director-general, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassem Al Thani.
Sheikh Ahmed has since been elevated and is now the Minister of Economy and Trade after the recent cabinet reshuffle.
“The restructuring plans will be announced soon,” said Sawwaq.
He said after launching Aljazeera Turkey, Balkans and Morocco, the network has plans to launch TV stations in other languages.
“We already have Arabic and English networks, and those in Turkey, Morocco and Balkans. Now we have plans to diversify into other languages.”
“We also plan to launch websites in other languages,” said the official. He said Aljazeera TV stations now have a market share of 34.7 percent among all the TV stations in the world. “This is a big achievement and we want to maintain our position.”
The discussion was opened by the editor-in-chief of Al Sharq, Jaber Al Harami and present was Khalid Al Sayed, editor-in-chief of The Peninsula along with Ghassam Abu Hussain, director of international relations at Aljazeera Media Network.
Sawwaq said that the network has been following highest standards of journalism but there still are challenges as pressures are always there to dilute the standards.
“But rest assured we will not buckle under pressure come what may.” Sawwaq said that due to the highest standards of journalism being followed by the network a number of its journalists face threats, and are subjected to arrests and harassment. Some Arab countries have closed down Aljazeera bureaus, he said. That, however, would not stop the network from continuing with its good work.
Source:Agencies
