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THE CHANNEL
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INTERVIEW
JE's core business
is to bring to an
international
audience a global
perspective on
international
stories. We are
focused very much on covering
stories in countries that are totally
ignored by other media, and
providing a southern perspective
on international issues.
This world has become
incredibly complicated, frightening
to a lot of people. With an audience
reach now of more than 140m
households in over 100 countries,
we are learning that there is a
hunger worldwide for a much more
comprehensive perspective on
global events. With our Arabic
colleagues we have 69 news
bureaux - more than the BBC or
CNN – and next year AJE hopes to
add 10 more. The end result of that
is a breadth and diversity of news
coverage that is quite unique.
How much of a competitive edge
does that give you?
At the Al Jazeera conference several
months ago there was a study
which tracked news coverage on
the BBC, CNN and AJE over a
period of three months. What it
revealed was that on AJE, more
than 80% were stories and issues
from the developing world. In
comparison, both BBC and CNN
provided roughly 40% of their
news items from the South thus
focusing very much on Western
Europe and the US.
Our mission as an international
news channel is to be strong and
popular in Asia, Africa, Latin
America, obviously throughout the
Middle East as well, and the
expectation of our audience is that
we provide something that is far
more comprehensive than simply a
kind of American or British take on
the news. I think also there is a real
appetite to get a clear sense of what
is going on in the developing world
that has a direct impact on people's
daily lives. People come to a
channel like AJE so that they can
better understand what is going on
in Iran, in Iraq, in Pakistan,
Afghanistan or in parts of Africa.
The Middle East and the BRIC
countries are significant in terms
of news stories – do the US
networks cover that?
In the US the sad reality is the
commercial broadcasters basically
turn the lights off when it comes to
covering the world, and that is even
happening in Canada. And in this
part of the 21st century where there
are so many genuine profound
issues in play that's a dangerous
state of being for democracies,
because the lack of information
leads to faulty thinking and
mistaken policy decisions.
I think that there is a practicality
that's slipping into a lot of people's
minds, including here in America,
that it is really in their own interest
to be far better informed about
what's happening globally. In that
sense I think AJE is perfectly
positioned to help fill the vacuum.
Who do you think is watching and
who would you like to watch AJE?
A frustration that all international
news channels have, because their
audiences are so spread globally
and fragmented, is that it's really
hard to get the kind of hard data
that those of us who have worked
on domestic channels are used to.
So right now a lot of what we
believe comes from audience
responses through our live
streaming, through the internet.
A primary target for us would be
the young viewer – from 18 to 40.
They are less loyal to the so-called
established brands like CNN, BBC;
they are far more sceptical of
conventional mainstream media. In
areas of the world where English is
not the first language this young
US
commercial
broad-
casters
turn the
lights off
when it
comes to
covering
the world
“
”
THERE ISA
When, after a 35-year career at Canadian public broadcaster CBC,
Tony Burman
took the helm at news network
Al Jazeera English
in
2008, one of his priorities was to extend Al Jazeera's vast audience
reach, most notably in North America. As AJE is launching throughout
the Washington, DC area on MHz Networks, he is planning the next
breakthroughs in India and Australia
A
HUNGER
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ISSUE 2 2009
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THE CHANNEL