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Wadah Khanfar
Director General, Al Jazeera Network
Young enough for the challenge
The impression you gain meetingWadah Khanfar is that this is someone who is at once thoughtful, determined and generally thoroughly
pleasant. At just 38, Palestine-born and Jordanian-educated Khanfar has been the head of the Al Jazeera Network since April this year.
The Network comprises the “original” Al Jazeera in Arabic, Al Jazeera Sports, Al Jazeera Mubasher, Al Jazeera Documentary, and Al Jazeera Net – plus Al
Jazeera International, the long-awaited English-language channel that is now expected to launch around Al Jazeera’s 10
th
anniversary in November.
It may be the beard – because Khanfar appears older than his 38 years. He comes across as quietly confident, but in no way arrogant. He
recognises that Al Jazeera is something special, something unusual, perhaps even something that needs protecting. Khanfar is a journalist by
profession, so knows what makes the news and how to report it. He’s seen the sharp end of war reporting, in Baghdad, so is all to aware of what
daily life is like for many of Al Jazeera’s reporters – most recently under enormous pressure from the Israeli authorities as they strived to report
on the Israel-Lebanon crisis.
Those frontline experiences have taught him much about survival and he’s had to survive some crises at Al Jazeera in the couple of years while he’s
been the Arabic channel’s managing director. The relentless criticism levelled by the US, the threat to bomb the channel’s Doha headquarters and
– perhaps more relevant in the increasingly crowded Middle East media marketplace – ever more slick competition from other Arabic news
channels. His good presentation skills have won over some critics – and some hard-nosed journalists – and he’s managed to counter some of the
negative perceptions that exist about Al Jazeera (Arabic for the peninsula). When he went on the offensive in London last December, railing against
the alleged Bush bombing threat, he came across as someone who has diplomacy as second nature.
But it’s not all plain sailing for Khanfar. There’s still much to be done to change the perception of Al Jazeera,
particularly in the US. We think that the channel missed a trick by not getting the US press behind them when the
bombing story emerged just before Christmas – Khanfar needs to ensure that they move rapidly to capitalise on
any situation that involves the Qatar-based network, working politicians as much as diplomats, journalists and
other opinion-formers. There’s much credit due, however. Khanfar has overseen the introduction of Al Minbar Al
Hurr devices to allow viewers to interact via video link with the channel; he’s developed a Media Training Centre
as well as a Research Centre. He’s doing things that no one else in Middle East broadcasting is doing – and to
keep ahead as Al Jazeera nears its 10
th
anniversary, he needs to increase the pace. It’s a good job he’s still young.
Who are the people to watch in broadcasting worldwide? Who are the people
who have the potential to change the way people use the media? Who are the
people who will influence the way in which media develops?
These are pertinent if difficult questions to answer – particularly as the
broadcast media sector continues to grow at speed and begins to engage
wholeheartedly with the “new media”. So the AIB has chosen to spotlight a
handful of the people it believes you should be watching, people who have
made significant achievements or who may be about to have a significant
impact on media around the world.
It has been difficult to narrow down our list of media leaders – after all, the
AIB’s database extends to more than 20,000 people across television, radio
and new media in well over 140 countries, while
The Channel
reaches more
than 5,500 of the most senior people in broadcasting worldwide. Choosing
our top leaders required a considerable amount of soul-searching.
There may be some surprises among those we’ve chosen as this year’s media
leaders to watch – but we believe that the people chosen as our inaugural
media leaders are some of the most influential in the international media
sector. We’ll be repeating this exercise annually from now on, so if you think
someone is a candidate for our Media Leaders accolade, let us know.
Med i a Leaders 2006