Arabic-language satellite news channel Al Jazeera is pressing ahead with plans for the launch of its English-language service in 2005, said Nigel Parsons, the Managing Director of Al Jazeera International.
Speaking in Hong Kong at Asia Pacific pay-TV industry meeting, the annual CASBAA Convention, Mr Parsons said the English-language network will operate from regional studios and newsrooms in Washington and London, plus a yet to be determined Asia Pacific hub, as well as its headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
The target audience for Al Jazeera’s English-language service is global, said Mr Parsons. “Not just Muslims who don’t speak Arabic. The brief is emphatically not to do an English translation of our Arabic channel. It will have international appeal and aims to fill gaps in existing output. I think we might have a ready audience there, but it is not going to be an anti-western or anti-American channel. Absolutely not.”
Apart from its core news output, in addition to hosting talk shows and a wide range of current affairs programming, Al Jazeera’s English-language channel will place considerable emphasis on events in the developing world and human interest stories.
Within the next few weeks Al Jazeera intends to announce whether its Asia Pacific hub will be stationed in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. “We expect to create more than 300 new jobs worldwide for the network,” said Mr Parsons.
Besides its Arabic-language and English-language news channels, the Qatar-based network is already broadcasting an Arabic-language sports channel under the Al Jazeera banner and intends to launch a children’s channel and a documentary channel during 2005.