#Aljazeera arabic tv livestation free#

Many say, however, the station is not free to report critically on Qatar or diverge far from Qatari foreign policy. The hundreds of millions of dollars poured into al-Jazeera by the emir were undoubtedly a smart investment: they helped put Qatar on the map, politically and diplomatically. It was later reported that George Bush had wanted to bomb al-Jazeera's headquarters in Qatar too, but had been discouraged from doing so by the British prime minister, Tony Blair. It also became famous for broadcasting videotape messages from al-Qaida leaders.Īl-Jazeera's bureau in Kabul was bombed by the US during the Afghan war, as was its bureau in Baghdad during the US-led invasion of Iraq. At the time it was the only TV station with a permanent 24-hour satellite link to Kabul during the Afghan war, and its exclusive footage was used by many western channels. It was not until 2001 that al-Jazeera began to attract widespread attention in the west. The Algerian regime was even suspected of arranging power cuts to stop people watching certain programmes. Initially many of its staff were recruited from the BBC, which had launched an Arabic TV channel a couple of years earlier but closed it down after censorship attempts by Saudi Arabia, which controlled the relevant satellite.Īl-Jazeera gained extra street credibility when Arab governments shut down its local bureaux or expelled journalists when coverage offended. It established a reputation for the professionalism of its coverage, and for its studio discussions which raised many previously taboo issues.

Aljazeera arabic tv livestation