A Brief History of Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera is a Qatar-based news television channel that has over 80 million viewers worldwide. In 1994, BBC Arabic Television was created. This network quickly failed because its primary supporter, the Saudi royal family, ended their funding when BBCATV showed the documentary,"Death of a Princess", which was about the execution of a Saudi Arabian princess. Less than two years later the Emir of Qatar hired many of the former employees of BBCATV and funded the creation of Al Jazeera. Although it was temporarily shut down multiple times in various countries due to its content, Al Jazeera's popularity grew rapidly in Middle Eastern countries.


Viewers grew to an all-time high during the U.S. war in Afghanistan and Iraq when Al Jazeera was able to stay in Taliban territory after all of its competitors. Not only did Al Jazeera win more viewers during the U.S. war in Afghanistan and Iraq, they won more global viewers and became well known worldwide. It became best known for its videotapes of Osama Bin Laden which were seen across the globe. During the War in Iraq, the United States bombed Al Jazeera's Baghdad office in an air strike. Many believe that this was to prevent Al Jazeera's coverage of the war. While covering Afghanistan and Iraq, Al Jazeera also covered the conflict between Israel  and Palestine, making sure that each conflict was given equal time. With an English channel created in 2006, Al Jazeera continues to be a major news source today around the world, but especially in the Middle East.

Interesting Factoids about Al Jazeera:


-Soon after the War in Iraq began, the term "Al Jazeera" became the subject of three times more searches on major search engines than the word "sex" (Usually the leading search term on the Internet).
-Al Jazeera's world-famous logo was chosen by the Emir of Qatar as a part of a contest that allowed the general public to submit logos of their creation. It was drawn by a man in 20 minutes after he heard the contest announced on the radio.
-"Al Jazeera" means "the island", which refers to the Arabian Peninsula.