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Loading...Al Jazeera’s Director-General Abruptly Resigns
Al Jazeera’s director general, Wadah Khanfar, resigned suddenly on Tuesday and will be replaced by Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, a member of the Qatar royal family. Khanfar, a Palestinian-born journalist, had led the Doha-based network for the past eight years, overseeing its rise to become the “most important news organisation in the Arab world.” Indeed, Al Jazeera’s extensive and dogged coverage of the recent uprisings in the Middle East has won the network the praise of no one less than US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who had actually “criticized American coverage of the revolution.”
Al Jazeera, which is owned by the emir of Qatar, was set up in 1996. Khanfar began as a correspondent with Al Jazeera in locations such as Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq. Under his leadership, Al Jazeera became a network unlike other Arab media organizations which are subservient to, and bankrolled by, their country’s governments.
The replacement of Khanfar by a little-known executive at QatarGas, a state-affiliated company, has immediately fueled speculation that Qatar intends to impose greater control over the network. The Guardian says that Khanfar had become “too independent a figure for the Qataris, and that he had come under pressure from them.” The New York Times attributes Khanfar’s departure to a leaked Wikileaks document. A leaked cable suggests that Khanfar had close ties with the US government and even censored some of Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Iraq war, removing graphic photos — of wounded children in a hospital and of a women with a serious face wound — from a slideshow, with the intent of minimizing anti-American sentiment in Arab countries.
But Foreign Policy argues that this cable is being “taken out of context”:
[The cable] was seized upon by the network’s critics as evidence of a CIA-Qatari conspiracy to manipulate Arabs in the service of U.S. foreign-policy goals.
Middle East Online is running with the headline “WikiLeaks topples Al Jazeera director.” But if Khanfar somehow had to resign because of the cable controversy, which has hurt Al Jazeera’s credibility in certain quarters, it doesn’t wash that his replacement would be a member of the Qatari royal family. Middle East Online also reports that unnamed Qatari officials were already looking to cashier Khanfar over a supposed dispute with Azmi Bishara, a Palestinian intellectual and former Knesset member who lives in Doha (and appears frequently on Al Jazeera).
Foreign Policy even says that, for the past few months, Al Jazeera’s independence seemed to be wavering to the point that it “at times seemed like the official network of the Qatari Foreign Ministry.” Its coverage of Libya has been “utterly over-the-top, enthusiastic cheerleading for the rebels,” at the same time as Qatar just so happened to be “heavily engaged in overthrowing” Muammar el-Gaddafi. Furthermore, coverage of Qatar’s neighbor Bahrain has been “noticeably lacking.”
The Guardian also cites “Arab sources close to the Qatari government” who say that Khanfar’s departure was already in the works six months ago but “had to be delayed after a leak from Syria suggesting Khanfar’s removal was imminent – to avoid the impression of caving in to pressure from Damascus.”
Khanfar is said to have been “emotional” when telling Al Jazeera staff of his resignation. But he also said that “People can think what they like.” Al Jazeera’s own story about his resignation does not mention the leaked cable and quotes from his farewell note in which he spoke of the network’s accomplishments:
“Al Jazeera gained the trust of its audience through consistently speaking truth to power, and channeling peoples’ aspirations for dignity and freedom.
“Our audience quickly saw that Al Jazeera was of them and their world - it was not a foreign imposition nor did it seek to impose a partisan agenda. We were trusted to be objective and to be the voice of the voiceless.
“This newsroom showed the world the first images of the Asian Tsunami and of the famine in Niger. In 2011, the eyes of the world watched the aspirations of millions unfold as our newsrooms broadcast, tweeted and published the events unfolding in the liberation squares from Sidi Bouzid to Jissr Al-Shughur.”
Without the director who oversaw its rise over the past eight years, will Al Jazeera maintain its independence and still be “objective” and the “voice of the voiceless”?
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Read more: Al Jazeera, freedom of speech, journalism, khanfar, libya, media, middle east, mideast, mideast conflict, palestinian, Qatar, regional conflict
Photo of Wadah Khanfar by Joi
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+ add your ownAl Jazzerra has greatly increased the world's understanding of the Middle East. I hope they can continue their EXCELLENCE. I wish Khanfar well and would LOVE to see him work with MSNBC which I also enjoy!
In my opinion it was one of the media that was least biased, with the least amount of propaganda. I enjoyed their documentaries (the first one I ever watched was when they spoke to displaced Israeli's who were living in temporary houses after they were moved by the Israeli government).
Most of the other news we get down here is just a bad, bad condensation of western reports. I sincerely hope that AJE retains it's independence.
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We have enjoyed Al Jazeera in english for a different perspective & some good documentaries. They certainly didn't seem anymore, or even as biased in any direction than CNN or all of the cheerleading US so-called 'news' media. If that's all you watch, you haven't got a clue of what is really going on in the world or what the US is really doing to other peoples & countries.
We wondered just how far they would be able to go with trying to report honestly before the Qatari monarch would feel threatened and pull the plug. It looks like that may have just happened. let's hope not.
- "objective” and the “voice of the voiceless”?! -This writer is very far off the mark. - Al Jazeera has spread sick and insane anti-semitism over it's years of broadcast - like playing movies in which "Jewish" characters kill non-Jewish characters for their blood/pleasure...
-The anti-semitic propaganda that has been part of their broadcasts are not shown to the Western world, as they try to appear to the West as if they are a legitimate news outlet.- - It's sad that they have been able to hide part of the hatred they try to spread, because they have obviously fooled a lot of good people, like the kind of people who are on care2.com.
It appears that telling as it is is not in the interests of the rich owners of Al-jazeera in Qatar ;-)! What else is new? Telling the truth is dangerous to regimes that keep themselves in power by deceiving the masses and pointing to scapegoats like the Jews and the West for the problems caused by their own corruption. Therefore, Al-Jazeera, which had recently become a more credible informant on TRUTH in the Middle East (albeit biased against Israel and Jews) is a clear danger to delusions promoted by dictators in Muslim countries.
Hope the content remains the same or better. Al Jazeera has shown humongous promise to better the rights of the Middle East and the changes in the last decade or so has been tremendous! Thank you.
I truly enjoy Al Jazeera's type of reporting and wide range of reporting, it's interviews and documentaries continue as before. It certain was under capable leadership. Once it's viewers have become used to this high standard of content, it would be very disappointing should its corporate culture change. I hope not. One is always suspicious when there are sudden, unexplicable changes or resignations. I hope for his sake that Wadah Khanfar continues with a successful career elsewhere.
Excellent professional!!! I am sorry for Al Jazeera team.
I stayed glued to my computer (don't have a television) day and night watching the events in Tahrir Square and throughout Eqypt as the people of that country worked and fought fo justice and freedom. After that, I was an avid follower of Aj, learning a great deal about the Middle East and Arab countries, people, and politics. These are not the kinds of information one learns from mainstream news outlets in the United States. Even BBC frequently referred to Aj's coverage during these times. I certainly hope Al Jazerra does not change dramatically and cease to be the leader in bringing news of the Middle East to those worldwide who would learn to know more about the world's peoples, cultures, and concerns.
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