This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DOHA 000793 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP 
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY 
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO QA ALJAZEERA
SUBJECT: AL JAZEERA ACCORDING TO WADAH KHANFAR 
 
REF: A. DOHA 312 
     ¶B. DOHA 467 
 
¶1. Summary: (U) On May 21, a Broadcasting Board of Governors 
(BBG) delegation met with Wadah Khanfar, Director-General of 
the Al Jazeera Network (AJN) and Managing Director of the 
Arabic Al Jazeera TV channel. Khanfar told  the delegation 
that Al Jazeera, reflecting regional developments, has 
entered the third of three major phases it has passed through 
since its inception in 1996. He talked at length about the 
new Al Jazeera English channel and also confirmed his 
intention to step down as MD of the Arabic channel to focus 
on his responsibilities as DG of the overall network, but he 
did not discuss a timeline or the identity of his 
replacement. End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) On May 21, a BBG delegation led by Governor Joaquim 
Blaya met in Doha with Wadah Khanfar, currently serving as 
both Director-General of the overall Al Jazeera Network (AJN 
- reftels) and Managing Director of the Arabic language Al 
Jazeera TV channel. The delegation included Brian Coniff, BBG 
Executive Director; Bert Kleinman, President of the Middle 
East Broadcasting Networks (MBN -- in charge of Al Hurra TV 
and Radio Sawa); and Mouafac Harb, Executive Vice President 
of MBN. 
 
¶3. (U) Responding to questions, Khanfar described Al 
Jazeera's beginnings, noting that Al Jazeera's "edge" then 
and now is that the channel is seen as an integral part of 
the socio-cultural fabric of the Middle East region and an 
entity that "understands the cognitive map of the people in 
this region." Khanfar noted that Al Jazeera's 10th 
anniversary is coming up on November 1, 2006 and told the 
delegation that, in his view, Al Jazeera has entered the 
third of the three phases it has passed through since its 
inception in 1996. 
 
The first phase: 1996 - 2001 
---------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The leitmotif of the first period was Al Jazeera's 
motto: "The opinion and the other opinion," said Khanfar. Al 
Jazeera stood out as a voice challenging the status quo and 
in particular the policies of Arab governments. Its focus was 
on the region, and its themes were regionally-focused, with 
emphasis on reform, democracy and corruption. 
 
 
The second phase: 2001-2005 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) In the second phase, the focus moved to the 
international arena, to global issues such as the War on 
Terror, with coverage of Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine as 
"hotspots" in that context, said Khanfar. The focus shifted 
to global political issues, with the Arab world as one unit 
and America, Europe and the West as another, he said. In this 
phase, Al Jazeera developed "war reporting" as an 
organizational skill for the first time as it reported on the 
"hotspots." In this phase, Arab domestic politics took a back 
seat both in the regional perspective and in Al Jazeera's 
perspective, he said. 
 
The third phase: 2005 - present 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) This third phase began with Egypt's Kifayah movement, 
and was consolidated by elections and pro-reform movements in 
Lebanon, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Palestine, said Khanfar. 
The mood started to change and Al Jazeera began to return to 
the issues that had concerned it in its first phase -- 
democracy, reform and Arab issues. "Now, if you look at our 
headlines, you see most of the issues that are discussed are 
regional issues," including political Islam, good governance, 
democracy, Middle East economic and women's issues, internal 
struggles among Palestinian factions, and so forth. This 
third phase includes the establishment of Al Jazeera English 
and the effect of that establishment, he added. 
 
Al Jazeera "English" 
------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Khanfar pointedly called the English-language channel 
scheduled for launch latter this year "Al Jazeera English." 
(Comment: There has been controversy over usage of the 
nomenclature "Al Jazeera International" for the English 
channel, with opponents of that usage arguing that such a 
label implies that the English channel is international while 
the Arabic channel is not. This is another manifestation of 
the ongoing tension between the Arabic and English AJ 
concepts, with those in the Arabic "camp" claiming this 
development over nomenclature as a victory. End comment.) 
When asked about this, Khanfar said that the matter is being 
discussed by the AJN board, and that his proposal is to 
change the name of the new channel to "Al Jazeera English" 
and to use the label "International" to describe the whole 
non-Arabic AJ operation, and not just as the logo of an 
individual channel. This would simplify matters should AJN 
decide to branch out into another language channel -- Al 
Jazeera French, or Al Jazeera Turkish, for example. The 
actual logo for the English channel would be the classic Al 
Jazeera logo with "English" written underneath it in English. 
Any new language channels would similarly have their 
mother-language appearing in native script under the classic 
AJ logo, he said. 
 
The new channel 
--------------- 
 
¶8. (U) As he did in Ref B, Khanfar tried to emphasize that 
the English channel will be an editorially separate entity 
from the Arabic channel. Each channel will have its own 
editorial board, he said. He added that there will be an 
overall AJN Editorial Board, consisting of the two boards 
combined, which will meet periodically "for coordination" 
purposes (Note: This appears to be a closer merging of 
editorial functions than was apparent during Ref B 
conversations. End note.) The English channel will not 
necessary use the same terminology as the Arabic channel, 
since "Every language has a mind of its own," he said. AJ 
Arabic already has a code of conduct, derived from its code 
of ethics, and the English channel is developing its code, 
along with its own style guide, he said. "The BBC style guide 
will not be very far from the Al Jazeera English style guide. 
We are not inventing a new way of reporting here," he said. 
The new thing Al Jazeera is bringing to the table is its 
focus on field reporting, said Khanfar. 70 percent of news 
bulletins are field reporting, he said, and "we give and will 
give field reporting a high priority." 
 
¶9. (U) Asked about the launch date of the new channel (Note: 
Initially announced for spring 2006, it has since slipped to 
early summer and then to the fall. End note), Khanfar laughed 
and said: "Very soon." He said the delay relates to the 
installation of technical equipment. The decision was taken 
early on that the new channel would use high-definition TV 
technology, which necessitated connecting its four regional 
hubs (Doha, Kuala Lumpur, Washington, London) using broadband 
fiber-optics. The decision stands, but has led to technical 
delays because of technology's complexity, he said. (Note: In 
addition, the AJ English studios in Doha, which are being 
constructed next to the AJ Arabic studios, are clearly still 
not ready for use and occupancy. End note.) 
 
¶10. (U) Asked about AJ English distribution problems in the 
U.S., Khanfar acknowledged that AJ has a significant 
perception problem in the US, where it is often perceived as 
"the beheading channel" or "the mouthpiece of terrorists." 
But the network has signed one contract in the US and is 
working toward more, he said. AJ English will also be 
available free via an internet connection to US and world 
users, he said, so that anyone with a broadband connection 
can watch it, and even those with a slower connection will be 
able to watch, although with reduced quality. 
 
Personnel and bureaus 
--------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) AJ Arabic currently has 40 bureaus and 75 
correspondents worldwide, said Khanfar. He said AJ English 
will be working out of these same bureaus, and that probably 
7 or 8 additional bureaus will be added, including in places 
such as India and the Philippines, where AJ does not 
currently have bureaus. He estimated that the total overall 
number of employees of both the English and Arabic channels 
combined does not exceed 2,000. Less than a quarter of these 
positions are editorial, he said, estimating that each 
channel has approximately 160 journalists, producers and 
editors, with the remainder providing technical and 
administrative support. 
Who will lead AJ Arabic after Khanfar? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) Asked about his plan "to replace himself" as head of 
the Arabic channel (Ref B), Khanfar acknowledged that holding 
down the two jobs he is currently performing for an extended 
period of time is demanding and unrealistic, not least 
because of the sharply different perspective required for 
each. He said he has raised the issue with the AJN board (Ref 
A), which will "make a decision," but did not provide details 
on timeline or the identity of his replacement. (Comment: 
rumor and speculation are rife in Doha about the identity of 
his replacement, as well as about the nature and extent of 
his power as Director-General of the Al Jazeera Network, and 
his reportedly contentious relationship with some of the AJN 
board members. End comment.) 
 
AJ Arabic translated 
-------------------- 
 
¶13. (U) Khanfar referred to several existing agreements 
whereby the content of the Arabic channel is broadcast abroad 
in foreign languages using simultaneous interpretation. He 
said about 6 hours a day of translated AJ coverage is 
broadcast in Malaysia in the Malay language, with one to two 
hours daily also broadcast in Indonesia and in Urdu and Hindi 
in India. He said the channel is looking at entering into an 
agreement in Turkey for the same purpose. The system does 
have problems, he acknowledged. He had just returned from a 
trip to Kuala Lumpur, where he said there were problems with 
the fact that the translators don't have the contextual 
knowledge they need, resulting in inaccuracies in 
translation. 
 
Privatizing Al Jazeera 
---------------------- 
 
¶14. (U) Asked about his Ref B comments, in which he noted 
that part of his task as DG of AJN is to select a business 
model for the eventual listing of AJN on the stock market, 
Khanfar indicated that a note of caution has been injected 
into that plan. He said he wanted over the next five years to 
introduce more of a business model into Al Jazeera's 
operations, partly in order to make the network at least 
partially self-dependent with revenues from advertising. But 
he said that a total listing on the stock exchange is 
unlikely. Those with money to invest in the region usually 
have political connections, he said, and AJN would not want 
to create a situation where investors inimical to the AJN 
ethos were able to gain a controlling interest in the 
network. What is being considered now is a possible partial 
listing on the stock exchange to avoid such an eventuality, 
said Khanfar. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) The Al Jazeera Network is clearly a much bigger 
animal than the already unwieldy Al Jazeera Arabic channel 
and has yet to define many key aspects of itself, including 
the relationship between the Arabic and English channels, the 
technical details of the framework AJN will provide for the 
overall operation of the different AJ entities, and the 
distribution of power within that framework. Chatter about 
tension between Khanfar and Nigel Parsons, the Managing 
Director of Al Jazeera English, continues, with some 
speculating that Parsons will leave the English channel soon 
after its launch, and others claiming that Khanfar is trying 
to infiltrate the English channel with employees loyal to 
him, since he currently has no loyalty base from which to 
attempt to control the new channel. The identity of Khanfar's 
replacement at AJ Arabic is also the source of much 
speculation, given that Al Jazeera politics, like Qatari 
politics, are personality driven and the inclinations of his 
replacement are likely to have a significant impact on the 
channel's operations. 
UNTERMEYER