VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDO #1301/01 2411233
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 291233Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY DOHA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5463
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0971
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//PASS TO USCENTCOM FWD//
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L DOHA 001301 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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: DECL: 10/30/2011 
TAGS: KPAO PREL QA ALJAZEERA
SUBJECT: DCM CONVEYS USG CONCERN OVER LEBANON CONFLICT 
COVERAGE TO AL JAZEERA 
 
REF: DOHA 923 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Chase Untermeyer, reasons 1.4 (b&d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: During a courtesy call with Wadah Khanfar, Al 
Jazeera Network Director-General, DCM conveyed USG concerns 
about the channel's coverage of the recent Lebanon conflict. 
Khanfar said November 1 is the expected launch date of Al 
Jazeera English channel and that a replacement for himself as 
manager of the Arabic channel would not be named until the 
end of the year. End summary. 
 
¶2. (U) DCM, accompanied by PAO, made a courtesy call on Wadah 
Khanfar, Director-General of the Al Jazeera Network (AJN) and 
Managing Director of Al Jazeera Arabic. Highlights of the 
conversation included: 
 
Al Jazeera coverage of the Lebanon conflict 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) DCM mentioned that the USG had serious concerns about 
Al Jazeera's coverage of events in Lebanon, sometimes related 
to reporting inaccuracy and sometimes to the inflammatory 
nature of the coverage. "At times the correspondents appear 
to be, not reporting the news, but participating in it," DCM 
noted. Khanfar reiterated that AJ takes questions of accuracy 
seriously and that it is policy that any mistakes made should 
be corrected. With regard to tone, he said, the question is 
less clear-cut. The most strenuous attempts to be objective 
and report both sides cannot overcome the strength of the 
mood on the Arab street in the case of Lebanon, he said. The 
fact is, the majority of people interviewed on the ground 
were critical of American policy in "not restraining Israel" 
and this was inevitably reflected in the coverage. He noted 
that, in addition, where the correspondents were Lebanese, it 
became very difficult for them to maintain objectivity. DCM 
then asked if AJ attempted to correct this bias by importing 
non-Lebanesecorrespondents. Khanfar said AJ had done this 
whn it was still reporting from Iraq for that very rason 
(all but one of its correspondents were nonIraqi), but that 
in ebanon's case, the conflict truck unexpectedly during 
summer vacation period, making it difficult to eplace 
correspondents on the ground at short notie. 
 
Al Arabiyya's coverage of the Lebanon conflit 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶4. (U) Khanfar said that, in his judgment, Al Aabiyya lost 
its way early on during the conflictby attempting to follow 
the official Saudi line (critical of Hezbollah) in its 
coverage. "In terms of statistics and viewership, they lost 
completely, and Al Jazeera won," said Khanfar. 
 
Launch date for Al Jazeera English (AJE) 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Khanfar said the currently scheduled launch date for 
AJE is November 1 but that he was not sure whether it would 
be met. He blamed the French video technolocy company Thomson 
for the delay. He said AJ had made a "strategic mistake" in 
opting to use high-definition technology for AJE. The 
technology is new and not stable, he said, noting that the 
company began to develop the needed software only after the 
contract was signed. They had contracted to complete the 
contract "in April, and now it is August," he complained. He 
also noted that Al Jazeera has now signed two contracts for 
distribution in the United States, and expected to sign more 
during the coming weeks. But he could not give an idea of the 
level of penetration AJI expects to attain before the launch 
or say in which markets AJE would initially be available. AJ 
has also signed a contract for broadband delivery so that 
viewers who can't receive cable service will be able to view 
AJE via computer. 
 
Khanfar's replacement at Al Jazeera Arabic 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (U) As he has said previously (reftels), Khanfar said he 
expected that a replacement for himself as manager of Al 
Jazeera Arabic would be named at the end of the year, after 
the launch of AJE. He said he thought the replacement would 
likely be a Qatari. Note: One name that has been mentioned by 
observers is Qatari national Ahmed Al Kholaifi, who is an AJN 
board member. Al Kholaifi currently occupies a senior 
 
position in the Ministry of Public Works and is much occupied 
with preparations for the Doha Asian Games. Rumor has it that 
although Al Kholaifi does not have media experience, he would 
represent a compromise in the issue, which has pitted Khanfar 
against other AJN Board members, notably Amcit Mahmoud 
Shammam (reftels). End note. 
UNTERMEYER