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| Arabia |
| Al-Jazeera to go English |
| 2004-11-24 |
| AL-JAZEERA television announced today that it would launch an English-language satellite channel in late 2005 to rival established 24-hour international news stations. "Our target now is to launch al-Jazeera International by November 2005," said managing director Nigel Parsons of the service that, like its Arabic-language service, would be based in the Qatari capital, Doha. "The HQ will be in Doha, the Asian bureau in Kuala Lumpur, the European bureau in London and the American bureau in Washington," he said. Initial staff would number "around 300", he said, and would be recruited for their professional experience and mastery of English, with no consideration for ethnicity or nationality. Mr Parsons refused to comment on the budget, which he said had not yet been drawn up, but said the channel would be totally independent of al-Jazeera's Arabic service. Launched in 1996, the satellite channel quickly achieved global notoriety for exclusive coverage during much of the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001 and for broadcasting alleged tapes made by the al-Qaeda terror network. As well as al-Jazeera International, the group has drawn up plans for a sports channel in 2005, as well as launching a documentary and children's channel. |
| Posted by:God Save The World |