Al Jazeera PR

Al Jazeera Media Network today renewed its partnership agreement with Dlala Holding, for sponsoring programs and airing advertisements on Al Jazeera screens and websites. Under the agreement, Dlala Holding will sponsor Al Jazeera News Channel (Arabic) “Economy and People” program and “The Stock Market” program of Al Jazeera Mubasher Channel. In addition, employees of Dlala will be entitled to participate in Al Jazeera Media Institute’s courses and diploma programs.

“The Stock Market” program provides viewers with latest updates of stock markets, exchange prices and latest prices of oil and materials in a simplified and visually attractive way. The “Economy and People” program strives to shed light on economic conditions in Arab countries and its impact on Arab populations.

Abdulla AlNajjar, Al Jazeera’s Executive Director of Global Brand & Communications Division, said the agreement with Dlala Holding was a great success and an example of a mutually beneficial partnership. As part of its mission, Al Jazeera welcomes cooperation with institutions interested in enhancing understanding and the knowledge of viewers around the world.

Mr. AlNajjar also said, “The collaboration with Dlala has benefited and enriched the awareness of our audiences with knowledge of economic issues and investment. Today, we are increasing the collaboration to include sponsoring more programs, more advertising and specially designed training courses. We hope to further expand these partnerships into the future.”

Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Hammadi, Dlala CEO, commented on the agreement, “Dlala has decided to partner with Al Jazeera Media Network based on the credibility and media expertise the Network enjoys internationally.” He further stressed that “Dlala has made great gains from this partnership with Al Jazeera, hence it was keen to renew the agreement and expand its scope.”

Al Jazeera Media Network’s Creative Directorate has been presented with the Silver Promax Europe award – one of the most prestigious awards in the field of TV artistic production.

The Network won this award in the category of ‘News & Programs’ for its promotional production of the occasion of the 100th day of Trump’s presidency that was aired on Al Jazeera English Channel.

Ramzan Alnoimi, Director of Al Jazeera Media Network’s Creative commented “We are excited to be receiving this award. Although it is not the first time for Al Jazeera to be presented with a Promax award, it reaffirms the distinguished work of Al Jazeera. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues in Al Jazeera English’s Creative Department for the production of this outstanding promotion.”

The Promax Award is Europe’s top celebration of excellence in entertainment, marketing and design, honoring outstanding campaigns, social media and innovations within the industry. Over 10,000 individuals and organizations compete for the award annually.

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Al Jazeera Media Network, launched in 1996, Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world dedicated to providing comprehensive news and live debate. It challenged established narratives and gave a global audience an alternative voice—one that put the human being back at the centers of the news agenda—quickly making it one of the world’s most influential news networks.

Since then, it’s added new channels and services while maintaining the independent and pioneering spirit that defined its character. Each subsidiary follows the same principles—values that inspire it to be challenging and bold, and provide a ‘voice for the voiceless’ in some of the most underreported places on the planet. From its headquarters in the Middle East, to the broadcast centers and more than 80 bureaus around the world, Al Jazeera strives to deliver content that captivates, informs, inspires and engages.

 For more information, please contact:

New York, March 9, 2018: Al Jazeera Media Network has been awarded the UN Women for Peace Association "Awareness Award" for its focus on critical women's issues in the media network’s programmes and news output, including the role its documentaries have had in promoting understanding and awareness of the plight of women and girls around the world.

The award was given by the UNWFPA on International Women's day, to coincide with a panel discussion at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss the role of media in empowering women worldwide. The panel consisted of leading figures including Joan Lunden, award-winning journalist and author, Sherwin Bryce-Pease, President of the UN Correspondents Association, Joanna Coles, Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazines, Edie Falco, actress, Cicely Tyson, actress, and Cyma Zarghami, President of Viacom Inc.'s Nickelodeon Group. 

Barbara Winston, President of UNWFPA, said, “In our inaugural year of the UNWFPA Awareness Award, it is my distinct pleasure to give the award to Al Jazeera for their extensive work on women’s and girls issues across the planet.  The programming on Al Jazeera on women and girls issues is exemplary and we’re happy for the work that Al Jazeera has done and continues to do.  Often going into dangerous war zones to get their stories, Al Jazeera journalists, many of whom are women themselves, risk their lives to bring to the world the stories that matter".

Abdulla Al Najjar, Al Jazeera's Executive Director of Global Brand and Communications, stated that Al Jazeera's commitment to covering women's issues is part of the core mission of the Network. “Throughout its history, Al Jazeera has been committed to covering issues that affect women from all backgrounds, faiths, and regions of the world. Women are so often victims of violence, abuse and persecution, and media needs to be courageous in covering their stories. We are very grateful to the UNWFPA for this honor, and are committed to continuing telling women’s stories from around the globe."

Accepting the award for the network were Al Jazeera’s Washington correspondent Patty Culhane, and Malika Bilal, co-host and digital producer of Al Jazeera’s ‘The Stream’.

The United Nations has a series of events to mark International Women's day, focused on accelerating the 2030 targets to ensure equal access to education for boys and girls around the world, to end discrimination against women and to eliminate all forms of violence and harmful practices against girls and women worldwide.

UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres has called gender equality and the empowerment of women "the greatest human rights challenge in our world".

ENDS

About Al Jazeera Media Network

Al Jazeera Media Network, launched in 1996, Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world dedicated to providing comprehensive news and live debate. It challenged established narratives and gave a global audience an alternative voice—one that put the human being back at the centers of the news agenda—quickly making it one of the world’s most influential news networks.

Since then, it’s added new channels and services while maintaining the independent and pioneering spirit that defined its character. Each subsidiary follows the same principles—values that inspire it to be challenging and bold, and provide a ‘voice for the voiceless’ in some of the most underreported places on the planet. From its headquarters in the Middle East, to the broadcast centers and more than 80 bureaus around the world, Al Jazeera strives to deliver content that captivates, informs, inspires and engages.

About UN Women for Peace Association

The UN Women for Peace Association, Inc. was founded in 2008, under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, the wife of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. We help to advance the goals of academic and charitable organizations that provide opportunities for women to partake in the global peace building process through social, cultural, educational and women empowerment programs.

The UNWFPA is committed to the prevention of violence against women and girls, to the provision of services to those affected by violence, to strengthening the implementation of laws and policies against violence, and to the empowerment of women in countries and societies where they are under-advantaged.

Much of our energy is directed toward raising funds for the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. The UN Trust Fund, established by the General Assembly in 1996 and managed by UN Women, focuses in particular on developing countries, countries in conflict, and post-conflict settings. Our contributions to the Trust Fund directly fund these efforts.

The UN Women for Peace Association is dedicated to activities that promote tolerance and respect toward the creation of a peaceful world. We envision a world in which women everywhere have the same opportunities:

·        Access to education;

·        Opportunities to impact the societies around them in a meaningful and positive capacity;

·        Freedom to live in peace, in an environment characterized by tolerance, respect, empowerment, and hope; and

·        Protection from violence and freedom from the threat of violence.

 For more information, please contact:

Al Jazeera Media Network has provided multi-award winning news coverage and current affairs programs for more than twenty-one years.  It is shocking to hear calls being made by a number of US law-makers to register Al Jazeera as a foreign agent under the Foreign Agent Registration Act. Al Jazeera views such calls as a direct attempt to curtail media freedom and restrict journalists from carrying out their duties, a right enshrined in the constitution of the United States of America. This call comes at a time when attacks on journalists and media organizations around the world are at an all-time high.

Although the professionalism of Al Jazeera has been questioned in prior cases; in no case has any evidence been submitted or brought forward. More recently, Al Jazeera’s journalism has been vindicated in four landmark rulings issued by the UK's communications regulator, Ofcom, following a complaint against its investigative program “The Lobby”. These complaints levelled a range of charges against Al Jazeera extending from anti-Semitism and bias to unfair editing to infringement of privacy. In each instance, Ofcom has dismissed these charges and the complaints as a whole without reservation.

Since its establishment in 1996, Al Jazeera has continued to maintain its editorial independence from any governmental institutions, Qatari or otherwise, and it steers away from any political or ideological agenda. Our mission is to “inform and empower people with the accurate, in-depth content that upholds the values of truth and elevates the human spirit.” Speaking truth to power, as Al Jazeera does, is one of the roles of free media.  This has resulted in harsh criticism from a number of the most oppressive and despotic regimes who want the media to portray only their side of the story - and have even called for the closure of the Al Jazeera Media Network. We are alarmed that some US lawmakers are aligned with such despotic regimes, rather than acting as gatekeepers for free speech and free media.

We take pride in our unique institution, registered as a private entity for public good, an authentic voice for the voiceless across the world and an international platform for dialogue and debate.

At Al Jazeera we ensure that our news reporting, investigative journalism, programs and all our content maintain strict adherence to editorial and legal guidelines and procedures to ensure the balance between public benefit vs. personal privacy.

Al Jazeera’s professional journalism over the past twenty one years has enabled it to receive several hundred leading awards for its news coverage and programs from renowned leaders and professionals in the media industry. It is this professionalism and dedication to reporting objectively, impartially and independently that has led other leading world organizations to seek and request partnership with Al Jazeera. We are honored to have been asked to cover important international events such as the hosting of the United Nations Secretary General Candidates debate, the coverage of the Nobel Peace Prize and the offering of exclusive interviews with the Prize winners for the second consecutive year. In addition, Al Jazeera was chosen by the US State Department as their only International Media Partner, during Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted by President Obama at Stanford University in California.

We, at Al Jazeera, renew our commitment to global audiences with news coverage and programs which provide in depth analysis of news and current affairs. We will continue celebrating the achievements brought by our diversity of staff who hail from almost 100 different countries. It is this diversity of values and cultures that enriches our work and provides our audiences with the award-winning content on all our platform.

We urge democratic forces all over the world, especially in United States, to stand with free media institutions to promote and protect the values of  democracy, liberty, human rights, freedom of media and the right to free speech.

Don’t shoot the messenger, journalism is not a crime.

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Al Jazeera Media Network, launched in 1996, Al Jazeera was the first independent news channel in the Arab world dedicated to providing comprehensive news and live debate. It challenged established narratives and gave a global audience an alternative voice—one that put the human being back at the centers of the news agenda—quickly making it one of the world’s most influential news networks.

Since then, it’s added new channels and services while maintaining the independent and pioneering spirit that defined its character. Each subsidiary follows the same principles—values that inspire it to be challenging and bold, and provide a ‘voice for the voiceless’ in some of the most underreported places on the planet. From its headquarters in the Middle East, to the broadcast centers and more than 80 bureaus around the world, Al Jazeera strives to deliver content that captivates, informs, inspires and engages.

 For more information, please contact:

Lyon, France – 6 February 2018 – Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) appoints Euronews Group as its content and brand syndication agent to represent Al Jazeera’s digital flagship brand AJ+ at a worldwide scale.

 Euronews Group is now in charge of marketing and promoting AJ+ digital channels to third party clients and specifically to its well established worldwide network of content and syndication partners.

Since 2014, AJ+ is available on its own social networks and through its mobile app in English, Arabic, Spanish and soon in French. Euronews has proposed its expertise to AJMN to develop the online infotainment brand. Euronews will make AJ+ content available on new media partners' digital products and will propose creating new programmes tailored to specific markets and partners.

Michael Peters, CEO, Euronews

“We are proud to have been chosen by AJMN to participate to AJ+ future development, which has gained worldwide recognition among young people at a very fast pace since its launch.  

Our experience in marketing content licence agreements in coordination with a fantastic product such as AJ+ provides a solid platform for the success of this collaboration. This partnership is an exciting milestone for both our companies in terms of global commercial roll-out and paves the road for potential additional collaboration with AJMN in the future.”

Dr. Yaser Bishr, Executive  Director of Digital, Aljazeera Media Network

“Al Jazeera has made great strides over the last few years to organically target younger segments of audience through its digital native AJ+. The growth has been organically fuelled through social media, but it is time to consider strategic partnerships for direct scaling of our message. We are very pleased to partner with Euronews to explore untapped distribution opportunities through their impressive & multicultural network within Europe and globally. This collaboration cannot come at a better time as we flourish AJ+ into a diverse audience centric digital network with the recent launch of its French and 4th language edition.”

Abdulla  Alnajjar, Executive Director, Global Brand and Communications

“I am delighted by this strategic engagement with Euronews, which will further extend the reach of the AJ+ brand to new markets and diverse audiences across the globe. This marks the beginning of a strategic commercial relationship between our organisations and I look forward to continuing this fruitful collaboration into the future.”

The Euronews/AJ+ partnership agreement has been led by Harold Marraud.

Based in Paris, Harold is Euronews Group Head of Business Development in the team of Kostas Oikonomou, VP Partnerships & Distribution.

For business inquiries: Harold Marraud [email protected]

For further information, please contact:

Euronews

Lydie Bonvallet

[email protected]

t +33 (0)4 28 67 05 35

Al Jazeera Media Network

Press office

[email protected]  

t +974 5050 9111

 Note to editors

 AJ+

Launched in 2014 by AJMN, AJ+ is a global community for digital natives (18-35 years old), that promotes the different thinking of other cultures and understanding of news in a first person perspective. AJ+ content is available on all digital platforms and produces videos in Arabic, English and Spanish. French will soon be launched in Q1 2018. AJ+ generates more than 500 million monthly videos views on Facebook.

www.ajplus.net/english/

 Euronews Group

Euronews Group operates two international, multilingual, multiplatform and independent news media: Euronews and Africanews.

 Euronews, based in Lyon, France and launched 25 years ago in January 1993, offers a unique perspective on world events in 12 languages thanks to a team of 450 journalists from 30 countries. Euronews, a well-established brand in Europe, is available worldwide in more than 400 million households in more than 160 countries.

In June 2017, NBC News and Euronews closed a transaction in which NBC News acquired 25% of the company to make a significant financial investment in Euronews to support expanded news coverage and programming. The company's TV and digital output will ultimately be co-branded EuronewsNBC.

Al Jazeera Media Network has obtained the ISO-9001:2015 certification for its Human Resources and Administration Division’s quality management system. The certification was granted upon meeting requirements of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) following an in-depth audit and assessment of the Division’s procedures and documents by the British Standards Institution (BSI) certification body.

Ajay Sharma, the British Ambassador to Doha and Jamal Dalli, representative of the British Standards Institution, attended the event on January 28th at Al Jazeera’s headquarters in Doha for the official presentation of the ISO certificate.

In his speech at the event, Dr. Mostefa Souag, Acting Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network, underlined the vital role of the Human Resources and Administration Division in the Network’s daily functioning.

Khalid Johar, Executive Director of Human Resources and Administration, thanked the Human Resources and Administration Division staff for their efforts and their dedication to improve services provided by the Division for which the ISO 9001:2015 certificate was acquired.  He highlighted how the Network applies human resources and administrative best practices in order to improve its employees’ performance and provide them with resources required to succeed in their jobs.

Ambassador Ajay Sharma expressed his enthusiasm for Al Jazeera Media Network’s commitment to continuous improvement of the Human Resources and Administration Division’s quality management system.

The Egyptian authorities have again extended the detention of Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein for the 11th time, 404 days after he was first arrested on spurious charges.

 Hussein was stopped, questioned and arrested by authorities on December 20, 2016, after travelling to Cairo for a holiday with his family.

 Since his unwarranted arrest, he has endured arduous months in solitary confinement, being denied his medical, human, and legal rights. He is yet to be formally charged.

 On Saturday, January 27, Egyptian authorities arbitrarily decided to extend his detention for a further period of 45 days.

 Al Jazeera has condemned the repeated renewals of his unjustified detention, denies all the allegations against him, and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.

 Furthermore, the network holds the Egyptian authorities completely responsible for Hussein's safety and well-being.

 Human rights and press freedom organisations have also condemned Hussein's detention, with his family saying he is suffering from poor health after not receiving proper medical attention since breaking his arm.

The Yemeni military force belonging to the Higher Security Command in Taiz, Southern Yemen, stormed Al Jazeera Media Network’s offices in the city and forcefully ordered its closure earlier today Tuesday 9 January 2018.

 Al Jazeera Media Network condemns this atrocious and unwarranted action. The Network calls on the authorities in the City of Taiz to reverse its decision and allow Al Jazeera’s journalists to carry out their professional responsibilities duties without any hindrance or intimidation.

 The Network reiterates its commitment to providing impartial and balanced coverage of these developments in Yemen.

Earlier today it was brought to Al Jazeera’s attention that certain individuals and groups are continuing to seek to undermine Al Jazeera Media Network’s credibility by forging fake social media handles with misleading and false news content. In the latest attempt, a fake twitter account @Aljazeerairan was used to spread misinformation and inaccurate news pertaining to on-going protests in Iran. Al Jazeera condemns such activities and has asked Twitter Inc. to take down the fake account, and requests all our followers to be vigilant about such fake and fraudulent accounts. We take this opportunity to inform our dedicated audience that the Network continues to bring impartial and balanced news content through all its platforms.

Al Jazeera Media Network today launched a news website in the Mandarin language, coinciding with the 17th anniversary of the Aljazeera.net website. The new Mandarin website will be the first of its kind from an Arabic news provider, targeting a Chinese population of one and half billion people.

 The Mandarin website comes as part of Al Jazeera’s strategy to engage with Chinese audiences following the successful launch of its content on popular Chinese social media platforms Weibo, Meipai and WeChat. The project was overseen by Al Jazeera’s late bureau chief in Beijing, Dr. Ezzat Shahrour, who passed away on Saturday 23 December 2017.

 Commenting on the launch, Dr. Mostefa Souag, Acting Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network said “Today we are witnessing another of Al Jazeera’s milestones in expanding our services to a large Chinese audience”. He further stated, “with the launch of Al Jazeera’s Mandarin website, we continue to increase our global reach with unique editorial content, while building bridges among cultures and enhancing the exchange of information, which our late colleague Dr. Ezzat Shahrour always sought to achieve through his television reports and his work as a Bureau Chief for Al Jazeera in China.”

 Dr. Yaser Bishr, Al Jazeera’s Executive Director of Digital, said “The website aims to fill the media gap in China to build bridges between Arab and Chinese people. It will act as a gateway to more than 700 million internet users in China to promote values of tolerance, respect, rights, and liberties while adhering to professional principles.” He also added “This project comes as part of Al Jazeera’s digital strategy to reach our followers and audiences wherever they are.”

 Mohammed Al Mukhtar Al Khalil, Manager of Al Jazeera Net website, said on the launch “The Mandarin website focuses on providing its Chinese audience with news from the Middle East as well as local and regional news. In the coming days, we will be launching a website in the Bahasa Indonesian language from Jakarta. We will be evaluating the success of these projects as we consider launching in new languages.”

Al Jazeera Media Network condemns the arrest of Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and expresses its solidarity with Reuters and its journalists. The two detained journalists worked on reporting the military crackdown against the Rohingya Muslims in the Rakhine state of Myanmar.

 According to Reuters the exact whereabouts of the two reporters is still unknown. Mr Abdulla AlNajjar, Executive Director of Al Jazeera’s Global Brand and Communications stated, “Attacks on individual journalists, media organizations, and press freedom are at a critical point.  The endeavor of uncovering the truth is under assault everywhere and every measure must be taken to ensure journalists’ freedom and safety. We call upon the Myanmar authorities to release Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo and we stand in solidarity with our colleagues at Reuters and elsewhere across the world.”

Al Jazeera Media Network continues in its demand for the immediate release of its journalist Mahmoud Hussein who has undergone a full year of detention in Egyptian prison without trial.  Al Jazeera condemns the unjust renewal of his detention for the tenth time, most recently on Thursday, 14 December, 2017.

Mahmoud was detained in December last year by Egyptian authorities upon his arrival in Cairo while on annual vacation visiting his family.

During the course of this year-long detention Mahmoud’s physical health has deteriorated having first been held in solitary confinement from 23 December until 20 March 2017. On June 13th, while in prison he sustained a fracture in his left elbow. To date, he has not been allowed access to the required medical treatment by the Egyptian authorities, even though Al Jazeera would cover all costs.

Al Jazeera strongly condemns the actions of the Egyptian authorities which are a clear and blatant violation of his basic human rights which are supposedly guaranteed by Egyptian laws and international binding treaties. Al Jazeera holds the Egyptian authorities responsible for Mahmoud’s safety and well-being.

Al Jazeera reaffirms its commitment to its journalistic mission and adherence to its code of ethics to objectively and professionally report all sides of the story from Egypt and beyond. We believe that the protection of journalists must be held in the highest regard - no journalist should be subject to intimidation, persecution, or imprisonment while carrying out their duties. Press freedom is a basic fundamental of democratic values – “Journalism is not a crime”.

Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan and Azad Essa won the Ricardo Ortega Memorial Prize and International Prize at the UN Correspondents Association (UNCA) Global Prize during UNCA’s Awards Gala on Friday December 15, 2017 in New York.

 Azad was awarded the UNCA International Prize Silver Medal for his yearlong investigation into accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation against the UN and what is being done to stop them, ‘Why some peacekeepers rape?’.

 Rosiland Jordan was awarded the Ricardo Ortega Silver Medal for her story on the UN Secretary-General's efforts to highlight near-famine in Somalia. UNCA established the prize in honour of Ricardo Ortega, formerly the New York correspondent for Antena 3 TV of Spain, who died while on an assignment in Haiti in 2004.

 Commenting on her win, Rosiland said “It is humbling to be honoured by my colleagues. I only wanted people to see what I saw during a trip with the Secretary-General, António Guterres, to Baidoa, Somalia: People who were doing the unthinkable in order to survive drought and to save their families. I hope we can all do more to highlight their situation and motivate the international community to help them.”

 Rosiland Jordan is a State Department / Specials Correspondent for Al Jazeera English based in Washington D.C., while Azad Essa is a Doha based journalist working for the Al Jazeera English website.

 For more information:

 http://unca.com/2017-unca-awards-winners/

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 For more information, please contact:

101 East, which is Al Jazeera’s weekly Asian current affairs program won the best Politics and Business category award for "Duterte: A President’s Report Card", while "Voyage to Antarctica" won the award for the Best Interactive Category.

Commenting on the two awards, Giles Trendle, Managing Director of Al Jazeera English said: "We are delighted to win the AIB Awards for our 101 East episode Duterte: A President’s Report Card and Voyage to Antarctica. These awards are a testament to the quality of our journalism and the talent of our teams. They show Al Jazeera English is competing with, and beating, the very best in the news and current affairs market; and it is additionally gratifying to see our journalism receive such recognition from our peers in a world in which journalism is under attack.”

Doha – 9 October 2017

Al Jazeera’s journalism has been vindicated in four landmark rulings issued by Britain’s Office of Communications, known as Ofcom.  The lengthy decisions published on the regulatory body’s website addressed a number of complaints made against Al Jazeera’s award-winning Investigative Unit, which produced the January 2017 undercover series “The Lobby.”  The films made front-page news headlines across Britain and worldwide after it exposed the Israeli Embassy’s covert influence campaign to smear and attack British citizens critical of Israel and its practices—including against British Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan.

Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit covertly filmed Shai Masot, the Israeli Embassy’s then Senior Political Officer, in discussion with a British civil servant, plotting to “take down” Sir Alan Duncan.  In the past Sir Alan had criticized illegal Israeli settlement activity. The threat against him cost Mr Masot his position at the Israeli Embassy, resulted in the resignation of the civil servant, Maria Strizzolo, who entertained it, and triggered a UK Parliamentary Inquiry into foreign interference in British politics that is ongoing.  The Israeli Ambassador to Britain, Mark Regev, formally apologized to the British Foreign Office while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson conceded Mr Masot’s “cover" was "well and truly blown.”

Ofcom received complaints in the aftermath of the series from a number of pro-Israeli British activists, including one former Israeli Embassy employee. These complaints levelled a range of charges against Al Jazeera extending from anti-Semitism and bias to unfair editing to infringement of privacy.   In each instance, Ofcom has dismissed these charges, and the complaints as a whole without reservation.

The findings come at a time when the State of Israel is seeking to close Al Jazeera’s Jerusalem Bureau and deny its reporters access for allegedly causing “incitement.”  Joining Israel in attacking the Network are at least four Arab states who have demanded the wholesale closure of Al Jazeera, amid a blockade against the State of Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based. 

An Al Jazeera source hailed the Ofcom verdict: “This goes to show that no matter what Al Jazeera’s critics say, its journalism meets and exceeds the highest standards of objectivity and balance. We feel vindicated by the rulings and evermore committed to exposing human rights violations by anyone—regardless of geography, religion, or the power of their lobbies."

Al Jazeera Media Network launches today, Thursday September 28, its new daily content on the key interactive medium Instagram, with the aim of providing dedicated, creative and captivating content to Arab youth.

 The launch of the channel on Instagram comes days after Snapchat had blocked Al Jazeera’s ‘Discover’ service in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain; submitting to pressure and censorship requests from these authorities; in a move seen as a clear violation to media freedom and the individual right to access of information.

 Commenting on the launch, Dr Mostefa Souag, Al Jazeera Media Network’s Acting Director General said: “It is surprising that governments and global technology companies believe they can block access to media content and news material in today’s open information sphere. Al Jazeera Media Network has achieved great success in attracting millions of followers worldwide due to its professional coverage. We will not be deterred and will continue to produce and provide professional media content to Arab youth through various social media platforms”.

 Al Jazeera’s Executive Director of Digital, Dr Yaser Bishr, said “Today we launch our Instagram channel to reach out to our audiences with new and captivating content produced by young journalists from diverse backgrounds. This comes as part of Al Jazeera’s digital transformation strategy to reach users on all available platforms and to prove to the world that press freedom and access to information are basic right which regimes cannot take away as they did in the past.”

 Dr Bishr also said: “The content Al Jazeera is providing to its followers on Instagram is both carefully chosen and specifically produced content that takes into account the nature of interaction and the speed of access to both credible information & current news”.

 As the case with Snapchat and other digital platforms, Al Jazeera’s Instagram channel will provide stories that cover important regional and international current affairs events that are of interest to Arab youth and general users of the platform.

 Al Jazeera’s followers on Instagram stand at 1.6 million followers, preceding all news channels in the MENA region; while Instagram users stand at 700 million active users worldwide, inclusive of 400 million users of the platform’s stories feature.

 As part of its digital strategy, Al Jazeera continues to launch new digital channels and services, in line with the rapid technological development witnessed by the media industry.

 Channel’s link: https://www.instagram.com/aljazeeraarabic/

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  For more information, please contact:

Doha – 18 September 2017

Al Jazeera Media Network expresses its dismay at Snapchat’s decision to block its Discover channel in Saudi Arabia. It is deplorable that a renowned global social media platform like Snap Inc. start censoring media content in order to submit to pressures from Saudi authorities. This action is a direct attack against the freedom of expression and will have detrimental consequences to the media industry.

Al Jazeera Media Network’s Dr Mostefa Souag, Acting Director General, said: “We find Snapchat’s action to be alarming and worrying. This sends a message that regimes and countries can silence any voice or platform they don’t agree with by exerting pressure on the owners of social media platforms and content distribution companies. This step is a clear attack on the rights of journalists and media professionals to report and cover stories freely from around the world.”

He further stated “We at Al Jazeera, object to any form of censorship and restrictions to freedom of the media and the right to access information. We call on Snap Inc. and other global media organisations to reject demands of oppressive regimes to silence journalists. We would like to remind Snap Inc. that this decision violates the US constitution, American laws, and values of democracy. By blocking Al Jazeera’s Discover Channel, our followers in Saudi Arabia are denied the ability to follow our broad range of stories and coverage.”

This comes at a time where Al Jazeera Media Network and other media institutions are under attack in the Middle East and face calls for their shut down by some Arab countries.

Al Jazeera launched its Arabic Channel on Snapchat ‘Discover’ in May 2017 and continued to provide a wide variety of stories to its audiences in the MENA region with growing number of followers.