Inside Story

Twenty years on, what has been Al Jazeera’s impact?

After two decades as a leading broadcaster, what does the future hold for the Al Jazeera Media Network?

Twenty years ago, Al Jazeera launched its first broadcast from Doha, and in doing so, it transformed the media landscape.

The channel’s hard-hitting journalism and its uncensored talk shows were unprecedented in the Middle East where government control of the media was widespread.

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Al Jazeera’s honest and objective reporting challenged the narratives of the powerful, earning it the moniker the Voice of the Voiceless, as it successfully redressed the balance of news.

It soon became the most watched TV outlet in the Middle East and North Africa and has since expanded into a media network with several outlets, including news channels in multiple languages.

But how is Al Jazeera adapting to rapid changes in the media landscape? And what does the future hold for independent media organisations in the Middle East?

Presenter: Laura Kyle

Guests:

Mohamad Elmasry – Associate professor of media and cultural studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.

Rami Khouri – Professor of politics and media studies at the American University of Beirut.

Tom Fenton – Former senior foreign correspondent for CBS and author of Bad News: the Decline of Reporting, the Business of News and the Danger to Us All.