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Wadah Khanfar is the Director General of the Al Jazeera Network. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Al Jazeera logo Al Jazeera (الجزيرة), meaning The Island or The (Arabian) Peninsula (whence also Algiers) is an Arabic television channel based in Qatar. ...
Journalism Khanfar has covered some of the the world's key political zones for the Al Jazeera Channel since 1997. Khanfar's first role in the organisation was as a correspondent in South Africa. In 2001/2002 he was a war correspondent in Afghanistan and during the war in Iraq, he reported from Kurdish-controlled territory in the North. Later, he was appointed as the Chief of the Baghdad Bureau and was successful in re-establishing the bureau in the wake of Iraq's new political landscape. Khanfar became Managing Director of the Al Jazeera Channel in 2003 and Director General of the Al Jazeera Network in 2006. 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...
Languages Kurdish Religions Predominantly Sunni Muslim also some Shia, Yazidism, Yarsan, Judaism, Christianity Related ethnic groups other Iranian peoples (Talysh Baluch Gilak Bakhtiari Persians) The Kurds are an ethnic group who consider themselves to be indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area which includes adjacent parts...
Baghdad (Arabic: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ...
2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...
Student Life Khanfar studied Engineering between 1989 to 1992 at the University of Jordan. During this time Khanfar was involved in a range of student activities which went on to have a definite political impact within Jordan. Early on he started a Student Union with a group of students and colleagues - the idea rapidly came to the attention of the intelligence agency and the government and was strongly resisted by both. However, Khanfar continued and started an inter-university dialogue group amongst students constituted from a range of political backgrounds. Out of this debate and discussion emerged something called the Students Unity Initiative which was put up for a referendum across the different universities. More than 80% of the students at the universities voted in favor of the referendum. No doubt Khanfar’s ability to give exceptional speeches and rally the students had a part in this majority vote.
According to the Students Unity Initiative the students would start a student union in each university after which a national preparation committee for the general student union would finalize the constitution and the bylaws. Khanfar was elected Chairman of the National Preparation Committee for the constitution and started to initiate a process all over Jordan in order to motivate students of universities and community colleges to be part of it.
In 1989/1990 there was a great deal of discussion about the future of the democratic process and at the same time the elections in Jordan started. This was the first initiative that the student unions actually initiated without political interference by political movements and political parties. From that time onwards, the student unions, as part of their political activism, ended up becoming part of the political landscape in Jordan. Again, the most important element that put Khanfar forward as leader of this movement was his capability of delivering speeches being both articulate and motivational. He was noted as being on the forefront of organizing forums, protests, festivals and demonstrations for student rights .
Bureau Chief in Baghdad Khanfar led the Al Jazeera Baghdad Bureau in Iraq which had more than a hundred employees - it was the biggest operation for Al Jazeera outside Al Jazeera’s Qatar headquarters and was the biggest media operation inside Iraq. Al Jazeera at that time became the first TV station to cover the developments inside Baghdad, inside Iraq, and became the main source of information about the early military attacks against the Americans. Khanfar was known to have a good relationship with all the political parties in Iraq as well as having a reputation for an impartial approach with all the political parties and ethnic groups, from the Kurds in the north to the Shia and the Sunni.
A critical issue to be noted in Khanfar’s career is his relationship with the US which became especially pronounced in his work as Bureau Chief of Al Jazeera in Baghdad. During that time the US administration started to heavily criticize Al Jazeera. The accusations ranged from allegations that the Channel had contacts with military groups active inside Iraq, to Al Jazeera inciting violence through showing tapes of military operations against the American army. The US subsequently made demands on the Channel to change its coverage. This led to tension for the Channel’s many journalists and crew resulting in Khanfar sending a letter to Paul Bremer. The letter asked the US to stop the intimidation campaign against Al Jazeera’s journalists, and to stop hindering and putting obstacles in front of them. During that time it became obvious that there were more and more pressures and atrocities being committed on Al Jazeera crews in Baghdad - Al Jazeera journalists and crew were at that time detained for days and sometimes for months in the Abu Ghraib prison and some of them were tortured as well.
Further US Pressure The US pressure did not abate and when Khanfar took over as Managing Director of the Al Jazeera Arabic Channel both the American and British criticism and accusations against Al Jazeera became greater. These accusations sometimes became aggressive to an extent that Rumsfeld and Bush in their press conferences started to officially criticize Al Jazeera and blame Al Jazeera for America’s failure to restore order in Iraq. It later came to the attention of the world that George Bush and Tony Blair may have discussed the idea of bombing Al Jazeera, supposedly before the attack on Fallujah in April, 2004.
Subsequently, the US pressure intensified on Qatar to alter Al Jazeera’s coverage and Al Jazeera’s editorial policy regarding Iraq. The US demanded that Al Jazeera stop broadcasting Osama Bin Ladin’s tapes, Al Qaeda tapes, and stop showing videos of military attacks against Americans. The Americans also demanded that Al Jazeera start showing positive news about the US army involvement in Iraq.
Khanfar is observed to have resisted the interference in the Channel’s editorial policy. To safeguard Al Jazeera editorial independence Khanfar launched the Al Jazeera Code of Ethics and Al Jazeera’s Code of Conduct in July 2004 at the First Al Jazeera International Forum. The Code insisted that professional standards and balanced and fair coverage should govern and guide the Channel’s newsroom rather than political or diplomatic interference. Khanfar went on to start the Quality Assurance Department to safegaurd Al Jazeera’s compliance with the articles of the Code. Colin Powell is noted to have commented on the initiative saying that Al Jazeera had taken a positive step but still needed to do more in the future. In response Khanfar stated that Al Jazeera had taken the initiative out of a commitment to the profession and media independence rather than to acquiesce to the wishes of any government.
Journalism of Depth Khanfar coined the concept of 'Journalism of Depth' relating to the idea that journalism in some ways has lost its roots and that journalism needs to return to the idea of putting the human being at the centre of the story. The concept states that journalists need first to understand the human in his or her social, cultural, historical, and political context before being able to accurately convey the meaning of facts and figures. He contrasts this to ‘headline culture’ which may convey a great deal of information but very little understanding. Journalism is a discipline of gathering, writing and reporting news, and more broadly it includes the process of editing and presenting the news articles. ...
ConTeXt is a document preparation system based on the TeX typesetting system. ...
The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ...
Background Khanfar studied Engineering in Jordan and went on to post-graduate studies in Philosophy, African Studies, and International Politics. Engineering is the design, analysis, and/or construction of works for practical purposes. ...
The philosopher Socrates about to take poison hemlock as ordered by the court. ...
An Africanist is a specialist in African affairs, cultures, or languages. ...
International relations (IR) is an academic and public policy field, a branch of political science, dealing with the foreign policy of states within the international system, including the roles of international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ...
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera saw its rapid growth from a single Arabic news channel to the Al Jazeera Network under Khanfar’s strategic leadership. The Network now includes six satellite channels, 2 academic centre’s, 4 shared service divisions, two news language websites, the Annual Al Jazeera Documentaries and Film Festival as well as the Annual Al Jazeera Forum. Al Jazeera logo Al Jazeera (الجزيرة), meaning The Island or The (Arabian) Peninsula (whence also Algiers) is an Arabic television channel based in Qatar. ...
These are: the Al Jazeera Training Centre, the Al Jazeera Studies Centre, the Al Jazeera Arabic Channel, the Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live) Channel, the Al Jazeera English Language Channel, the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, and the Al Jazeera Sports Channels.
Wadah Khanfar is currently spearheading the consolidation of the Al Jazeera Network’s restructuring plan. This restructuring aims to unlock the great potential and strategic need for innovation in the swiftly changing media landscape. The restructuring is aimed at achieving the financial benefits of the shared services model. It also implements best practice methodologies and the use of new technologies in a manner that surpass those in place at any other media corporation in the world.
External links SPEECHES
" What influence has "AL JAZEERA" on Arab public opinion?"(Round Table Discussion-Brussels, May 30, 2006)
The Opening Address by Wadah Khanfar in Al Jazeera's Forum
INTERVIEWS
Foreign Policy's interview with Wadah Khanfar
PBS FRONTLINE/World reporter Greg Barker's interview with Wadah Khanfar
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/newswar/war_interviews.html
Indiantelevision.com's interview with Wadah Khanfar
What is the nature of Aljazeera's relationship with the Qatari government?
Al Jazeera's Chief: 'We are not politically-correct'
Khanfar speaks to NEWSWEEK's Vibhuti Patel about the station's reputation and its future.
The Al Jazeera Invasion
MEDIA COVERAGE
Al-Jazeera Top Man Answers Many Questions, Calling on Spain and US to Release Journalists.
Bush-Blair bombing memo
Don't Bomb Us
Letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair Regarding "Bush Bombing Memo"
Silencing the media with submission or with bombs
Democracy Now! in Doha…"
The issues of media freedom and of the media landscape in the Arab world.
Wadah Khanfar named as third most powerful Arab.
Reuters Institute Launch: Al Jazeera and the English Language
Wadah Khanfar Appointed As the Director General of Al-Jazeera Network
'We try to filter out the propaganda'
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