Al Jazeera America Launches

Al Jazeera, wide angle

The Arab network's English-language project is set to launch today, promising high-tech 24-hour coverage. But who will watch?
By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — Al Jazeera, praised for confronting the Middle East's oft-coddled ruling regimes and criticized for bringing viewers regular updates from Osama bin Laden's cave, says it is launching its new English-language international network today.

A lot of people don't believe it.

"This is getting a little boring," said one droll industry insider who asked not to be named. "Call me back when they actually get on the air."

But after more than a year of delays, a reported $1-billion price tag and lingering questions about whether any U.S. station will carry its programming, Al Jazeera says it is, honest, ready for prime time.

"We are really, really launching," said Will Stebbins, a Boston native and former Associated Press Television News journalist who is Al Jazeera International's Washington bureau chief. "It's going to be a very dramatic launch. We're going to be live from some interesting locations."

AJI promises to outshine its competitors — such as CNN International and BBC World Service — with a mix of high-definition bells and whistles and an unusual 24-hour news rotation — four hours anchored from Washington, four from London, four from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 12 from company headquarters in Doha, Qatar. In fact, one of the glitches that slowed the opening-day broadcast date is that AJI has gone digital, doing away with all tape and video, giving journalists desktop access to everything.

"There's been a learning curve with the new technology," said Stebbins. "It's a paradigm shift."
A paradigm shift would suggest a new technology, one so glorious to watch that viewers will soon abandon commercial television. An irony, to say the least, if AJI paves the way for a rejuvenated CBS or NBC.

"This is unprecedented; it's the most complex project of its kind ever attempted," said British journalist Nigel Parsons, AJI's managing director. "With our high-tech backbone, involving all new software, firmly linked by fiber, we'll be able to move pictures around the world."