Wadah Khanfar, director general of Al Jazeera. Photo: Roberto SuárezZoom

In a world in which freedom of press passes through the filter of its censors, an Arab television network manages to broadcast a precise image of a massacre, a civilian center destroyed by bombs, and the opinions of the oppressed and the victim. So, while the most known war correspondents of the great western press report the conflicts from the turret of the invaders’ tanks —where they have to be disciplined and “on the right side” in order to broadcast the “truth”—, the Al Jazeera network has won a number of enemies and has been attacked for its attempt to present the undisguised truth.

A few days ago, Juventud Rebelde newspaper had the privilege of meeting with Wadah Khanfar, director general of Al Jazeera, during a visit to the newspaper. The dialogue helped understand the work of this TV network.

—How is it possible that a small country like Qatar has a TV network so powerful and with such great reach?

—Qatar offered a chance to perform journalism independently of the government, with Arabian journalists from more than 20 countries. Qatar does not impose a predetermined editorial line on the network, but it does provide financial and political support. That is the foundation of the success of Al Jazeera, unconditional freedom has been granted.

—What is the editorial policy of the network?

—We have defined it basically in our code of ethics, which contains the principles of professional journalism, but from our perspective – from the South. Our motto is: “the opinion and the other opinion,” so we can give the viewers the chance to learn all the opinions, without shoving one of them down their throats.

“We distinguish between news and opinion. The latter is a diversity of points of view, and we make that distinction to the public. We think that the audience should have the courage of thought and do not be pressured and blackmailed by the forces that attempt to influence them. We believe in the diversity of cultures, peoples and nations, and not in a unique model for the entire world.”

“Al Jazeera began with a group of journalists from the western media, such as the BBC. However, 11 years since, it has developed its own school of thought. We have taken advantage of the basic principles of western journalism, but we have developed it with what is best for the Arab world. Before the opening of our network, the news industry operated only in the West. Al Jazeera broke all those schemes. We’re against nobody, we just say the truth – even if it goes against somebody.”

—Do you consider the network to be a target of the political and military powers?

—The US government has attacked Al Jazeera in Afghanistan and Iraq, and so have other governments allied with the U.S. American planes have bombed our correspondents’ offices in two countries. More than 20 people, among them journalists and staff, were arrested by the US in Iraq, but this does not change our editorial line, nor has it made us more accommodating to any government.

—It has been learned that you have staff member held in the prison at Guantanamo Bay

—This is true. We have a cameraman jailed there. His name is Sami Al-Haj. He was taken prisoner in Afghanistan and remains in jail. He’s a professional who has committed no crime, there is no evidence against him, and we don’t know why he’s still there.

—Has any progress being made in the process to win his freedom?

—We’ve heard something about it, but we have no official information from the United States about setting him free. We know that he has been interrogated more than 130 times and that he has been asked about his work in Al Jazeera in most of these interrogations. His family, wife and children are still waiting for his return.

—As you are a journalist and also Arab, I’m interested in your opinion about the development of events in Iraq.

—The Middle East suffers from an imbalance as consequence of the war in Iraq. The conflict has destroyed the balance between the powers of the region. Sectarian religious conflicts have emerged among several factions and no true solution is foreseen. There is a military environment. Therefore, we think that without dialogue among national components in the region —Arabs, Persians and Turks— we will not reach a solution. This type of necessary dialogue cannot be successful if it follows foreign interests. It must follow our own interests.

—How can Al Jazeera influence the eradication of current prejudices against the Islamic world?

—In the Middle East and the Islamic world, we are going through a normal stage of changes, a transition era that entails clashes, conflicts. All Western societies have passed through this transition. The difference is that when they did so, there were no TV cameras like today. What happens then is that our transition is being lived in front of everybody’s eyes thanks to TV; and to be honest, this process has not been as unpleasant as the one experienced in the West – for instance, during the colonization stage in other parts of the world.

“What is Al Jazeera trying to do is to educate the public so that they are able to adapt to the realities of the times they live in. Usually, there is radicalism when there is no way to communicate. You cannot have a healthy society without communication.”

—Why do a great deal of Osama bin Laden’s videos appear first on Al Jazeera?

—That’s not true, because the first interviews with Bin Laden have been made and broadcast by Western TV channels. Before Al Jazeera’s interviews, there were others by American correspondents.

“Of course, we broadcast videos of Bin Laden because they are news and cannot be left aside. Part of the propaganda against Al Jazeera has been precisely focused on saying that it only shows these videos, that that’s the only thing we do. But in one year, we normally receive no more than one or two videos of Bin Laden, and the truth is that we have 24 hours of news covering all type of events from around the world. During its existence, our channel has made distinguished coverage, which have been even more recognized than those of Western media outlets.”

—What does Al Jazeera offer to correspondents from Western channels who join it?

—When we launched the channel in English, we hired correspondents from all over the world. That channel follows the same editorial philosophy and has the same spirit as Al Jazeera. No matter the pass of the journalist who comes to work with us, they adopt our principles, which we have already talked about. Our network is today a world platform for independent journalism and we have workers from more than 45 countries.

—Lastly, what are the challenges posed by Internet and the new technologies?

—Currently, Al Jazeera has seven TV channels and an Internet portal in two languages (English and Arab), which is in fact the largest in the Middle East. Now, we are launching new interactive services through Internet. For instance, our signal can be seen through cell phones or computers and we send text messages. Broadcasting in English uses hi-fi, the latest in TV technology. As you can see, we are very aware of new technologies in the media world.