zeera’s cognitive and educational role could never have existed without the freedom to do its work because the disclosure of facts and the trans- mission of events require a favourable climate and a free space allowing for their dissemination and circulation, the formation of public opinion and the building of knowledge. Accordingly, the values of knowledge and freedom are mutually complementary and require one another oth- er. In this context, Mohamed Krichen, principal presenter at Al Jazeera, points out “the channel was launched with a clear commitment to being free and bold and not having red lines” (1) . In fact, it “raised the ceiling of freedom and possibilities” (2) in covering events in the Arab region and the rest of the world. This has contributed to the formation of the cognitive dimension and to become an essential element in the set of Al Jazeera’s news values. According to many journalists and executives of the Network, these two values are tied together, and the influence of freedom extends far beyond the field of media as indicated by Ahmed Sheikh, who believes that “Al Jazeera has created an atmosphere, in which freedom thrives and created a legacy of free media…this helped expand Arab awareness and thought” (3) . By inducing this “legacy of free media”, and analysing the meth- ods of news coverage of current events and issues of interest to the Arab region and the world, we find another standard of substantial signifi- cance in the matrix of Al Jazeera’s news values: the “field dimension” of news. The field, in which events and facts unfold, represents an im- portant reference in news coverage and a factor determining the value of news. Backed by field reports, this type of news comes at the top of the news bulletins, especially news of conflicts, wars, protests, disasters and so on. It has a uniqueness that is not limited to the fact that “the reporter is the one who narrates the news from its creator and on behalf of Al Jazeera; but they themselves appear on the screen, asserting their presence and that of Al Jazeera’s, in the location, entailing direct re-
(1) Mohamed Krichen, phone interview, 8 September 2020.
(2) Tayseer Allouni, phone interview, 7 September 2020.
(3) Ahmed Sheikh, phone interview , Ibid.
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