important in covering topics and issues that allow the channel to ac- quire a scoop by addressing what he calls “the coverage of topics” (1) , es- pecially humanitarian and societal issues that affect broad categories in different areas, such as diseases, natural disasters, epidemics and so on. Ahelbarra’s illustration of Al Jazeera English’s experience in the field represents the rule of reporting across the entire network, as evident in the network’s coverage of the Niger famine, the conflict in Somalia, the Pakistan earthquake in 2005, and other events in many countries around the world. This sector has characterised Al Jazeera’s coverage “in the far corners of the world”, according to Dima Khatib, Director of AJ+, as the network’s channels and platforms have turned into an indispensable source of news; whether in Latin America, Asia or the forgotten regions that Arab and international media had not reached before (2) . The importance of reporting from the field increases when it is ac- companied with a new perspective and vision of the world that is broad- er than before, as Ahmed Sheikh explains. This is a precedent for Al Ja- zeera, as its coverage is not limited to political news, conflicts and wars, but includes people’s concerns, which the official Arab media had tried to cover up and bury. It also focuses on environmental issues including climate change, desertification and scientific discoveries. Moreover, Al Jazeera was distinguished by its boldness in dealing with the news and its coverage of conflict areas, which has become a trademark of Al Jazeera’s work (3) . Because there is no room to reflect on all the journal- istic experiences and achievements of Al Jazeera’s correspondents, we nonetheless can refer here to the impact of Ahmed Barakat’s coverage of the earthquake that struck the city of Balakot in northern Pakistan in 2005. Barakat was the first correspondent to reach the epicentre. He reported through breaking news that at least ten thousand people had died, while the official figures indicated 93 people. This accelerated the arrival of rescue teams and made the concerned authorities take the matter more seriously to save lives. According to Barakat, the Arab and Islamic organisations that visited the region to provide aid and relief in-
(1) Hashem Ahelbarra, phone interview, 26 October 2020.
(2) Dima Khatib, Zoom interview, 9 September 2020.
(3) Ahmed Sheikh, phone interview , Ibid.
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