part of the introduction was how to use a computer (1) . Hala Alkhairy, one of the journalists who was trained during this period, said, “When we saw the computer, we thought moving from the paper phase to the computer phase would be difficult. Those from the Arab world did not know the workflows, the terms used by those from BBC , or even how to produce a newscast. They came from official television stations with newscasts that followed a very specific order, usually starting with news about the king or president, then about any given official. At Al Jazeera, it was completely different, with the overarching standard being the rank of the news” (2) . This preparation phase included a discussion on the length and timing of the broadcast. Whether it should be six hours, and whether it should be at the start of the hour or half-past. The final decision was that it would be six hours long and begin at half-past the hour to avoid a time conflict with official Arab news bulletins. It was also decided that the broadcast would start with verses from the Quran (3) . The trial broadcasts lasted for five months before the launch of the first news bulletin. The Day of Reckoning: “Do Not Hide the Truth from Peo- ple because the World has Changed” On 1 November, 1996, Al Jazeera broadcast its first news bulletin and all of the employees were present for it. Those on leave returned early, Hala Alkhairy says, “Launch day coincided with a day I was off, but I couldn’t miss this moment. My mother had come from Jordan to visit me and did not want me to leave her to go to work on my day off. So, I told her, ‘This is the start and I cannot miss it’” (4) . The moment Al Jazeera launched was one of pure ecstasy, as Jafar Abbas remembers it: “Watching the pearl as it ripped its way from the
(1) The author obtained these documents from Hala Alkhairy, who took part in the training.
(2) Hala Alkhairy, personal, interview, Doha, 28 October 2020.
(3) Salah Negm, personal interview, Ibid.
(4) Hala Alkhairy, personal interview, Ibid.
33
EN2.indd 33
20/02/2022 4:14 PM
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter