Qatari royal appointed head of Al Jazeera

Wed Sep 21, 2011

Qatar appoints a member of the royal family to the head of the Al Jazeera television network following unexpected resignation by the Doha-based satellite broadcaster's former director general.

The replacement is named as Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, who is also an executive at Qatargas, the world's largest liquefied natural gas company, British newspaper The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

His predecessor Wadah Khanfar, a Palestinian-born journalist, who was credited with revolutionizing the Arab media landscape with daring news broadcasting, announced on Tuesday that he was stepping down after eight years in office.

In his resignation letter, he wrote his goal he had set himself was "to establish Al Jazeera as a global media leader" and that "this target has been met.”

It remained a mystery why he had resigned.

A diplomatic cable released last month by the whistleblower website the WikiLeaks had alleged that the US administration was once upset with the 'disturbing website content' published on Al Jazeera's website, obliging him to remove the material.

Despite the satellite network's being hailed as an outspoken one against many Arab regimes, some analysts say it has been mostly lenient, when it came to the ruling structures in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, and Qatar itself.

WikiLeaks has also exposed Doha's efforts to use Al Jazeera as a foreign policy tool.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/200287.html.