[A-List] Al-Jazeera under threat

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Al-Jazeera hit by advertising ban
By Jason Nissé, Business Editor
The Independent on Sunday, 27 October 2002

The future of Al-Jazeera, the independent Arabic news service, is threatened
by an advertising boycott created by political pressure within the Middle
East.

The TV station, best known for broadcasting tapes of Osama bin Laden, is
losing up to $30m (£19m) a year and is under pressure to find new sources of
revenue.

Al-Jazeera was founded in 1996 with a $150m investment by the Emir of Qatar.
He hoped the service would be self-funding by 2001 but it has missed that
target and the emir has had to put another $30m of his own money into the
venture.

Al-Jazeera's management blames its financial troubles on Arab governments
who are unhappy with its uncensored coverage, which has seen it carry not
only the Bin Laden tapes, but also interviews with Israeli ministers and
Saudi Arabian dissidents and, last week, messages from the Chechen
kidnappers in Moscow.

Al-Jazeera, which is broadcast via satellite, cannot be blocked but its
journalists can be banned, as Jordan, Kuwait, Iran and the Palestinian
Authority have done. Economic pressure is also being brought to bear,
largely from Saudi Arabia.

"A lot of companies are instructed not to advertise on Al-Jazeera," claims
Ali Mohammed Kamal, the station's marketing director. "We could have had
double the revenue we have now."

Mr Kamal said Al-Jazeera was operating on a year-by-year basis and must
agree a fresh budget with the Emir of Qatar if it is to continue.