Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; Arabic: الجزيرة, romanized: Al-Jazīrah [æl (d)ʒæˈziːrɐ], lit.

'The Island' or 'The Peninsula') is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha,[3][4] funded in part by the government of Qatar.

In addition to its television channels, Al Jazeera has expanded its digital presence with platforms such as AJ+, catering to younger audiences with formats and content tailored for online consumption.

[16] This was following the closure of the first BBC Arabic language television station, then a joint venture with Orbit Communications Company, owned by Saudi King Fahd's cousin, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud.

The BBC channel had closed after a year and a half when the Saudi government attempted to thwart a documentary pertaining to executions under sharia law.

[17] The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, provided a loan of QAR 500 million ($137 million) to sustain Al Jazeera through its first five years, as Hugh Miles detailed in his book Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab News Channel That Is Challenging the West.

[19] Al Jazeera was the leading media spreading the news about unrest in a small city in Tunisia throughout the Middle East in 2011.

[20] People in the Middle East have heavily relied on Al Jazeera to obtain news about their regions and the world even more than YouTube and Google.

[19] In Tunisia, the Ben Ali regime banned Al Jazeera from operating in the country, but with the help of Facebook users inside Tunisia, Al Jazeera was able to access reports from the events such as protests and government crackdowns that were taking place inside the country.

Wadah Khanfar, then the managing director of the Arabic Channel, was appointed as the Director-General of the Al Jazeera Network.

Khanfar resigned on 20 September 2011, proclaiming that he had achieved his original goals and that eight years was enough time for any leader of an organization, in an interview aired on Aljazeera English.

However, twelve hours after the launch of the website, "Al Jazeera Net" was kept offline due to many denial of service attacks.

Josh Rushing,[29] a former media handler for CENTCOM during the Iraq war, agreed to provide commentary; David Frost was also on board.

[30][31] The new English language venture faced considerable regulatory and commercial hurdles in the North America market for its perceived sympathy with extremist causes.

In February 2011, the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey put Cine5 up for sale[36] after the channel was confiscated when the owner Erol Aksoy went in debt and became bankrupt.

[40] In April 2012, there were reports of the channel being delayed over its refusal to call the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) as terrorists, despite it being designated as a terrorist organization by many countries and supranational organisations including but not limited to Turkey, the United States, the EU, NATO, Israel, the United Kingdom, citing journalistic standards.

[46] The acquisition of Current TV by Al Jazeera allowed Time Warner Cable to drop the network due to its low ratings, but released a statement saying that they would consider carrying the channel after they evaluated whether it made sense for their customers.

On January 16, 2009, Baraem launched, the channel targets an audience of three to seven-year-olds and broadcasts 17 hours a day (6 am to 11 pm Doha time).

Other podcasts that debuted in 2018 included The Game of Our Lives which uses soccer to explain global economics and cultures, a podcast on freedom dubbed (Freedom Stories, featuring Melissa Harris-Perry), sex (The Virgie Show) with Virgie Tovar, and global music (Movement) with Meklit Hadero.

Established in 2006, the Al Jazeera Center for Studies conducts in-depth analysis of current affairs at both regional and global levels.

It reduces the monopoly governments and mainstream media have on information, empowering groups that previously lacked a global voice.

[64][64] The term, coined by Philip Seib and possibly used earlier by Simon Henderson, initially referred to Arab governments losing control of information due to Al Jazeera’s popularity.

[65] Al Jazeera challenges authoritarian governments by stimulating discussion and providing multiple perspectives, acting as the “voice of the voiceless.” [66] It shifted the flow of information from the “West to the rest,” reporting on underrepresented countries and offering a platform for Arab citizens’ expression.

[10][79] Multiple sources have stated that Al Jazeera's board of directors is chaired by a member of the Qatari royal family and is primarily financed directly by the Emir rather than through a broadcasting receiving licence.

According to Reporters Without Borders, however, the measure was a reprisal for a broadcast the previous week of another Al-Itijah al-Mouakiss debate on the political situation in Algeria.

[89] Al Jazeera has been banned three times by the Iraqi government, most recently in 2016 where officials accused it of "inciting violence and sectarianism.

"[90][91] Iraqi authorities had long perceived Al-Jazeera's media coverage as hostile to Iraq's Shi’ite majority and too friendly toward the Islamic State.

[93] The UAE blocked Al Jazeera in the emirates on 5 June 2017 (after the onset of the Qatar diplomatic crisis) because the organization was a state-endowed entity of the Qatari government and they claimed that Qatar "a major sponsor of hate speech through Al Jazeera's Arabic-language network and its other state-controlled media entities.

[99] At the start of 2025, the Palestinian Authority suspended Qatar's Al Jazeera TV broadcasts from Gaza, claiming it shows "inciting material."

Both the culture, interior and communications ministers of the authority were cited by WAFA that the channel broadcast material that was "deceiving and stirring strife.