Arabic channel Al-Jazeera to enter India

Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 19:30 IST   |    7 Comments
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NEW DELHI: Leading Arabian satellite channel Al-Jazeera is planning to penetrate the Indian airwaves shortly, with an assortment of news programmes dubbed in Hindi for the local audience. Publicists for Al-Jazeera, popularly called the 'Arabic CNN' after the US-based Cable News Network, said Wednesday that the TV channel was planning to air its news capsules dubbed in Hindi. "I can tell you that the programmes will be available in Hindi but I cannot say from when they would begin telecast," the publicist said, declining to divulge any information ahead of an official announcement on the channel's plans for India Thursday. Al-Jazeera managing director Wadah Khanfar will unveil the channel's plans for India, which comes in the wake of its success in Western countries. Launched in November 1996, the Qatar-based channel shot into limelight with its coverage of the first two wars of the millennium - in Afghanistan and Iraq - and highlighting the Arab point of view rather than those voiced by the Western media. Fugitive Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden's numerous appearances on the channel nevertheless remains the main reason for Al-Jazeera's popularity. Bin Laden's appeals to Al-Qaeda personnel and the world through the channel had led to suspicion that it was being funded by the mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks. But the channel has brushed aside the charges. It also claims to be free of censorship and government control and to offer audiences in the Arab world the much-needed freedom of thought and room for debate, besides a different and new perspective to the rest of the world. "When Al-Jazeera speaks, the world listens," the publicist said, quoting the channel's oft-repeated catchphrase.
Source: IANS