Al Jazeera Mubasher launches refreshed look; increases real-time interactivity

Press release

Published January 13th, 2011 - 02:22 GMT

Al Jazeera Network

Al Jazeera Network will unveil on Saturday, 15 January, 2011, the updated version of its live broadcast channel, Al Jazeera Mubasher, with a refreshed look and content aimed at boosting the channel’s real-time interactivity with its viewers. It will also increase the number of live broadcasts. The channel has implemented these changes with the goal of complementing the Network’s versatile news service with a constant link with its viewers.

The updated version of Al Jazeera Mubasher has been developed in response to major changes over the past years in how viewers consume and share information and news content.

Ayman Gaballah, Al Jazeera Mubasher’s Managing Director stated, “Over the past six years since Al Jazeera Mubasher was launched we have witnessed the rapid rise of social networks like Facebook and live-blogging sites like Twitter. These have become part of how viewers get their news content and how they make sense of it. The new features in Al Jazeera are being introduced to respond to those changes in our news environment.”

Key among the new features is to provide more opportunities for viewers to comment, in real-time, on what is being aired on-screen. Viewers can do so via text messages (SMS), social networks, micro-blogging sites, among others. Another feature is a real-time feed of updated information, including stock and oil prices, that goes alongside regular broadcasts. Mubasher has also expanded live broadcasts in its new schedule of major events and news-related activities from around the world.

Another fresh addition to Mubasher is news-oriented “reality television” broadcasts which will feature the daily lives of individuals and communities at the center of news with the goal of shining more light on the interests, dreams, as well as struggles, of those individuals and communities.

To augment the reach and interactivity of the updated Al Jazeera Mubasher, the channel will broadcast around-the-clock and will have its website, mubasher.aljazeera.net, starting in mid January.

Background Information

Al Jazeera Network

Al Jazeera started out more than fourteen years ago as the first independent Arabic news channel in the world dedicated to providing comprehensive television news and live debate for the Arab world. Al Jazeera was formally named the Al Jazeera Network in March 2006, transforming its operation into an international media corporation.

The Al Jazeera Network now consists of the flagship Al Jazeera Satellite (Arabic) channel, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Documentary, Al Jazeera Sport, Al Jazeera.net (the English and Arabic web sites), the Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Center, the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live), and Al Jazeera Mobile.

Al Jazeera English, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, is headquartered in Doha, the capital of Qatar. The organisation is the world's first global English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. From this unique position, Al Jazeera English is destined to be the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the West and from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The channel aims to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions.

With broadcasting centres in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC and supporting bureaux worldwide, the channel will set the news agenda, bridging cultures and providing a unique grassroots perspective from under-reported regions around the world to a potential global audience of over one billion English speakers. The station broadcasts news, current affairs, features, analysis, documentaries, live debates, entertainment, business and sport.

Building on Al Jazeera Arabic channel's ground breaking developments in the Arab and Muslim world that have changed the face of news within the Middle East, Al Jazeera English is part of a growing network that is now extending this fresh perspective from regional to global through accurate, impartial and objective reporting.