Harold,

You say that they have a new Head of Technology. Does that mean Steve Jedowski has been sacked ?

Harold

I find your arguments hard to follow. You constantly quote ' facts' yet when they are proved wrong or discredited you take another tact. Obviously you are working on the principle if you throw enough dirt that it will stick. However you come across as a bitter little man with a clear axe to grind.

You criticise me for describing Al Anstey as an excellent journalist. You describe it as a relative term. Indeed it is. It is highly subjective, as is journalism as a whole.

'He is no campagining journalist and lacks the imagination for the role...in opinion'. So you do what you criticse me for.

But of course you never realised he'd worked extensively in the field and had management experience of running a foriegn desk at a major broadcaster.

You throw around terms like 'resume liars'. 'They do nothing' you say. My information differs significantly from yours and I am aware of a number of high quality journalists who are employed in London.

And to suggest the management of Al Jazeera were forced into sacking Paul Gibbs because of pressure from Anstey and Clark fails to understand how the entire operation works and gives little credit to the management ability of senior personnel at the channel who are wise, experienced, committed AND Arab.

I appreciate this is a forum for people letting off steam but perhaps if you didn't use your discredited 'facts' and made wide-raging but unsubstantiated claims (Did you read all the CVs of the people employed there or are you just guessing?)then people would have more interest and belief in your genuine concerns for the channel.

Nikki,
All I want is the best for the channel but I can see that it is not progressing well.

Others have detailed how the staff at AJI have wined and died with governments like Kazakhstan which brutally tortures journalists. The forum is littered with references to how they have recruited those who dine with Ariel Sharon. Al Jazeera themselves had to take steps - putting Wadah in overall charge - because these failed TV executives were destroying the dream of a truly developing world international TV channel. If you prefer to side with those working at the channel, fair enough. But I can only presume that you believe that ITN (where I used to work) was the best that international journalism can be. It is frankly, rubbish.

Have a look at http://www.friendsofaljazeera.org/node/129 to be reminded why things cannot be good with staff recruited by Clark.

As for CV liars...I have seen a fair number of them as I have worked in award-winning television since Vietnam - that first televised developing nation war. I am happily employed and have no desire for a new job but believe that AJI could show the world a genuinely different perspective on news - something ironically done in the U.S. on Amy Goodman's Democracy Now. This in turn will affect the entire international TV news business.

Of course, things may get better - the management team may yet all be fired as I now hear from colleagues in Doha. Don't misunderstand my and others' anger on this forum. It is based on core beliefs that AJI is a great opportunity. Let's not squander that.

Alas, perhaps your salary prevents your ostrich-based optimism in the face of those who have for decades produced bad, unoriginal TV at best and extremist right wing TV that helps to murder Palestinian children at worst, from allowing you to be more fair minded.

I should also thank so many AJI employees who have written to me expressing their concerns that the channel has been hijacked by private greed. Given Steve Clark and Anstey's necessary secretiveness it is only via anonymous sources and sabotage that AJI will reflect the best of Al Jazeera Arabic journalism.

So she never worked for Al Jazeera then? So he didn't accept the job as long as his wife got a job there then? I think you prove my point!

'Smaller impact than Sky News in the UK'.

ITN has more foreign bureau and a bigger audience. In a UK sense it is a real competitor to the BBC.

Al Anstey was behind ITN's plans for it's award winning coverage of the war in Iraq and also it's award winning coverage of the Tsunami.

It may not be on the scale of a 24 hour global network - but there aren't many people like that around.

And he is an excellent journalist.

"an excellent journalist" is a relative term and not really quantifiable. the facts are
he has limited field production experience, has never worked in an overseas bureau for a long period, has no reporting or on-camera experience and merely adminstrated an ITN news gathering operation that had been put in place by his predecessors ( according to ITN sources !)

Al Anstey worked in South East Asia for several years as a producer/bureau chief for APTN. He was based in India/Pakistan and Kabul before completing a stint in Australia. He shot and edited much of his own stuff.

He was Washington bureau chief for more than two years for ITN.

That would destroy your argument on 'limited field experience'.

And he would inherit the administration of a news gathering operation which already existed as ITN are a well known company who have been around for fifty years.

Reporting experience doesn't neccessarily have to mean 'on camera'. I know some on screen TV journalists who are poor reporters and some who have never appeared on screen who are excellent.

'The facts are' you don't know the facts.

Still keep at it. This is fun!

I know for a fact that Al Anstey
took the job he was offered on condition that his wife was also given a job in Doha. he had no previous expoerience of running a start up organisation or direcxting a major international newsgathering operation.

I think you'll find Al Anstey's wife doesn't work for Al Jazeera. And I think you'll find he was foreign editor of ITN - one of the biggest news networks in the world and the BBC's biggest rivals in the UK.

So that'll be stuff you know 'for a fact' as well?