Al Jazeera 

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Latest news on Al Jazeera, AJ, Al Jazeera English and Arabic: breaking news, Middle East, Gaza, Qatar, press freedom, documentary and investigative journalism.

Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN) is a Qatar-based global broadcaster founded in 1996 and headquartered in Doha. Its flagship channels, Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, reach more than 430 million viewers across 150 countries, making it one of the world's most-watched news organisations. The network has expanded well beyond television, operating the digital platform AJ+, the award-winning documentary strand Fault Lines, and a growing portfolio of streaming services.

Al Jazeera's coverage of the Gaza conflict has placed it at the centre of an ongoing press freedom crisis. Israel banned the network in May 2024 under legislation sometimes called the "Al Jazeera law", subsequently extended for a further two years. More than a dozen Al Jazeera journalists have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023, including four staff members killed in a single strike on a media tent outside al-Shifa Hospital in August 2025. The network has condemned the killings as targeted attacks amounting to war crimes.

The network's editorial independence has long been contested. Critics, particularly in Israel, the United States and several Arab states, argue that Al Jazeera Arabic's reporting reflects Qatari foreign policy interests and, in the context of Gaza, is sympathetic to Hamas — allegations the network robustly denies. Al Jazeera maintains that its Arabic and English channels operate under separate editorial guidelines. Swiss broadcasters briefly removed the Arabic channel from their platforms in early 2026 following lobbying from a pro-Israel group alleging violations of broadcasting law.

Al Jazeera was conceived as a corrective to the state-controlled media landscape of the Arab world, and its founding mission — to broadcast perspectives rarely heard on mainstream Western or Gulf television — has shaped both its global audience and its adversaries. It survived demands for its closure during the 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, when Saudi Arabia, the UAE and their allies blockaded Qatar and listed the network's shutdown among their conditions for normalisation. The channel's documentary output, meanwhile, has earned it repeated international recognition, including nine consecutive Broadcaster of the Year awards at the New York Festivals TV and Film Awards.

Journalistic controversies have shadowed the network throughout its history. Governments from Algeria and Kuwait to Bangladesh and Libya have accused it of bias or destabilising interference. The Palestinian Authority suspended its West Bank broadcasts in early 2025, citing "inciting material". Israel has alleged links between some Al Jazeera staff and Hamas — claims the network categorically rejects. These tensions underscore the broader difficulty of covering the Middle East, where accusations of bias are routinely levelled at any outlet that does not align with a given government's position.

For comprehensive, up-to-date coverage of Al Jazeera — including its journalism, controversies, press freedom battles and global influence — the NewsNow Al Jazeera feed is your one-stop source for the most relevant headlines as they break.