Al Jazeera marks 30th anniversary with three-channel Arabic overhaul

Al Jazeera has marked its 30th anniversary by announcing a restructuring of its Arabic-language news operation, dividing it into three channels and adding 33 programmes. The Qatar-based network first went on air on November 1, 1996.

Three channels with separate roles

Under the new structure, each Arabic news channel will have its own editorial focus. Al Jazeera Mubasher, broadcasting since 2005, will keep carrying uninterrupted live coverage of events without comment from presenters or correspondents. A new service, Al Jazeera Now, will follow breaking developments as they happen but will run without scheduled bulletins or a fixed programme grid. The flagship Al Jazeera Arabic channel will retain its news bulletins while shifting further towards in-depth analysis, investigative journalism and other programming.

The 33 programmes are being promoted under the slogan "Your questions are our questions". Asef Hamidi, managing director of Al Jazeera Arabic and in the post since September 2025, told the Qatari newspaper Al Raya that the changes amounted to a "new renaissance" for the network, saying audiences would notice development across many areas. He said the new output would include investigative documentaries, discussion of political and social issues, and programmes tracing the historical roots of current conflicts.

Leadership sets out priorities

Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani, director general of the Al Jazeera Media Network, told the Qatari newspaper Al Watan that the network had always been "more than just another television channel", describing it as a project to deepen public understanding. He said its fourth decade would be guided by "immediacy, understanding and the human dimension", and that its real competitor was no longer another channel but "noise – the flood of information that makes understanding harder, not easier".

Veteran anchor Khadija Benguenna, speaking on the network's Arabic-language Baad al-Bath podcast, said Al Jazeera had popularised breaking-news alerts, continuous live coverage and exclusive reporting in the region, practices later taken up by other Arab broadcasters. Former news director Ahmad al-Sheikh said on the same broadcast that the Arab media landscape had previously lacked independent voices, and credited the network with setting an example that improved standards more widely.

Digital expansion and AI

Beyond television, the network plans to strengthen local and regional reporting through dedicated digital platforms covering Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and other parts of the Arab world. Its Syria Now platform, offering documentaries, investigations and field reporting on Syrian affairs, has quickly become one of the main digital outlets for news on the country. A project called Al Jazeera Cultural is provisionally scheduled for launch in late 2027 as a space for sustained debate on Arab cultural and intellectual life.

The expansion is tied to a wider technological overhaul, including The Core, an artificial intelligence initiative announced in December 2025 in collaboration with Google Cloud. One component, Orbit, is designed to coordinate newsroom workflows such as monitoring developments, commissioning stories, organising interviews, translating material and managing reporting assignments. Sheikh Nasser said the first phase of The Core is due to launch on November 1, while insisting human oversight remains primary: "Artificial intelligence enables the human and does not replace him. The main standard for us is conscience and editorial judgement, and editorial judgement is human."

Source: Al Jazeera.