On a conference call with reporters this afternoon, Al Jazeera America president Kate O’Brian and interim CEO Ehab Al Shihabi talked about the launch plans for the channel, which debuts next Tuesday at 3 PM ET. We will have more on the launch tomorrow, but we did want to highlight what Al Shihabi says is the “core mission” of AJAM.
“There will be less opinion, less yelling and fewer celebrity sightings,” Al Shihabi said. “Al Jazeera America also covers stories that won’t be covered elsewhere, and this our vision and mission. We know that there is a desire for the kind of journalism on Al Jazeera America.”
AJAM started engaging in research last September to determine if there was a market for an American Al Jazeera channel.
“We were very interested in understanding the market, and how this market matched with the demand for our core identity,” Al Shihabi said. [The research indicated that there are] 55 million households that are considered under-served, they need information, they don’t need infotainment.”
We will have more on the launch tomorrow, including a tour of Al Jazeera’s New York newsroom and studios.