Unprecedented Interference in Al Jazeera’s Broadcast Signal Across the Arab World

Distributed by the www.ArabAmericanNewsWire.com

Unprecedented Interference in Al Jazeera’s Broadcast

Signal Across the Arab World

Doha, Qatar, 1 February 2011 - Al Jazeera has stated that their broadcast signal across the Arab region is facing interference on a scale they have not experienced before.

Signals on the Nilesat platform were cut, and frequencies on the Arabsat and Hotbird platforms were disrupted continually forcing millions of viewers across the Arab world to change satellite frequencies throughout the day.

Al Jazeera has been widely praised for their coverage from Egypt and Tunisia despite obstacles put in their path by those governments. Not only have their images and reporting been enthusiastically received by people in the Middle East, but there has been a massive surge in interest in Al Jazeera’s coverage from across the world.

Over the past week the Network has faced multiple attempts to disrupt their coverage from Egypt, with signals being interfered with on a continual basis, and journalists being banned and detained.  The latest disruption has come on the day of the historic ‘million man march’ in Cairo.

A spokesman for Al Jazeera said:

“We have been working round the clock to make sure we are broadcasting on alternative frequencies. Clearly there are powers that do not want our important images pushing for democracy and reform to be seen by the public.

“We appreciate the extraordinary support from the ten channels across the region who interrupted their own programming to live-broadcast our signal to their audiences.”

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 About Al Jazeera

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.

For any press queries please send an e-mail to imr@aljazeera.net