Draft:Jamil Azar

Jamil bin Musa bin Khalil Al Azar, also known as Jamil Azar (Arabic: جميل عازر), also known as Ustath Jamil (Arabic: جميل الاستاذ ), (born July 25th 1937) is a Jordanian Christian news media public figure from the city of Al-Husn, Jordan.

His broadcasting career started at BBC World Service Radio (1965-1995), based in Bush House, London, where he became Special Assistant to the Head of the Arabic Service before leaving to found Al Jazeera Satellite TV Station (1995-2015) in Qatar.

Career

Azar started his professional life at the Bishop’s School for Boys in Amman, Jordan (1954-1965). He began in September 1954 as a trainee teacher of biology, mathematics and constitutional and civic studies. In 1958 he was promoted to the position of secretary of the school while also continuing to teach. In 1965 Azar was invited to join BBC World Service Arabic Radio in London. He started work there as a news presenter and translator.

Some of Azar’s earliest political observations, for which he was to become well known, were heard on the state visit of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to the United Kingdom in 1967, which Azar commentated.

From 1976-1984, Azar worked as an Arabic news editor, news translator and news and current affairs presenter at the World Service. On May 6th 1968, in support of Azar’s increasing responsibilities, the head of the Arabic Service Newsroom, Ronny Icke, gave Azar an attachment to the BBC World Service News and Continuity Unit. Azar had to complete a rigorous test in order to gain access to the News and Continuity Unit. At that time he became the first member of the Arabic Service who was given that attachment.

Azar continued his talent for translation and political analysis in a broadcast in 1977 for “The World at One” which he also produced. This special edition covered the President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat’s, address to the Knesset for which Azar also translated the reply of Menachem Begin, Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel, from English to Arabic so that Arab audiences could understand what he said.

In 1984, Azar became a member of the British Institute of Linguists, later becoming a moderator for them.

In 1985 Azar became Senior Director of the BBC World Service Arabic news department. By this time, Azar had become a household name for Arabic-speaking audiences across the Middle East because of the programmes he produced, directed and presented. These included “Question and Answer”, which addressed political questions sent to the World Service by Arab audience members; “Arab Affairs in the British Newspapers”, and “Harvest of the Day”, a roundup analysing both Arab and global developments.

Between 1987 and 1990 Azar served as Special Assistant to the Head of World Service Arabic News, Bob Jobbins.

Azar’s influence on global Arabic news style was seen in his professional relationship with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1994, Azar was seconded to them to steer their set-up of an Arabic-language programme.

In May 1994 Azar was chosen to head the newly formed BBC World Service Arabic TV as chief news anchor.

He left in April 1996 when the TV Station was closed by a dispute with its Saudi satellite owners over its coverage. In an interview with NBC news, Azar expressed the belief that the gap left by BBC World Service Arabic TV "would be tremendous".

The demise of BBC World Service Arabic TV was timely for another venture being incepted by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. He wanted to build a satellite TV channel that would elevate Qatar’s position on the world stage. Miles, Hugh (2005). Al-Jazeera How Arab TV News Challenged The World (2nd ed.). Great Britain: Abacus. p. 15. ISBN 0-349-11925-2. Hearing that BBC World Service Arabic TV had folded, the Qataris recruited many from its former staff, and invited Azar to lead the foundation of the news channel as chief anchor and editor-in-chief, using elite journalists from the BBC World Service.

Azar began his tenure at Al Jazeera on the 30th July 1996 and the station went on air on 1st November 1996. In 1996 Azar hosted “The Week in the News”, the first programme to be aired after the channel launched, which provided analysis of the key developments and major events of the week.

When Azar joined Al Jazeera Satellite Channel, one of his first actions was to author its slogan, “The Opinion and the Other Opinion.” Azar perceived that the slogan “defined the course taken by Al Jazeera and made it a prime mover politically and socially in the Arab arena which denied the existence of the other.” Azar’s duties at Al Jazeera included his role as chief news anchor, presenter of the “Weekly File” programme, editor-in-chief, chief language monitor and member of Al Jazeera’s editorial board.

From the outset, Azar's aim was to establish a news organisation where normally taboo issues could be discussed freely. Honorific titles such as 'your majesty', 'your excellency', and 'your eminence' are not used. Both Palestinian leaders and Israeli politicians have the same opportunity and amount of time for presenting their version of events.

As such, heads of state and their representatives sought the analysis of Azar, including Karen Hughes, US President George W. Bush’s Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. At the Al Jazeera Media Forum held in July 2004, Azar argued that "all media had an obligation to be involved in politics."

On June 14th 2004, CNN hosted a key debate on Iraq and invited Azar to share his analysis as an "outspoken analyst and commentator". Azar was asked in 2004 by veteran CNN anchor, Jim Clancy, to imagine advising US President George W Bush, to answer the question: "What can I, as U.S. president, do for Iraq, for this government to really help the government, to really help the people of Iraq?". Azar responded: "Well, I believe the first thing for the U.S. administration to do is to admit that they have made mistakes in Iraq. And secondly, I would say that let what happened in Fallujah to be the Alamo of the Iraqis, not the Alamo of George Bush. And that would, I think, give the Iraqis a little bit of feeling that they can influence and even direct events in Iraq. There should be speeding up of building the symbols of sovereignty in Iraq, like the army, like the police force and other symbols of sovereignty."

In 2006 Azar reflected that the starting point of Al Jazeera was “the realisation of the need of the Arab audience for a new credible channel from an Arab country to fill the space which has been monopolised by foreign channels and stations for decades.”  

Political and media analysts have assessed Azar’s contribution to historic developments in the middle east as formative thanks to his role in creating the so-called Al Jazeera effect. This term is used in political science and media studies to describe the impact of new media and media sources on global politics. In 2009, Azar was among the experts consulted by the French Senate's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Armed Forces on what they termed as "a decisive moment in Middle Eastern history".

Speaking in UNICEF's First International Seminar on Communication, Development and Human Rights in the Mediteranean, Azar

Azar's high public profile led to a series of death threats and he was vilified in the Egyptian press as an agent of both Mossad and Britain. Miles, Hugh (2005). Al-Jazeera How Arab TV News Challenged The World (2nd ed.). Great Britain: Abacus. p. 114. ISBN 0-349-11925-2.

Reacting to the political influence of Al Jazeera, in 2005 a leaked memo showed US President George W Bush had called for its bombing in a conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

On the 31st October 2006, Azar predicted that Al Jazeera would “lead eventually, although after a few years, to redrawing the relations between the Arab individual and the state.”

Azar retired from Al Jazeera in 2015.