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Al Jazeera is the most popular and the number one channel in Qatar. Al Jazeera was introduced in Qatar in 1996 as the first public affairs and news related networking. Al Jazeera is the first and the only news channel in the middle east which offers a round the clock news coverage. Various programs include political debates which are mostly uncensored and documentaries on the burning political issues of the times.
The debates and documentaries which are broadcasted on Al Jazeera in Qatar also provide live phone-ins from the politicians, guests as well as from the viewers along with free ranging political debates. The Al Jazeera news channel is however more popular with the general public than the government. The channel has always been a target of criticism and controversy of the various television, newspapers and radio stations. Even the internet sites have a variety of opinions about Al Jazeera of Qatar.
Al Jazeera is involved in many conflicts with various countries like Libya, Kuwait, Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan. A majority of these countries have attacked the editorial segment of this news channel. After the accusation of a talk show guest on the Al Jazeera channel, towards the late King Hussein of Jordan about collaborating with Israel, the Jordanian government closed Al Jazeera's bureau in Amman. Similarly Kuwait's ruling family too was insulted on an Al Jazeera program for which the Kuwaiti information minister was sent to Qatar in 1997.
Al Jazeera works from heavily fortified studios located on the outskirts of Qatar. This is also the sole channel to broadcast the video tapes of Osama bin Laden as it has a reporter inside the camp of Taliban which once controlled Afganistan.
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