:00:07. > :00:14.dangerous dog to be out in the public. Those are the headlines. It
:00:14. > :00:18.is time for HARDtalk. The satellite TV station Al Jazeera is credited
:00:19. > :00:22.with giving ordinary Arabs a platform from which to challenge
:00:23. > :00:28.their government. Day-by-day it has been covering the dramatic events
:00:28. > :00:34.of the Arab Spring using the latest technology on both its Arabic and
:00:34. > :00:39.English channels. Is it selective in whom it criticises? My guest is
:00:39. > :00:44.Wadah Khanfar, he was the boss of Al Jazeera for ten years. Was the
:00:44. > :00:54.coverage biased on his watch? Why did he leave Al Jazeera in the
:00:54. > :01:17.
:01:17. > :01:26.midst of the biggest news event in the Arab world for decades? Wadah
:01:26. > :01:32.Khanfar, welcome to HARDtalk. Has the coverage of the Arab Spring
:01:32. > :01:42.been biased? I do not think so. They have done a fantastic job
:01:42. > :01:45.
:01:45. > :01:53.covering the Arab Spring since it started. The coverage is continuing.
:01:53. > :02:00.I think Al Jazeera is doing very well in following the developments
:02:01. > :02:09.and evolutions. There is a criticism that Al Jazeera's
:02:09. > :02:17.coverage has focused more on Egypt, Libya, Syria, downplaying the
:02:17. > :02:27.unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Evidence on the ground it defines
:02:27. > :02:31.
:02:31. > :02:35.what coverage you put on the screen. The Bahraini up rising did not
:02:35. > :02:44.evolve into a revolution like what happened in Egypt and Libya and so
:02:44. > :02:54.on. Second, the situation in all of these countries, if you take Egypt,
:02:54. > :02:55.
:02:55. > :02:59.it was central in the way that you look at the Middle East.
:02:59. > :03:04.Unfortunately in places like Bahrain there has been sectarian
:03:04. > :03:14.divide. The issue should not become as prominent as the Egyptian or
:03:14. > :03:18.
:03:18. > :03:21.The criticism that Al Jazeera pulled back on coverage at home.
:03:22. > :03:30.The President of a human rights group said that the programme did
:03:30. > :03:40.not do enough to cover the event. He said they will only question
:03:40. > :03:45.
:03:45. > :03:55.governmental people. We did do that very well. The Bahraini government
:03:55. > :03:58.
:03:58. > :04:07.is more upset with cell than anyone else. -- one with Al Jazeera --
:04:07. > :04:13.with Al Jazeera. Somebody who has studied the coverage of middle
:04:13. > :04:23.Eastern events, a senior at the Washington Institute, says Al
:04:23. > :04:26.
:04:26. > :04:36.Jazeera is on the line, and the coverage of Bahrain is a example of
:04:36. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:48.poor reportage. There were glaring omissions on your part. This is not
:04:48. > :04:50.
:04:50. > :05:00.true. We covered Bahrain, developing and evil thing at the
:05:00. > :05:00.
:05:00. > :05:10.same time. There was more interest in what was happening in Egypt --
:05:10. > :05:28.
:05:28. > :05:38.of -- evolving. But you did not cover certain events? Going into
:05:38. > :05:44.
:05:44. > :05:53.Bahrain was covered on Al Jazeera. We have never tried to take
:05:53. > :06:03.coverage amounts of our programme. -- out of the power programme.
:06:03. > :06:07.
:06:07. > :06:14.you are saying he did cover it? very professionally. Was there but
:06:14. > :06:23.political pressure on you do not cover it? Last battle. What about
:06:23. > :06:28.the process in the eastern provinces? -- not at all --
:06:28. > :06:36.protests. There were four young people who were killed during the
:06:36. > :06:42.protests. Al Jazeera Arabic did cover the story but just said what
:06:42. > :06:46.the authorities had say, which was the young people had been caught in
:06:46. > :06:51.crossfire when security forces had fired. You did not question it.
:06:51. > :06:59.That is an example of how Al Jazeera did not cover the unrest in
:06:59. > :07:04.the area. Until I left, the policies the show is following and
:07:04. > :07:12.I hope is continuing to follow, is that when any story happens it
:07:12. > :07:18.should be covered without any political agenda. This is what we
:07:18. > :07:27.have been doing for 15 years. This particular story, I am not so aware
:07:27. > :07:33.of the way that we covered it. reasons I say this to you is that
:07:33. > :07:43.it is easy for Al Jazeera to cover the up people's in Libya. True, it
:07:43. > :08:01.
:08:01. > :08:07.was an international co-operation - - our peoples. -- upheavals. These
:08:07. > :08:16.were countries where it was easy to cover the crisis. But in your own
:08:16. > :08:25.country, there were other issues. The friendship between President
:08:25. > :08:35.Bashar al-Assad and the government was very close. The relationship
:08:35. > :08:45.
:08:45. > :08:53.between Pixar and Emma was instrumental -- que -- Qatar. --
:08:53. > :09:01.and the government. There was an exchange of investment
:09:01. > :09:11.opportunities. During the revolution, this country supported
:09:11. > :09:13.
:09:13. > :09:20.the public. Other countries were reluctant to support the uprising.
:09:20. > :09:27.So it is fair to say that when someone like the American
:09:27. > :09:37.ambassador says Al Jazeera Arabic news channel will continue to be an
:09:37. > :09:37.
:09:37. > :09:47.instruments of the influence of the government. He said this in 2009.
:09:47. > :09:49.
:09:49. > :09:59.He has his own way of thinking. During his stay in this country, he
:09:59. > :09:59.
:09:59. > :10:09.was trying to locates Al Jazeera with the Americans. It has never
:10:09. > :10:18.
:10:18. > :10:28.been a tour of the country's foreign policy. -- a tool. But was
:10:28. > :10:40.
:10:40. > :10:46.it an indirect tool? That is nothing. So, when you were in
:10:46. > :10:56.charge, the Qatari goverment had no influence. We listen to many
:10:56. > :11:03.
:11:03. > :11:13.countried. -- countries. Many times the leader of the goverment was
:11:13. > :11:23.
:11:23. > :11:33.unhappy with how we covered things. There was a centre set up for the
:11:33. > :11:42.
:11:42. > :11:52.freedom of the media. An ex-member of Doctors Without Borders was
:11:52. > :11:55.
:11:55. > :12:04.appointed to lead it. He left because he said there was no
:12:04. > :12:14.freedom of speech accepted in the country. Al Jareeza was adopting
:12:14. > :12:23.
:12:23. > :12:33.professional standard. -- standards. Al Jazeera has had very
:12:33. > :12:46.
:12:46. > :12:52.professional reporting. You were never uncomfortable working for the
:12:52. > :13:02.network when it was funded by the monarchy there? Like the BBc, it is
:13:02. > :13:09.
:13:09. > :13:19.publicly funded. The BBC is funded by the taxpayer. The monarchy fund
:13:19. > :13:37.
:13:37. > :13:43.Al Jazeera outright. Qatar was under fire for many years.
:13:43. > :13:53.Democracy is eventually going to be everywhere. The governments are
:13:53. > :13:55.
:13:55. > :14:05.trying to make reforms. Even in Qatar? Next year they will have
:14:05. > :14:13.
:14:13. > :14:19.What do you make of that? I think Al Jazeera has grown in the past
:14:19. > :14:25.year is from one TV station to more than 20 TV stations. Al Jazeera
:14:25. > :14:33.started with 200 people to up to 2,500 people. How does it look when
:14:33. > :14:39.you have appointed this member of the royal family as part of the
:14:39. > :14:45.news team. That is not an issue, the issue is what is he going to do
:14:45. > :14:52.in this organisation. You said that Qatar is moving towards greater
:14:52. > :14:56.freedom of speech and democracy, you are a Palestinian, someone who
:14:56. > :15:05.worked as a war correspondent, people understood that you were in
:15:05. > :15:10.the position you were in Al Jazeera, now they have this little knowing
:15:10. > :15:17.royal who is heading Al Jazeera, how will that it received? It is
:15:17. > :15:21.not always necessary to have the Director General as a journalist.
:15:21. > :15:26.In many networks, the chief executive is involved in issues
:15:26. > :15:34.related to marketing and administration and so on. To judge
:15:34. > :15:39.the new general director we should see... Regardless of what happens
:15:39. > :15:46.in November and the elections. Protests in Saudi Arabia were not
:15:46. > :15:51.covered. Why did you leave Al Jazeera? You leave in the midst of
:15:51. > :15:59.the events, September, the revelations were in full swing,
:15:59. > :16:09.what made you go? I have been there for some time. In my opinion I have
:16:09. > :16:13.
:16:13. > :16:19.given and achieved... I realised that there is some kind of new
:16:19. > :16:26.force in the region. How could you leave, the best stories in
:16:26. > :16:32.journalism, Libya was up in the air, how could you leave at that time?
:16:32. > :16:37.felt that at the peak of the coverage of the Egyptian revolution
:16:37. > :16:47.has led to a new reality in the new Arab world. I thought I could
:16:47. > :16:50.
:16:50. > :16:59.become part of helping the these states. Did you choose to go
:16:59. > :17:07.of your own three well? Yes, I did. -- free will. After eight years of
:17:07. > :17:15.me staying as a Director General, I am not going to continue. After
:17:15. > :17:20.that any Director General will start repeating himself. What Al
:17:20. > :17:30.Jazeera has achieved in 15 years, could be wiped out in 15 days, is
:17:30. > :17:37.that not a sign you are quite worried about your legacy? Actually,
:17:37. > :17:42.I said that many times when I was Director General. I believe it. I
:17:42. > :17:48.believe the most important thing in Al Jazeera is independence. If that
:17:48. > :17:54.is not going to be maintained, Al Jazeera will lose credibility. This
:17:54. > :17:57.statement actually, it is not new. People love Al Jazeera and they
:17:57. > :18:05.watched Al Jazeera because they are providing them with something that
:18:05. > :18:14.cannot be found on state TV stations. If Al Jazeera does not
:18:14. > :18:20.maintain the professional standards, I think it will lose... You say
:18:20. > :18:26.independence, but I will give you one example. We got this through
:18:26. > :18:30.WikiLeaks, a cable sent by a US ambassador to Qatar in 2005,
:18:30. > :18:35.described a US embassy official, asking you to tone down your
:18:35. > :18:42.coverage of the Iraq war because your ex -- showing explicit images
:18:42. > :18:46.of children and women. That is a trademark of Al Jazeera, you show
:18:46. > :18:52.more than what we do in the BBC, he responded with a sigh, you said it
:18:52. > :18:57.you would remove the few peace. But in a few days, because if you did
:18:57. > :19:07.it immediately it would be two of the has. More than 420 cables
:19:07. > :19:13.
:19:13. > :19:22.breath -- where -- were sent, in all of them the Americans asked us
:19:22. > :19:27.to do something and we refused. In regards to this, 0 Al Jazeera made
:19:27. > :19:37.a mistake. You made a mistake. Jazeera made a mistake in covering
:19:37. > :19:38.
:19:38. > :19:43.the story. With our code of conduct if we make a mistake we should
:19:43. > :19:48.remove it for starve that is exactly what we did. That policy
:19:48. > :19:55.was with the relationship with America, China, any country in the
:19:55. > :19:59.world. Whoever comes to us and protests against a story, if it is
:19:59. > :20:08.limited in as far as our professional standards are
:20:09. > :20:15.concerned, we will remove the story. But if it is to enhance their image,
:20:15. > :20:21.we will have... Isn't this what it is about? The images inflamed
:20:21. > :20:25.passions and made people, and bold and against the Americans the...
:20:25. > :20:35.That story you are talking about was a particular incident.
:20:35. > :20:41.
:20:41. > :20:45.caved in to pressure. Not at all. Americans or not, it is because we
:20:45. > :20:53.respect professional standards. The Americans pressurised us hundreds
:20:53. > :21:01.of times, it was one incident where they were right and we were wrong.
:21:01. > :21:07.This is a Certificate of professionalism. After 2005, read
:21:07. > :21:11.the Americans happy with the Al Jazeera coverage? They are now.
:21:11. > :21:20.Hillary Clinton has applauded the year. Talking about WikiLeaks, one
:21:20. > :21:30.clear trademark of 0 Al Jazeera is that you cover the Palestinian-
:21:30. > :21:31.
:21:31. > :21:35.Israeli dispute. The fact of the matter is, the PLO was extremely
:21:35. > :21:41.upset with the coverage that you are stationed gave three the
:21:41. > :21:46.WikiLeaks story trying to imply that the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, Brecht
:21:46. > :21:55.Ho yin to the Israelis in some way. He describes it as a smear campaign
:21:55. > :22:01.by Al Jazeera. -- toadying. You champion the Palestinian cause, yet
:22:01. > :22:05.at the same time you are undermining the Palestinian
:22:05. > :22:15.leadership, Mahmoud Abbas was negotiating. We are not championing
:22:15. > :22:15.
:22:15. > :22:19.any cause. The issue that Al Jazeera got exclusively, the
:22:19. > :22:26.complete file of the negotiations between the Palestinians and
:22:26. > :22:29.Israelis. Thousands of pages. After going through it and summarising it
:22:29. > :22:39.and understanding it, we decide the public should know what is
:22:39. > :22:43.happening. We did cover it through intensive coverage. It was with co-
:22:43. > :22:48.operation with the Guardian. The issue was, it was a Certificate for
:22:49. > :22:54.Al Jazeera, we did one of our finest jobs as investigative
:22:54. > :23:00.journalists. It gave a proper understanding of what is happening.
:23:00. > :23:08.You said you took it all out of context. He complained to Ofcom, we
:23:08. > :23:14.lost the case. Not only that, Ofcom, in its ruling, said Al Jazeera
:23:14. > :23:19.adopted the highest possible standards, there was nothing that
:23:19. > :23:24.Mahmoud Abbas should be upset... Middle East is known for its lack
:23:24. > :23:27.of freedom, we have now seen the Arab Spring, do you think it is
:23:27. > :23:33.going to change quite soon and for the better that the Arab ordinary
:23:33. > :23:38.person will find their voice? has already started. When it
:23:38. > :23:43.started we had no choice. The new generation, the youth of the Arab
:23:43. > :23:49.world have taken the lead. In my opinion, what will happen in the
:23:49. > :23:53.next few years is the transition to stable democracy, that were not
:23:53. > :23:57.only changed the political landscape but the social and
:23:57. > :24:01.economic landscape and the future of the Arab world is going to be