US embassy cable - 05DOHA1567

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DOHA 001567 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP 
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY 
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, QA, ALJAZEERA 
SUBJECT: AL JAZEERA INTERNATIONAL: THE HASSAN AND JOSH SHOW 
 
Ref: Doha 1264 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: Pol/Econ chief participated September 2 in 
the filming of an Al Jazeera International pilot program not 
intended for broadcast. The program, co-hosted by two 
personalities prominent in the 2004 documentary `Control 
Room', still lacks polish. AJI operations are still in a 
somewhat chaotic embryonic stage, with much reliance on 
current Al Jazeera resources. End summary. 
 
Background 
---------- 
 
2. (U) Al Jazeera International (AJI - see reftel) producer 
Caroline Anstey approached post in late August with a 
request for ambassadorial participation in the pilot of a 
talk show planned for the launch of AJI (reportedly 
scheduled for late 2005/early 2006). Entitled `The Hassan 
and Josh Show', the pilot program is co-hosted by Josh 
Rushing and Hassan Ibrahim, two personalities who played 
prominent roles in the 2004 documentary `Control Room' 
produced by Egyptian-American director Jehane Noujaim. The 
controversial documentary focused on the Al Jazeera TV 
channel's Doha-based coverage of events during the 2003 U.S. 
military action in Iraq. 
 
3. (U) U.S. citizen Josh Rushing was a CENTCOM-based U.S. 
Marine Corps lieutenant assigned to escort the documentary 
crew, and Hassan Ibrahim, a UK citizen of Sudanese origin 
who has been employed by Al Jazeera since its founding in 
1996, was an editor at the Al Jazeera Doha studios. 
Rushing's unexpectedly extensive commentary in the 
documentary on events related to the U.S. military action in 
Iraq was reportedly not well viewed by his chain of command 
and he subsequently resigned from the Marine Corps. He and 
Hassan, who developed a friendship as a result of their 
interaction during the documentary, are now both employees 
of Al Jazeera International. 
 
4. (SBU) The pilot program filmed with Embassy participation 
in Doha on September 2 is reportedly one of several pilots 
for the same show, including one filmed in Washington last 
summer with the participation of NEA/PD Alberto Fernandez. 
The pilots are not intended for broadcast. Their purpose, 
according to producers, is to `try out' the format of the 
proposed new program. Producers intend to have Josh in 
Washington and Hassan in Doha, linked by satellite, with one 
guest per show. Producers hope that the two hosts, 
interacting with their guest from different cultural and 
philosophical perspectives, will create an unusual dynamic 
for the program. 
 
5. (SBU) While post did not consider the `guinea-pig' pilot 
program appropriate for the Ambassador, we did want to 
establish a link to the new channel and offered Pol/Econ 
Chief Rob Pyott as a substitute. The offer was eagerly 
accepted, and filming took place on September 2 at the Al 
Jazeera studios in Doha. Josh flew to Doha from Washington 
for the event. 
 
The show: needs work 
-------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Hassan and Josh are clearly still amateur anchors 
and will need considerable practice to present a more 
professional and engaging program. It was agreed that the 
program would deal with U.S. support for reform in the 
region, with focus on MEPI. Rob made commendable efforts to 
keep the dialogue on track and answered all questions 
appropriately. However, Hassan brought up issues such as 
Iraq, elections in Egypt and the Arab-Israeli conflict in a 
haphazard manner, preventing any kind of meaningful analysis 
or sustained exchange. He has both strong Arab nationalist 
feelings and a strong personality. This combination 
undermined the intended structure of the show and 
marginalized Josh's role. 
 
7. (SBU) Although the resulting program lacked quality, the 
atmosphere before, during and after the filming was cordial. 
The AJI staff as yet have no facilities of their own (their 
studios are under construction here in Doha) and are 
`camping' at Al Jazeera Arabic's facilities. The two 
producers we worked with were UK citizen Caroline Anstey, a 
documentary maker who says she has made documentaries for 
the BBC and National Geographic among others; and Robb Wood, 
an American citizen based in Washington. Anstey has 
relocated to Doha with her husband, who is also employed by 
AJI. Both Anstey and Wood appeared to be young, ambitious 
professionals. 
 
Beheadings and tapes: key issues 
-------------------------------- 
 
8. (SBU) At an 8/29 familiarization meeting with Emboffs 
prior to the filming, both Josh and Hassan talked about the 
criticism they habitually face, as employees of Al Jazeera 
International, from non-Arab interlocutors. They said such 
criticism usually focuses on two questions. One is whether 
Al Jazeera has ever shown beheadings. (Both men strongly 
denied that that the channel has ever done such a thing, 
asserting it has always stopped tapes prior to the actual 
moment of execution). The other issue is Al Jazeera's 
mysterious access to Al Qaeda tapes. Hassan insisted that 
the tapes reach Al Jazeera through anonymous sources. Prior 
to September 11, 2001, the tapes were sent through the mail 
or via DHL, he said. Now he thinks they are sent via a 
zipped file which is downloaded in some unknown location (he 
speculated Morocco) and subsequently passed to Al Jazeera. 
He did not elaborate on the mechanism used in this last 
stage. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
8. (SBU) The purpose of Embassy participation in the pilot 
was to show some initial openness to AJI and to get to know 
some of the personalities involved. Having achieved these 
objectives, we will continue to observe and report on AJI's 
birth. 
 
UNTERMEYER