The English-language version of the Qatar-based satellite TV station al-Jazeera went on air yesterday. Mary Fitzgerald was watching
There were no new bin Laden videos, no presenters in headscarves, no heated debates and no gory bulletins from Iraq. At times it seemed the only thing al-Jazeera's new English-language channel shares with its Arab sibling is the pointy golden logo - a stylised rendering of the Arabic word for peninsula that gives the channel its name.
Indeed, those unfamiliar with the original al-Jazeera could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about, while regular viewers of the Arabic-language channel were probably asking why much of what made the maverick news station so distinctive appears to have been lost in translation - so far, at least.
Ten years after al-Jazeera tore up the media rulebook in the Arab world, rattling politicians and rulers from Riyadh to Washington, the Qatar-based channel yesterday launched its eagerly anticipated and much delayed English-language spin-off, broadcasting to more than 80 million homes worldwide.
The new channel breaks from al-Jazeera's Arab-oriented format by broadcasting not only from Qatar, but also from hubs in London, Washington and Kuala Lumpur. Its stated aim is to deliver news to the world's one billion English speakers from a non-western perspective. Journalists from more than 30 nations will contribute to a 24-hour schedule of news, analysis, talk shows, documentaries and specialised programming, including a slot focusing on women's issues.
On the first day of al-Jazeera English, as it is now known, there was little evidence of the combative feistiness and edgy journalism that pulls in millions of viewers to its sister news channel.
Instead, those tuning in were treated to a rather worthy debut schedule that was heavy on meandering features but surprisingly light on hard-hitting scoops and solid treatment of breaking news. For months, media analysts had wondered what tone the new channel would strike - would it be like the brash, provocative upstart that is the original al-Jazeera, often described as the Fox News of the Arab world, a reference to Rupert Murdoch's rabidly right-wing US-based satellite? Or would it be more like the BBC - sombre, earnest and careful? For now, it appears more a case of the latter.
Coming on air at noon with a montage of the biggest news stories of the last decade, the channel's anchors opened with a self-congratulatory tone that echoed throughout the day's programming. "It's November 15th, a new era in television news," one presenter intoned.
News bulletins were spliced with more promotional sequences featuring some of the channel's big names, such as Sir David Frost and former BBC reporter Rageh Omar.
Each montage and programme was bookended with the channel's strapline: "Al-Jazeera - setting the news agenda." For its launch day, setting the news agenda meant leading most bulletins with a report on the death of an Israeli woman in a Palestinian rocket attack, conveniently seguing into a lengthy feature on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Many analysts have speculated on how the new channel will approach the vexed issue of language used in reporting the Middle East. The Arabic channel regularly refers to dead Palestinian militants as "martyrs" and described Hizbullah as "the resistance" during the recent crisis in Lebanon. There were some hints yesterday on how the new channel would proceed - during one bulletin the presenter referred to "so-called terrorist organisations" operating in the region.
Live feeds proved a mixed bag. Polished reports from Rageh Omar in Tehran and a reporter in Zimbabwe contrasted with shaky contributions from young reporters on the ground in Gaza and Darfur. Exclusive interviews with Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila and the head of Interpol were interesting, but perhaps not what viewers expecting the latest al-Qaeda video were looking for. The same could be said of the feature on Liberia and the documentary on a Kenyan photo-journalist credited with bringing the Ethiopian famine to world attention.
Therein lies the biggest challenge for al-Jazeera in its campaign to cater for a target audience that is as varied as it is vast: English speakers in the developing world, Arab immigrants in Europe and the US, the millions of Muslims worldwide that don't speak Arabic and westerners frustrated with mainstream media. Already there are distribution glitches - the channel has failed to secure contracts with any major cable or satellite company in the US.
Much of the first day's oddly lack-lustre programming can perhaps be put down to teething problems, but it remains to be seen whether it can deliver after promising so much.
Irish subscribers to Sky may watch al-Jazeera English on channel 514. NTL hopes to offer the service, but not as part of its basic package.
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