Piece Description

Legendary British broadcaster David Frost, former US marine Josh Rushing ("Control Room"), the BBC's Iraq correspondent, Rageh Omar, and former ABC reporter, Richard Gizbert who was dismissed after refusing to go to cover the war. These are just a very few of the people signed up to be star presenters on Al Jazeera International, the new English-language channel to be launched at the end of next month. The station, owned by the Emir of Qatar, is run by Nigel Parsons, a former staffer for the BBC and Associated Press Television News. President George W. Bush is alleged to have discussed bombing the station's headquarters in Qatar in 2004 during a conversation with Prime Minister Tony Blair. The launch comes just at the time when the present administration has proposed spending cuts that will drastically reduce the English-language Voice of America and the U.S. sponsored Middle East Broadcasting Networks' show, 'News Now', will be cut completely. Claudia Cragg recently talked with Hafez Al-Mirazi, the Washington Bureau Chief for Al-Jazeera Television, on his opinions about the current state of Free Speech in the United States and what, in his opinion, this new service might achieve through its broadcasts. Previously, Al-Mirazi was the correspondent for the BBC Arabic/World Service in Washington and talk show host for the Arab News Network and Arab network of America in Washington. He also held positions as writer, editor, and broadcaster for Voice of America in Washington. Mr. Al-Mirazi started his career as a radio journalist and broadcaster with Voice of the Arabs (Sawot Al-Arab) on Cairo Radio in Egypt in 1980. He holds Masters in World Politics from the Catholic University of America in Washington and a Bachelor in Political Science from Cairo University. Mr. Al-Mirazi has lived in Washington and covered US politics since 1983.