Al Jazeera marks 30 years of transforming news in Middle East and beyond

Doha, Qatar – As Al Jazeera marks its 30th anniversary with a special commemorative event, the media network’s history is a timeline of milestones and challenges – from risks, obstacles and attacks, to international awards and recognition from the communities whose stories it strives to tell.

Launched on November 1, 1996, the network broke new ground in Arab broadcasting, bringing previously marginalised political perspectives into the mainstream and creating space for debate on issues seldom openly discussed on regional television.

On Sunday, the network hosted an event to commemorate its enduring legacy at its headquarters in the Qatari capital, Doha, attended by the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and other delegates.

Since its launch, Al Jazeera was not “just a screen”, said Al Jazeera’s Director General Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani at the anniversary event. “It was a promise that journalism can be free and responsible, and that ‘opinion and the other opinion’ is not just a slogan, but it’s a position you take.”

For three decades, Al Jazeera “has helped transform the way news is covered in the Arab world”, Director of News Raed Fakih said in a statement, hailing the network for making room for “voices, issues and perspectives that had not been given the space they deserved”.

“Today, as we mark Al Jazeera’s 30th anniversary, we are building on that editorial legacy to broaden the scope of our coverage and give greater prominence to a wider range of events and viewpoints,” he added.

The anniversary coincides with a significant restructuring of Al Jazeera Media Network’s Arabic-language news services, separating rolling breaking news coverage, live event broadcasting, and more in-depth reporting across three channels.

Since Qatar’s late Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani launched the independent channel – a first in the Arab world – the network has promised to provide “the opinion and the other opinion”.

It launched its first TV broadcast as an Arabic-language satellite news channel in 1996 from Doha and has since then grown into the Al Jazeera Media Network, with several outlets in multiple languages. A private corporation for public benefit, the network now includes television channels, websites and other digital platforms.

But as governments have banned it, and as its offices have been bombed in many parts of the world, the network has exacted a huge cost for staying on air.

Yet it has been instrumental in covering key events in the last three decades in the region and beyond.

In 2001, when the United States attacked Afghanistan, Al Jazeera was the only foreign broadcaster in Kabul, its updates and pictures travelling the world.

Then in 2011, millions followed the Arab Spring uprising live on Al Jazeera. Its coverage won a prestigious Peabody Award.

However, the network’s reporting has led to numerous threats over the years. Exclusive pictures have made Al Jazeera hard to ignore, but have also made the network a target.

In 2003, a US strike hit its Baghdad office, killing correspondent Tareq Ayyoub. Two dozen Al Jazeera journalists have been killed since.

In 2022, an Israeli soldier shot Palestinian correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh in Jenin, the 12th Al Jazeera journalist killed in 19 years. Another 12 were then killed in just 30 months, every one of them by Israel during its genocidal war in Gaza.

One of them was Anas al-Sharif, who for many viewers was the face of the war. In August 2025, an Israeli strike killed him and four colleagues as it hit a press tent outside al-Shifa Hospital.

“To the martyrs of Al Jazeera, to our colleagues who departed while carrying out their duties, we say to them today, you are part and parcel of Al Jazeera’s promise,” Al Jazeera’s Sheikh Nasser said at the event on Sunday.

Meanwhile, across the region, governments have closed the network’s bureaus and pulled the channel’s licences.

In 2024, Israel banned the network and raided its Ramallah office. Months later, the Palestinian Authority suspended it.

Overall, at least nine governments have tried to silence Al Jazeera.

Despite the challenges, Al Jazeera’s broadcast continues, with more than 3,000 staff working out of more than 70 bureaus across the globe.

Alongside its digital divisions, as well as its English channel that launched in 2006, Al Jazeera reaches more than 430 million homes.

The network on Sunday also launched The Core, an artificial intelligence (AI) initiative first announced in December 2025 in collaboration with Google Cloud. The initiative aims to integrate AI into newsroom operations, helping journalists manage information, coordinate coverage and make better use of the network’s reporting archives.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera Balkans was also relaunched in a new digital-first format, opening a new chapter in its journalism in the region.

While the network’s shelves are packed with hundreds of awards, it continues its mission of serving as a voice of the voiceless.