Launch

Al Jazeera was founded by Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the then-Emir of the State of Qatar and head of the Al Thani Qatari Royal Family. He first publicly floated the idea of launching an international news channel in August 1994, when he was still crown prince. The Al Jazeera Satellite Channel was launched on 1 November 1996. The creation of the new Arabic news network followed the closure of the