Live From Qatar

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Al-Jazeera's expansion began in earnest last year when it launched a 24-hour all-sports satellite channel. Separate channels for children's programs and documentaries will join the new English channel in the coming months, and music and entertainment channels are also being discussed. Al-Jazeera's new look includes an overhaul of the nine-year-old mother channel. As it moves into new headquarters of its own in the Qatari capital of Doha in July, company officials say, the Arabic channel's broadcasts will emphasize factual reporting on issues like political reform. Hamad bin Thamer told TIME that the board is studying a report by Ernst & Young on how to become more financially competitive, with a view toward privatizing al-Jazeera. No date has been set for an IPO, but the chairman suggests that when it happens, a majority stake could be reserved for Qatari citizens, with the remaining shares open to all international investors.

Al-Jazeera's Arabic channel has gradually been toning down its partisan rhetoric since 2003, when Qatar's Emir and al-Jazeera's founder, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, a progressive ally of the U.S.'s, who is known to be privately dismayed by some of al-Jazeera's shriller broadcasts, started replacing members of the seven-member board of directors with reformers favoring a more straightforward approach. The board ousted founding al-Jazeera managing director Mohammed Jassim Ali, a Qatari who championed al-Jazeera's aggressive style and anti-Yankee tilt. As al-Jazeera executives see it, the channel needs to be more in tune with the demands for democracy and reform that are in the air throughout the Arab world.

The Arabic channel may continue to dominate Middle East ratings--surveys generally show that more than half of Arab viewers tune in to its news broadcasts--but it is the English channel that will make or break al-Jazeera's name throughout the world. Al-Jazeera International will not be a translation of the Arabic service, Parsons says, but an independent operation staffed by about 230 journalists in more than 30 foreign bureaus. The editors and reporters will be native English speakers, including many Westerners. (The in-house mosque is a standard feature of office buildings in the gulf states, to be used by any Muslim employees.) Parsons has snagged senior managers from respected media organizations, including his alma mater, the London-based Associated Press Television News. He wants some old journalistic hands in front of the camera too. He has signed up Riz Khan, a former program host on CNN International, whose daily Washington-anchored show will pose questions from viewers to newsmakers and celebrities.

Al-Jazeera International has inked distribution deals in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. But Parsons is bracing for the coming political and commercial battles in the U.S. When a Wall Street Journal commentary recently accused the Arabic channel of collaborating with al-Qaeda, the article became mandatory reading at al-Jazeera International's temporary offices (and, for that matter, at Doha Palace, Qatar's seat of power, where the Emir has stubbornly resisted pressure from the U.S. and Arab governments to interfere with al-Jazeera's editorial independence).