Live From Qatar

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Khanfar says al-Jazeera will be adopting "a new style, a new outlook, a new philosophy of reporting news" in response to the needs of Arab society. The channel's news bulletins and tumultuous talk shows will put fresh emphasis on domestic Arab issues like democracy and human rights. Programming, including new segments on Arab culture, social taboos, youth topics, tourism and investigative journalism, will seek to replace "slogans," "political rhetoric" and "dreamy wishful thinking" with "reality" and "solid solutions," Khanfar says. "We need to upgrade ourselves from magnificent speeches to rational, in-depth analysis of what is going on." In reports about Iraq, the U.S. "occupation army" has become simply the "American military." In coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, however, a recent report on the Israeli-constructed wall separating the two sides included extended footage of an Israeli soldier pinning a Palestinian to the ground with his boot. The repetitive broadcasting of such images is one of the reasons that U.S. critics charge al-Jazeera with anti- Western bias.

Not surprisingly, that is a brush that Parsons prefers not to be tarred with as he sets out to conquer the U.S. market. He recently paid courtesy calls to critics in Washington. In a meeting on Capitol Hill, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher of California opened the discussion, Parsons recalls, by declaring, "You're the channel that hates freedom and loves terrorism." Another conservative whom Parsons visited was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney. According to Parsons, she expressed concern that his channel would pander to anti-American sentiments. "She was skeptical in the beginning, but at the end she was friendly," he says. "She seemed prepared to judge us on our merits."

That is all Parsons can ask for. Relaxing in his threadbare office in an old villa across from the site of his future headquarters, he couldn't be happier being cast as the underdog. "Some are saying that it can't be done out of Doha," he declares with a bravado that would make a Ted Turner proud. "Well, they always said it couldn't be done out of Atlanta. But CNN proved everyone wrong." Come next year, Parsons will discover if he has done the same. --With reporting by Amany Radwan/Cairo