David Pollock

Al Jazeera: One organisation, two messages

A few days ago, an article with the above headline appeared on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Penned by David Pollock, the piece has been a metaphorical pebble in my shoe ever since.

Initially, I had approached the article in expectation that it might help correct one of the major misconceptions about Al Jazeera: that it's just one single news station.

The fact that there are two news stations based in Doha, operating independently with different staff and different audiences, is a fairly important fact that's often overlooked.

But rather than shedding any light on the network, Pollock's article somehow managed to leave the impression that there's a conspiracy afoot in Doha, and that the division between English and Arabic stations is a cause for concern.

So here's an attempt to add some clarity, by pointing out some of the inconsistencies in