Al Jazeera starts a kids channel

l Jazeera starts kids channel - with a difference
Faisal Baatout and Christian Chaise
AFP
September 12, 2005

DOHA -- The Al Jazeera Arab satellite channel, known for broadcasting taped messages by Al Qaeda leaders, on September 9 launched a new children's channel to combine entertainment with teaching tolerance.

The "Al Jazeera Children's Channel" hopes to be a first in the Arab world, as the Qatar-based television network bids to overcome criticism by the United States and conservative Arab regimes over alleged bias in its news broadcasts.

"It will take some time," said the executive director of the channel, Mahmoud Buneb, who stressed that this channel would be "different".

"Children adore American cartoons. We will provide subdued, calm content," he said.

Arabic-language children's programming can already be seen on MBC3, a Saudi-based channel that belongs to Al Jazeera's rival Al Arabiya, and satellite dishes make Cartoon Network-type kids shows widely available.

But the goal of Al Jazeera's youth channel is to teach modern values such as open-mindedness and tolerance to Arab children age three to 15 and their families, organizers said.

"We are embarking on a television project that will, we hope, be viewed by television viewers, families and children alike," Buneb said.

However, there are "no taboos", he said, citing an upcoming program on female genital circumcision featuring women who were victims of the practice.

The channel has been in the works for three years and is a joint venture between Al Jazeera and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

The foundation owns 90 percent of the venture and is a publicly-funded organization headed by the wife of Qatar's emir, Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Masnad.