Veteran newsman will join Al-Jazeera
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, October 8, 2005
MANAMA, Bahrain – Veteran British broadcaster David Frost will go on the air in the spring with Al-Jazeera International, the English-language channel of the popular Arab satellite broadcaster, the network announced Friday.
Frost, who broadcast his final “Breakfast With Frost” program for British Broadcasting Corp. in May, would be among the “key on-air talent” on the 24-hour news and current affairs channel, Al-Jazeera said.
The statement quoted Frost as saying he had high expectations about the job.
“Most of the television I have done over the years has been aimed at British and American audiences,” he said. “This time, while our target is still Britain and America, the excitement is that it is also the 6 billion other inhabitants of the globe.”
Frost’s interview shows have long attracted world leaders. He notched 500 editions of “Breakfast With Frost” before bowing out.
Al-Jazeera has had repeated run-ins with the Bush administration, which claims Al-Jazeera’s exclusive broadcasts of speeches by Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders show an anti-American, pro-terrorist bias.
Al-Jazeera says it reports the news objectively.
The English-language channel is part of the network’s expansion. Al-Jazeera, launched in 1996 in Qatar, recently began an Arabic-language children’s channel as well as a sports channel and another dedicated to covering live events without an announcer.
