Some items on display at the exhibition
The 'Experience Al Jazeera' exhibition begins today and will be on display until March 2023 at Fire Station. The exhibition spotlights Al Jazeera Media Network’s growth since its launch in 1996 – from one TV station to a global brand broadcasting across multiple platforms founded by the Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who saw a need for an independent channel that has not historically existed, especially in the region.
The exhibition is presented by Qatar Museums as part of Qatar Creates, and the Qatar-MENASA Year of Culture 2022.
The exhibition covers the beginning of the network, picking the name Al Jazeera (island or peninsula in Arabic), the slogan, ‘The Opinion and the Other Opinion,’ and creating the famous calligraphy-styled logo from an open contest. Visitors can enjoy the ‘Studio Experience,’ a close-up of the Al Jazeera studio setting, and the impressive ‘Al Jazeera Immersive’ section. This allows visitors to explore virtual and augmented reality storytelling techniques in broadcasting.
With a global reach of 400 million households, Al Jazeera is the first news network in the region to dedicate a channel to documentary, and the first media in the region to invest in podcast.
Curator and Museography manager of the exhibition, Anaghime Ziani, said the unique exhibition is a first of its kind for Qatar Museums with a media organization. She noted that the museum had crafted an experience that is immersive and layered as possible.
“The story is told through six sections in a sequential thread. So it’s mostly the logical and chronological progression of the Al Jazeera Media network, which started in 1996 as a single channel in Arabic. Today, it has over six channels and over 70 bureaus worldwide in over six languages across different media and channels. So it’s a sequence that logically and chronologically traces the evolution of Al Jazeera,” Ziani said.
The exhibition aligns with Al Jazeera’s 26th anniversary, with plans spanning over two years, said Noora Al Hedfa, International Communications Officer at Al Jazeera. “It’s been a lot trying to encompass Al Jazeera’s 26-year history into what you can see now. That has been a tremendous achievement for the network and the people who will come to see this exhibition because it shows the achievements of Al Jazeera. It shows the network coverage and how it stands for professional journalism, for the people and highlighting journalists who gave up their lives to report objectively,” she added.
Also on display at the exhibition are press kits and itineraries of journalist from the frontlines, a collection of awards won by Al Jazeera, including an Emmy, production equipment from the 1990s and a view of the current production amenities.
