Al Jazeera marked its 30th anniversary on Sunday with a commemorative event at its Doha headquarters, attended by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. The network launched as an Arabic-language satellite news channel on November 1, 1996, and has grown into a global media operation reaching more than 430 million homes across television, websites and digital platforms.
Al Jazeera's Director General Sheikh Nasser bin Faisal Al Thani described the network as "a promise that journalism can be free and responsible" and noted its principle of presenting "opinion and the other opinion." Director of News Raed Fakih said the network has helped transform regional news coverage by giving space to "voices, issues and perspectives that had not been given the space they deserved."
The anniversary coincides with a significant restructuring of Al Jazeera's Arabic-language news services, which will now separate rolling breaking news coverage, live event broadcasting and in-depth reporting across three channels.
Al Jazeera has faced sustained pressure for its reporting. At least nine governments have attempted to silence the network. Israel banned Al Jazeera and raided its Ramallah office in 2024; the Palestinian Authority suspended it months later. In 2003, a US strike killed correspondent Tareq Ayyoub at the Baghdad office. A US strike in 2001 meant Al Jazeera was the only foreign broadcaster in Kabul during the Afghanistan invasion.
Twenty-four Al Jazeera journalists have been killed since the network's launch, according to the report. Twelve were killed during Israel's military operations in Gaza over 30 months. In August 2025, an Israeli strike killed correspondent Anas al-Sharif and four colleagues at a press tent outside al-Shifa Hospital.
The network employs more than 3,000 staff across more than 70 bureaus globally. On Sunday, Al Jazeera launched The Core, an artificial intelligence initiative developed with Google Cloud to help journalists manage information and coordinate coverage. Al Jazeera Balkans was also relaunched in a new digital-first format.