Al Jazeera\'s director general, Wadah Khanfar, has announced his resignation after eight years Al Jazeera\'s director general, Wadah Khanfar, has announced his resignation after eight years as the network\'s top executive. Khanfar said that he has been discussing his resignation with the Chairman of the Board for some time.
Ahmed Bin Jassim bin Mohammad Al-Thani who works with Qatargas has been appointed as Khanfar\'s replacement.
In a farewell note to Al Jazeera staff, Khanfar said that when eight years ago he had aimed establish Al Jazeera as global media leader.
In final discussions, the Chairman and Khanfar agreed that this target had been met and that the organisation is in a strong position going forward.
Khanfar, who has been an Al Jazeera correspondent in Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq, said that his time in the field had taught him the importance of a free press with the human being at the core of its agenda.
In his note to staff, Khanfar said: \"When we launched in 1996, ‘media independence’ was a contradiction in terms.
\"State media was prevalent and was blatantly used for propaganda and misinformation. Within such an environment the public probably doubted that Al Jazeera would fulfill its promise of independent journalism.
\"We managed to pleasantly surprise them by exceeding all expectations.
\"Yet we remained steadfast in our editorial policy – in fact, each attempt to silence us further emboldened us and increased our resolve.
\"Al Jazeera gained the trust of its audience through consistently speaking truth to power, and channeling peoples\' aspirations for dignity and freedom. Our audience quickly saw that Al Jazeera was of them and their world – it was not a foreign imposition nor did it seek to impose a partisan agenda. We were trusted to be objective and to be the voice of the voiceless.
\"This newsroom showed the world the first images of the Asian Tsunami and of the famine in Niger. In 2011, the eyes of the world watched the aspirations of millions unfold as our newsrooms broadcast, tweeted and published the events unfolding in the liberation squares from Sidi Bouzid to Jissr Al-Shughur.
\"The coverage of these revolutions is ongoing, and we continue to report the fight of the youth to achieve dignity and freedom from tyranny and dictatorship.
\"I am fortunate to have had eight years working with an outstanding group of professionals. Today, Al Jazeera stands as a mature organisation and I am confident that the organisation will continue to maintain its trailblazing path.\"
Khanfar offered his \"most profound gratitude\" to his staff and the loyal audience of Al Jazeera.
Qatar set up in November 1996 Al Jazeera TV channel, which caused a revolution in visual media, which was then completely under the authority’s control.
Khanfar’s resignation comes a month after Wikileaks released a document showing that he had liased with the US Defense Intelligence Agency.
In the document, Khanfar committed to removing articles from the Al Jazeera website that were of concern to the US government.
He also toned down language.
The US government expressed their concerns with Al Jazeera’s material, noting that the website had a number of problems, including “double-sourcing in Iraq; identifying sources; use of inflammatory language; a failure to balance of extremist views; and the use of terrorist tapes.”
The document suggests that Khanfar struck a deal with the US government over the kind of language that Al Jazeera would use.
Khanfar was obviously concerned about the deal.
\"As a news organization, we cannot sign agreements of this nature, and to have it here like this in writing is of concern to us,\" he said.
It is unclear whether Khanfar’s resignation is related to the Wikileaks release.