Financial Times: Al-Jazeera journalists become faces of the frontline

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Al-Jazeera journalists become faces of the frontline

By Andrew England in Jerusalem

Published: January 14 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 14 2009 02:00

Ayman Mohyeldin was in a coffee shop joking with colleagues in Gaza City when the first Israeli bomb struck, smashing into a police station just a short distance from where they were sitting. The tremors from the explosion shook the café, but it took a few minutes for the reality to sink in - Gaza was under attack.

Since that moment 18 days ago, Mr Mohyeldin and his colleagues at al-Jazeera English, the satellite channel, have worked day and night, providing 24-hour coverage of the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis it has triggered.

Donning a helmet and a flak jacket, Mr Mohyeldin has become one of the faces of the war, delivering calm and balanced analysis of the chaos and destruction going on around him in a soft American accent.

With Israel banning foreign journalists from entering Gaza, al-Jazeera, the Qatari state-owned channel, has laid claim to being the only international broadcast house inside the strip.

It has a team working for its Arab-language network, which made its name with reports from conflict zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

For the English-language service, launched in 2006, the war has been covered by Mr Mohyeldin, a 29-year-old American of Egyptian and Palestinian descent, and Sherine Tadros, a 28-year-old Briton of Egyptian descent.

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