Veteran UK broadcaster David Frost is to join Aljazeera International, the Qatar-based broadcaster’s new English-language channel due to be launched next spring.
Aljazeera said on Friday Sir David, who broadcast his final Breakfast with Frost programme for the BBC in May, would be among the “key on-air talent”.
Frost was quoted as saying he felt “excitement” about his new role.
“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 six billion other inhabitants of the globe.”
An Aljazeera statement called Frost “the only person to have interviewed the last seven presidents of the United States and the last six prime ministers of the United Kingdom”.
It said: “(He) has joined the line-up of key on-air talent at the new 24-hour English language news and current affairs channel.”
Frost first came to prominence on television in the early 1960s, when he presented the satirical BBC show That Was the Week that Was.
He presented a series of news and current affairs programmes in the UK and America.
Frost’s interviews with Richard Nixon after Watergate were revealing, much acclaimed and achieved the largest audience for a news interview in history.
Who’s going to work the hardest at keeping anyone in the United States from having the choice of watching — or not watching — this show? Or the channel for that matter?
There’s two choices, diplomacy or annihilation. Either the Islamic world and the west must come to a mutual understanding over this conflict or it will never end. The answer may simply be to leave each other alone, but solutions must be explored. There’s 1.3 billion Muslims of several branches in the world. I believe Sir David is exploring some degree of mutual understanding and tolerance, if not respect.
Martin… Have you ever watched Al Jazeera for a decent length of time? If you had, you would know that it is not a mouth-piece for Al Qaeda – far from it. They show some pretty gory stuff which I don’t agree with, but they do try to present all sides of a situation. We cannot say the same for most reporting, least of all that in the US.
what Next: Aljazeera and Fox to merge?
Caption to the picture: “I am not a crook……….but the guy on my right will do anything for money”