Al Jazeera Says Its Own Admissions of State Ownership Are False

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As U.S. lawmakers press for Qatari-owned Al Jazeera to register as an agent of a foreign government, the media company has repeatedly insisted that it’s not an organ of the Qatari state. But as late as last year, the news outlet told the British government the precise opposite.

The broadcaster now says that admission, which described the parent company of Al Jazeera’s U.S. arm as a Qatari government-owned entity, was made in error. It insists that is not the case, and wasn’t when the statement was made in September 2018.

The question of ownership is central to whether Al Jazeera should be forced to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Congressional Republicans in particular have repeatedly called for such a move, claiming that Al Jazeera is a de facto Qatari government propaganda organ.

After the latest round of such demands last month, the company issued a statement responding to its critics. 

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“Al Jazeera Media Network, its channels and its platforms… operate with editorial independence while receiving public funding and, in this respect, are similar to most global media organizations, including the BBC, CBC, and Deutsche Welle,” the company said. “AJMN is a Private Foundation for Public Benefit under Qatari law; it is not owned by Qatar, and its reporting is not directed or controlled by the Qatari government nor does it reflect any government viewpoint. Therefore, FARA registration is not required.”

That statement contradicted language in a filing that Al Jazeera International LTD, its British arm, submitted to U.K. corporate authorities last year.

In that filing, signed by Muftah al Suwaidan, a director of Al Jazeera’s British arm, the company said AJMN “is indirectly owned by the emir of the State of Qatar through the state broadcasting entity.” It repeated the statement later in the same filing. AJMN, the company said plainly, “is owned by the State of Qatar.”

Al Jazeera International LTD made identical statements about AJMN’s government ownership in every annual report on file with British authorities going back to 2008. Its most recent report, submitted to British corporate regulators nine days after its public statement denying Qatari government control, omitted any description of AJMN’s ownership structure.

Al Jazeera now says that that statement is false and was false when its most recent filing was submitted. “Unfortunately, the ownership description of Al Jazeera Media Network in this U.K. company’s 2017 annual report is erroneous,” AJMN said in a statement. “It does not accurately reflect the current legal structure in Doha, the legal structure as it existed in 2017, or the legal structure that has existed for most of the last decade.”

The company maintains AJMN has not been a Qatari government organ since 2011, when it transitioned from a public entity to the “private foundation for public benefit” structure that it describes as the Qatari equivalent of a U.S. nonprofit. The structure “ensured AJMN’s decision-making autonomy and independence from the Government of Qatar,” the company said in its statement to PAY DIRT. 

But in filings in the U.K., descriptions of its state ownership—erroneous ones, the company insists—continued for years.

The question of ownership is a crucial one as Al Jazeera fights efforts to subject its U.S. operations to FARA’s disclosure requirements. But ownership isn’t the only criterion for registration under the law. The Justice Department’s standard for registration also considers, beyond ownership, whether a potential foreign agent is operating “under the direction or control” of a foreign government. AJMN insists that its legal structure precludes such state control, even as the company gets Qatari government funding.

FARA also provides an exception for “bona fide” news organizations. But under a law passed last year, such organizations that would meet the definition of a foreign agent but for that exception must register with the Federal Communications Commission under rules that also require the disclosure of significant information about its finances and operations.

Al Jazeera hopes it will escape the fate of Russian-owned media organizations such as RT and Sputnik, which over the last few years have acceded to DOJ demands to register under FARA. Both did so under protest. 

And just as Al Jazeera describes itself as an independent nonprofit, RT continues to insist that it is a standalone entity under Russian law. 

Get the data:

• U.K. Companies House
• Foreign Agents Registration Act document search