Talking to the world

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As one of the most highly regarded interviewers in global news, eyebrows were raised when Sir David Frost joined a fledgling news channel. But a year on Al Jazeera English is making waves and challenging the likes of the BBC and CNN.

Al Jazeera English was always going to face an uphill battle in its first year. If having an unjust reputation for being anti-Western and pro al-Qaeda was not enough to contend with, it was about to enter an arena dominated by the BBC, CNN and Rupert Murdoch.

Nevertheless, its four lavish global centres in Doha, Washington, DC, London and Kuala Lumpur, combined with endless funding from the Emir of Qatar, was enough to attract legendary British political interviewer Sir David Frost and others including ex-BBC world affairs correspondent Rageh Omaar.

Now, one year on, Frost says Al Jazeera English has "blazed a trail" and is becoming a competitor to the bigger western broadcasters. "Al Jazeera English has had a great run and it got off to a great start," says Frost, who hosts current affairs show Frost Over the World.

International ethos
Frost, who interviewed then prime minister Tony Blair when his new show first aired on 17 November last year, says he has been particularly impressed by the international philosophy of the channel, which many observers may not have expected when it launched. "Although the Arabic channel naturally has a more Arab viewpoint, this one is completely independent," he says. "You can see from just watching a morning of it - it has such an international point of view."

He backs this up by citing a number of top-level interviews he has conducted in the first year and news items from locations he says the typical world news channel would not venture to. "A good example is when we gained access to [Brazilian] President Lula, arguably the most powerful man in South America," he says. "Another example is interviewing the president of Somalia. Not many international news channels would range that widely."

The channel was billed as Al Jazeera International until the day before it went live on 15 November 2006. Frost says he has "no idea" why International was substituted for English, but thinks it may have been done out of respect for the main Arabic channel, which, he says, is international in its own right.

World of difference
In terms of the channel's reach, Frost says the growth in viewers speaks for itself. "When the channel launched, it began with 80 million homes in 50 countries," he says. "It has now reached more than 100 million. The new kid on the block has joined the club."

In contrast, CNN International has 220 million viewers globally - Frost's view is that "all international news channels are our competitors."

In the UK Al Jazeera English has 8 million viewers on Sky and it is in talks with Virgin Media to expand its reach further.

Cracking the US remains one of the key challenges the channel faces, says Frost. The US is still a massive untapped market and political resistance means carriage deals are hard to come by. The channel's poor distribution in the US means that audiences are negligible, certainly compared with CNNI's 5.1 million.

Outside the US, Frost is pleased not just with the number, but the range of viewers. He says famous political figures tune in. "Norman Lamont came up to me not too long ago and said: 'David, you know I am a news junkie. Now, when I turn on the TV I start with Al Jazeera English, because they tell me things I didn't know.'"

However, he admits to having carried out his own due diligence when Al Jazeera came knocking. "The channel had a reputation [as Osama Bin Laden's mouthpiece] so I checked it out with Washington and Whitehall and it was given a clean bill of health," he says. "I then spoke to the managing director, Nigel Parsons, and director of news, Steve Clark, both Brits, and they were both completely reassuring."

When compared with the main English-language news channels, Al Jazeera English still lives in their shadow. But what Frost believes it has over those broadcasters is the huge financial backing of the Emir of Qatar, which gives it an advantage on a number of fronts. "It's great because it means Al Jazeera can get access anywhere at any time and not have to worry too much about the cash flow," he says. "On another level, it also means people working here feel more secure. They are safe in the knowledge there will not be swingeing cuts."

The points of difference do not end there, says Frost, who highlights the fact Al Jazeera has come fresh to the English-speaking news arena: "One day there was no major news channel called Al Jazeera English and then the next day there was one, setting out its own news agenda."

One of the most experienced political interviewers in British broadcasting history, Frost has a CV boasting the last six British prime ministers (up to Blair) and the last seven US presidents, not to mention the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev, Vladimir Putin and Muhammad Ali.

But even he has his limits when it comes to adopting the abrasive interviewing style often associated with veteran interrogators such as Jeremy Paxman and John Humphrys. "I don't want to comment on individuals, but I have to say that I am not a fan of aggressive interviewing for the sake of it," he says. "There are situations when it is necessary. When I interviewed Nixon on Watergate he said I was the prosecutor and he was the defence. But in normal circumstances, without a smoking pistol, if you just put people on the back foot they are more likely to close up than talk openly."

Rare refusals
On the face of it, you would think Frost has interviewed everybody who is anybody over the past few decades. But he says a fair number have slipped the net. "General de Gaulle promised me an interview on the third morning when he rose again, but he never turned up," he says. And the current politician he'd most like to quiz? "I would love to interview Angela Merkel," he says.

FACT FILE

Born: 7 April 1939
Home: Chelsea and Romsey
Education: Gillingham Grammar School, Wellingborough Grammar School, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Honours: OBE (1970), knighthood (1993)
Extravagances: Cigars, Bentley Brooklands cars