Aljazeera launches a children channel

On September 9, 2005, Aljazeera, the pan-arab broadcasting group, inaugurated a new channel devoted to children, known as JCC.
Based at the Education City in Doha, the capital city of Qatar, JCC, with a staff around 235 people, will provide a mix of entertainment and educational programs (termed as edutainment) to children from 3 to 15. It will be broadcast, free of charge, through the Arab world via Arabsat and Nilesat satellites, and throughout Europe via Hot Bird satellites.


Shaikha Mozah, at the inauguration of JCC

I have mixed feelings about this project. When I read the presentation of JCC on Aljazeera.net, I find it very nice. And I like the statement made by Mahmoud Bouneb, JCC’s executive general manager : "We will try to present something which is a balance between the need of a child to be part of a social tissue and the need of a child to be a child. This is our priority, a child is a child. But let's prepare him to be a good citizen and a constructive citizen and a positive citizen."
I also like when Shaikha Mozah, the wife of the emir of Qatar and apparently the key person behind the venture, says that "this channel is a bridge for communication between Arab children and children around the world".

I am more puzzled when Mozah adds, according to The Peninsula, the main Qatar daily in English, that "because education and information are basic complementary options, the idea was to employ another field among the spheres of influence and information, which established their ability to change minds and mobilise selves in order to link means and windows of knowledge to accompany children in the formal and informal atmosphere, thus help protect their minds and help them grow their common sense and prepare them for the future without suffering of cultural shocks or psychological stresses".

I really don't know what kind of programming this is going to result in. We might get a clue by noting that the French Lagagdère group, whic runs the children channel Canal J in France, will help JCC in the production of fresh programming. Surprisingly, no information was avalaible on Lagardère web site, as of today.