Veteran British broadcaster Sir David Frost is to join Arabic-language TV station Aljazeera, the network has confirmed. Sir David is to appear on Aljazeera International, the pan-Arab news network's new English-language channel, due to be launched next spring.
The Qatar-based channel said Sir David, who broadcast his final Breakfast with Frost programme for the BBC in May, would be among the "key on-air talent". Sir David 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." Sir David notched up 500 editions of Breakfast with Frost before bowing out.
An Aljazeera statement called Sir David "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."
"I love new frontiers and new challenges," Frost, 66, said. He said the new network, Aljazeera International, has promised him "total editorial control" and that he had checked out the company with US and British government officials, "all of which gave Aljazeera a clean bill of health in terms of its lack of links with terrorism."
The Bush administration has repeatedly denounced Aljazeera. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused the Qatar-based operation of promoting terrorism and "vicious lies" and has banned its reporters from Iraq. The State Department has complained about "false" and "inflammatory" reporting.
Said Frost, who will host a weekly interview programme: "For all the people who think it's anti-American, there are various countries in the Middle-East who think it's too pro-Western. I would say the jury's out on Aljazeera. Obviously, we all suffer from the handicap of not being able to sit there and watch in Arabic."
The Thursday announcement of the hiring of Frost, who will continue to work for the BBC, comes as Aljazeera is looking for a few good Americans -- anchors, correspondents and producers -- for the network as it prepares to launch early next year. Al-Jazeera International plans for the Washington bureau to broadcast four hours of programming each day, with London, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia, and Doha, Qatar, handling the rest of the load.
From a nondescript office building on K Street in Washington, where an armed guard mans the lobby, staffers have been calling television agents about their clients. But a number of those approached, including several well-known personalities whose agent would not identify them by name, have quickly rebuffed the overture. One journalist who will anchor a Washington call-in program is Riz Kahn, a former BBC staffer and CNN International host.
Sir David 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. He worked for ITV breakfast station TV-am in the 1980s before rejoining the BBC in 1992.
Earlier last week, flamboyant Japanese internet tycoon-turned-politician Takafumi Horie said he will take Aljazeera to Japan, hoping to provide a greater variety of views to the public.
The 32-year-old entrepreneur on Monday said his firm, Livedoor, which offers a portal site much like Yahoo! along with other internet services, had signed a deal with Aljazeera to distribute its English news online in Japanese. Horie unsuccessfully ran for Parliament backing the agenda of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, one of US President George Bush's closest allies.
In September Aljazeera launched an Arabic-language children's channel as part of its expansion plans. Aljazeera, launched in 1996 in Qatar, also has a sports channel and one dedicated to covering live events without a presenter.
