Al Jazeera call-in shows, created controversies in the Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The station gained worldwide attention following the outbreak of the war in Afghanistan, when its office there was the only channel to cover the war live. Al Jazeera Media Network is owned by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera Media Network has stated that they are editorially independent from the government of Qatar as the network is funded through loans and grants rather than government subsidies. Critics have accused Al Jazeera of being a propaganda outlet for the Qatari government. The network is sometimes perceived to have mainly
Al Jazeera English operations including its newsroom, studios and shows from Knightsbridge to its new space on floor 16 of The Shard. The last day of broadcasting from the Knightsbridge studios was September, 12th 2014. The space was officially opened on November 3, 2014, with the first Newshour broadcast on October 10, 2014. The new facility is capable of running an entire channel, independently of the Doha hub. In 2013 Al Jazeera Media Network began planning a new channel called "Al Jazeera UK". If launched, the British channel would broadcast for five hours during prime time as cut-in UK content aired on Al