Al Jazeera 500 million Qatari riyals (US$137 million) from the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa. By securing its funding through loans or grants rather than direct government subsidies, the channel seeks to maintain independent editorial policy. The channel began broadcasting in late 1996, with many staff joining from the BBC World Service's Saudi-co-owned Arabic-language TV station, which had shut down on 1 April 1996 after two years of operation because of censorship demands by the Saudi Arabian government. The Al Jazeera logo is a decorative representation of the network's name written using Arabic calligraphy. It was selected by the station's
Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival social phenomena with a focus on universal human values such as courage, truth, justice, tolerance and cosmopolitism." The festival's official competition selection for the 2018 edition consisted of 15 international documentaries adapted for TV broadcasting. The non-competition selection, known as "Last Minute Cinema", consisted of five acclaimed international documentaries. All selected films are considered for acquisition by Al Jazeera Balkans and its sister channel, Al Jazeera English, and will subsequently be screened on television. The selections will be finalized in June. The AJB DOC Festival, in cooperation with the Al Jazeera Media Network, holds a multi-day documentary workshop for authors,