Al Jazeera controversies and criticism a clear position in every country from which it reports—not based on journalistic priorities, but rather on the interests of the Foreign Ministry of Qatar," he says. "In order to maintain my integrity as a reporter, I had to quit." He writes, "The news channel Al Jazeera was committed to the truth. Now it is bent. It's about politics, not journalism. For the reporter that means: time to go. [...] The decline 2004–2011 was insidious, subliminal and very slow, but with a disastrous end." Walid Phares indicated that the Qatar-owned Al Jazeera television network became the "primary ideological and communication
Al Jazeera using a chroma key studio on 13 September 2009. Similar to Sky News, Al Jazeera broadcast from that studio while the channel's main newsroom was given a new look. The channel relaunched, with new graphics and music along with a new studio, on 1 November 2009, the 13th birthday of the channel. While Al Jazeera has a large audience in the Middle East, the organization and the original Arabic channel in particular have been criticised and involved in a number of controversies. In May 2000 Bahrain banned Al Jazeera's broadcasts due to the channel's comments about Bahrain's municipal elections, labelling