Al Jazeera speech by the leader of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. Staff members protested that the speech was not the most important aspect of the debate, and that it was a repetition of previous calls for Arab intervention. "The Guardian" also said in September 2012 that Qatar had taken steps in recent years to consolidate control of Al Jazeera English. A 13 August 2015 article in "The Independent" on poor BBC news reporting also made reference to the political bias in Al Jazeera from the Qatar government. Al Jazeera Al Jazeera (, , literally "The Island", though referring to the
Al Jazeera America that Al Jazeera America was in existence Al Jazeera English and AJE programs that were shown on Al Jazeera America were Geoblocked in the United States due to agreements with the carriers of Al Jazeera America. Programs from Al Jazeera English not shown on Al Jazeera America (such as "Empire" and "UpFront") were some of the few unblocked during the time and therefore visible on Al Jazeera English's website. In September, 2016, Al Jazeera English's online live stream and the programs which were blocked in the United States during Al Jazeera America's existence were officially un-geoblocked in the United States