Al Jazeera Media Network announces the launch of AJ+, a connected, global news community. With socially shareable content, AJ+ will highlight human struggles and achievements while providing context on the world’s biggest stories.
“AJ+ gives Al Jazeera the flexibility to innovate and grow and adjust in an era of rapid change in the news industry,” said Dr. Yaser Bishr, Al Jazeera Media Network’s Executive Director of Strategy and Development. “AJ+ is topical, direct and tonally relevant to a younger audience that relies heavily on mobile consumption and their social streams.”
AJ+ is available as a free iOS and Android app that conveys content via cards and stacks, making the delivery and consumption of news fast, dynamic and simple.
These cards include:
• Video: Bite-size, shareable and engaging. Video cards aim to empower you with relevant information that contextualizes the world around you.
• Debate: Who doesn’t love a good debate? We know most issues have different viewpoints. These cards will allow you to vote on a certain issue, take a stand and advocate your position within the community.
• Conversation: Tired of trolls? This is the space to dive deeper into issues. We know we don’t have all of the answers (even though we’d like to think we do). A conversation card connects you with a global community to engage and learn from each other.
• Quiz: Think you know everything? Take a quiz and test your knowledge. Quiz cards introduce a new and fun way to explore stories.
• Art: Who doesn’t love sharing a good quote or compelling story? The art card is designed to highlight key points around issues. They’re designed for you to share on social streams.
• Resource: Let us Google that for you. We know people spend more time searching for additional information on stories. This card will make your life a bit easier with links to relevant stories, articles and bits of information.
A number of Africans have played key roles in the creation of the app, including South Africans Riyaad Minty and Imran Garda and Egyptian Ethar El-Katatney.
Minty, AJ+’s lead of engagement, has been dreaming of launching a digital-only channel for Al Jazeera since he joined the network in 2006. As the team like to say, “AJ+ is his baby,” and he has been incubating and building the project since mapping it out on a whiteboard with his New Media colleagues back in December 2012.
Garda, a former Newshour, Inside Story and The Stream anchor, is the senior presenter and producer. He’s just published his first novel, The Thunder That Roars.
El-Katatney, the first Egyptian and Arab to win the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award, is the senior producer for AJ+ Real Time, creating bite-size packages featuring top news stories, lifestyle, arts, culture, politics and everything you need to know on the go. El-Katatney is a previous winner of the prestigious Samir Kassir Freedom of the Press Award and Prince Albert of Monaco’s Anna Lindh Euro-Mediteranean Journalist Award, as well as one of the most influential Arabs on Twitter, according to Forbes.
With more than eight million views, AJ+ content will continue to be available via its dedicated YouTube channel and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
“Storytelling in the 21st century has become a one-way medium compared to what it was: an engaging experience. AJ+ encourages millennials to engage in conversations, build communities and challenge the status quo,” added Dr. Bishr.
To download the app, visit http://www.ajplus.net.
About AJ+
AJ+ is a global news community for the connected generation. We highlight human struggles and achievements, empower impassioned voices, and challenge the status quo. AJ+ is headquartered in San Francisco and will have production hubs across the globe in the near future. AJ+ is part of the Al Jazeera Media Network.
About Imran Garda
Imran joined Al Jazeera English in 2006, anchoring Newshour and Inside Story. He also hosted a number of network documentaries, including Focus on Gaza, The Father of the Turks, and India’s Silent War. He previously anchored the award-winning The Stream and the 2010 Al Jazeera Documentary Film Festival. He has interviewed an array of influencers, humanitarians and politicians, including former US Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, former UN Humanitarian Chief John Holmes, NASA’s Charles Bolden and Irish President Mary Robinson. Imran writes poetry, short stories and satire. His first novel, The Thunder That Roars, was recently published by Umuzi, a Random House imprint.
About Riyaad Minty
Before moving to San Francisco to set up AJ+, Riyaad was based in Doha and helped build the New Media team at Al Jazeera, where he was responsible for incubating new ideas around social technologies, developing core digital strategies for new and existing channels, and leading a multinational team across all channels and languages within the Al Jazeera Media Network. As one of the early adopters of social media within a news environment, his work on using citizen media for crisis reporting has helped define standards used by media organizations around the world. His work around the 2008/9 war on Gaza, the 2009 Iran Elections and the Arab Spring changed the way the network used digital technologies for news reporting.
At 30, Riyaad has been recognized as a global leader in the field of digital media. He has presented his social media strategy at leading media conferences around the world and is regularly interviewed by global media on the role of citizen media in times of crisis reporting. Prior to joining Al Jazeera, Riyaad co-founded Future Technologies, a South African company that focused on mobile content production, aggregation and
distribution. In 2012 Riyaad was recognized by The Mail and The Guardian as one of the top South Africans under 35’s working in Media. Projects he has worked on and developed for Al Jazeera have picked up numerous awards for the network over the years. Riyaad believes that telling the truth is hard, but not telling it is even harder, even if it’s only 6 seconds at a time.
