Doha, Qatar – January 13, 2009

Al Jazeera Network today announced the world’s first repository of broadcast-quality video footage released under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license. Select Al Jazeera video footage – at this time, footage of the War in Gaza – will be available for free to be downloaded, shared, remixed, subtitled and eventually rebroadcasted by users and TV stations across the world with acknowledgement to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera will release its exclusive Arabic and English coverage produced by the Network’s correspondents and crews in the Gaza Strip online at http://cc.aljazeera.net. The ongoing war and crisis in Gaza, together with the scarcity of news footage available, make the repository a key resource for anyone producing content about the current situation.

This is the first time that video footage produced by a news broadcaster is released under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license, which allows for both commercial and non-commercial use.

Mohamed Nanabhay, who headed New Media at Al Jazeera and launched the project, stated: “As one of the only international broadcasters in Gaza, our coverage of the war has been unsurpassed. The launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository means that our Gaza footage will be made available under the most permissive Creative Commons license (CC-BY). With the flexibility of the license, we expect to introduce our outstanding coverage to an even wider audience across the world. This means that news outlets, filmmakers and bloggers will be able to easily share, remix, and reuse our footage.”

Lawrence Lessig – founder of the Creative Commons organization and Professor of Law at Stanford University – stated: “Al Jazeera is teaching an important lesson about how free speech gets built and supported. By providing a free resource for the world, the network is encouraging wider debate, and a richer understanding.”

Joichi Ito – CEO of Creative Commons and a world-renowned technology  entrepreneur – added: “Video news footage is an essential part of modern journalism. Providing material under a Creative Commons license to allow commercial and amateur use is an enormous contribution to the global dialogue around important events. Al Jazeera has set the example and the standard that we hope others will follow.”

As a pioneer in news and media, Al Jazeera is always looking for ways to make its unique content accessible to audiences across the world and the launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository is another concrete step in this direction.

For details on downloading and accessing content from Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository please go to http://cc.aljazeera.net or contact creativecommons@aljazeera.net.

About Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera started out over twelve years ago as the first independent Arabic news channel in the world dedicated to providing comprehensive television news and live debate for the Arab world. In 2006, Al Jazeera was ranked by brandchannel.com as the most impactful television broadcast news brand globally.  As a result of its expansion and the creation of new channels and services, Al Jazeera was formally named the Al Jazeera Network in March 2006, transforming its operation into an international media corporation. The Al Jazeera Network now consists of the flagship Al Jazeera Arabic channel, Al Jazeera English, Al Jazeera Documentary, Al Jazeera Sport, Al Jazeera.net (the English and Arabic web sites), the Al Jazeera Media Training and Development Center, the Al Jazeera Center for Studies, Al Jazeera Mubasher (Live), and Al Jazeera Mobile.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 2001, that promotes the creative re-use of intellectual and artistic works, whether owned or in the public domain. Through its free copyright licenses, Creative Commons offers authors, artists, scientists, and educators the choice of a flexible range of protections and freedoms that build upon the “all rights reserved” concept of traditional copyright to enable a voluntary “some rights reserved” approach. Creative Commons was built with and is sustained by the generous support of organizations including the Center for the Public Domain, the Omidyar Network, The Rockefeller Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, as well as members of the public. The Creative Commons licensing suite has been ported to 50 jurisdictions around the world. For more information about Creative Commons, visit https://creativecommons.org.

Contact

Lauren McCollough
Media Relations, Al Jazeera Network
press.int@aljazeera.net
+974 489 6046

Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
eric@creativecommons.org

Donatella Della Ratta
Arab World Media and Development Manager, Creative Commons
donatella@creativecommons.org
++39 339 2248940
++963 949095651