Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC) uses an edutainment strategy to entertain children while building knowledge and skills through information and encouraging respect for diversity. JCC is a free-to-air channel that broadcasts on Arabsat and Nilesat satellites to cover the Arab World, and HotBird to cover Europe. Dedicated to all Arabic-speaking communities, Al Jazeera Children's Channel aims to be an open window on different cultures of the world, promoting mutual understanding and sharing information between the children living inside the Arab World and outside. The Channel broadcasts in Arabic, using a level of language accessible for all its Arabic-speaking viewers, and adapted to a young audience. JCC focuses on audiences between the ages of 3 to 16 years and has developed programmes to complement the following age groups: pre-school (3 to 6 years old); pre-teens (7 to 10 years old); and teens (11 to 16 years old).
JCC is committed to producing high quality educational programming for children with 40-45% of the JCC programmes produced in-house and a minimum of six hours a day consists of original and fresh programmes. Through educational television and other activities, JCC's mission is to make a difference in the lives of Arab children, and to promote self-esteem, understanding and freedom of thought through its edutainment content.
To accomplish this, JCC has developed an online forum for young people to share information, experiences, and photos. After children have downloaded and had parents sign a consent form, they may join the online forum.
The channel also encourages debate and discussion. For example, Nadhra Ala is a daily debate show that explores topics which touch the lives of young Arabs around the world, such as female circumcision, illiteracy rates among Arab children and child labour in the Arab region. In each episode regional correspondents share their international reports with the audience and a panel of experts.
Children
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, Al Jazeera Satellite Channel
Middle East Online, September 9 2005 and JCC website, May 10 2006.