As presenter of one of the most famous talk shows in the Middle East, do you feel part of a revolution?

Of course, we lay down the revolution. I present the most revolutionary programme in the Arab media, so we were the first people to deal with these most sensitive topics, even politics, culture, religion and so forth. So we are definitely part of the revolution and we are proud of it.

What is the role of the talk show in the general philosophy of the channel?

My show represents in the best possible way the words of al Jazeera, the slogan, or rather, “The Opinion and the Other Opinion”, so as you can see in my programme we present two contrasting or two opposing views. For instance, if we are talking about Islam, we find someone who is praising Islam, while at the same time speaking to someone who criticises Islam.

Is it true that you also hosted Israeli officers on the show?

No, not in my programme, but al Jazeera is a platform for all views, and that includes the Israeli point of view. Syrian director Najdat Anzour has accused us of being the mouthpiece of normalization with Israel.

Nowadays the state of the Arab media has changed greatly compared to its first phase, there is much more competition. So what are the future challenges for Al Jazeera? How can it continue to be the most watched channel of the Arab world?

We are still the most watched channel in the Arab world, and to tell you the truth there has not been any real competitors for Al Jazeera up until now. I would love to see as many competitors as possible because competition makes you improve, encourages you to accomplish more, gives you other possibilities as a journalist, but up until now I don’t think we have had any competitors.

But generally speaking, competition could influence the media toward sensationalism and spectacular nature of news?

Good question. Some people accuse my programme of just being a show, but if this is all it is, then why have six Arab countries withdrawn their ambassadors from Doha because of my show? If it were fun they would enjoy it. If we were just for entertainment they would not write thousands of articles to attack us, to blacken our name. I’m on the black list in many Arab countries, so I’m not presenting just a show or a silly game; I’m doing something that is truly difficult.

Do you think al Jazeera will become a private channel?

Not yet, al Jazeera is currently not a private channel and it’s expanding: we have Al Jazeera in English, the documentary channel, Al Jazeera for children, and so on, so at present we do not have this problem, at least for as long as we can afford it.

In the Arab media does privatization signify more or less freedom?

Let me tell you something, there is no such thing as ‘media’, for God’s sake! Do you understand? If it is privatized, it means it begins to serve the political and the commercial interest of those who finance it. The same applies to American media, there are some companies which own huge TV stations. So if they own them it means they won’t allow them to talk about things which would harm the interests of the company itself. General Electrics owns a very large television company, so this company cannot for instance discuss nuclear arms or nuclear detonators. Therefore if you are financed by a certain company you definitely lose a lot of your freedom.

Do you think Italian media represent or misrepresent the Arab world?

I love Italian programmes but not the political ones, just the entertainment ones. I think you have the best programmes, along with great women presenters. I love them and my wife does not even want me to watch them, last night she asked me “are you watching Rai Uno?”. Jokes aside, I don’t think that Western media are doing their job. They should do more, they should spend more time and more money on real people making real programmes. Western media are directed by political and commercial interests, and many Arab people think that Western media are manipulated by an Israeli lobby. The western media portrays the Arab issue through Israeli eyes. This is not my personal accusation but that of millions of Arabs. I think that we are trying to do more to bridge the gap between the West and the Arab world. We are sending many journalists and correspondents to Europe to give us a fair impression of the situation in the West, and I think you should do the same.