Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / TopTV 401) is opening 12 new news bureaus across the United States before the launch of 20 August of Al Jazeera America, the new American-centric spin-off 24-hour news channel version of Al Jazeera.
The Al Jazeera correspondents will however be available to report on stories for the broader Al Jazeera TV news network such as Al Jazeera English seen in South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world.
Al Jazeera America will have news bureaus in Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
New York and San Francisco correspondents have not been finalised yet, but the rest are as follows: Ash-har Quraishi (Chicago), Heidi Zhou Castro (Dallas), Paul Beban (Denver), Bisi Onile-Ere (Detroit), Jennifer London (Los Angeles), Natasha Ghoneim (Miami), Jonathan Martin (Nashville), Robert Ray (New Orleans), Allen Schauffler (Seattle) and Libby Casey (Washington D.C.).
"It is critical for Al Jazeera America to have bureaus strategically placed throughout the U.S. so that we can cover the news from wherever it happens," says Marcy McGinnis, Al Jazeera America's senior vice-president for newsgathering in a statement.
"We want our correspondents to report on a wide range of local, state and regional stories within the context of what it means for the rest of the country. The extraordinary team of correspondents, producers and crews we have assembled has the experience to find and report stories that will resonate with our national audience."
