A Jewish Al-Jazeera?

AP and COLlive

Alexander Machkevitch, a Kazakh-Israeli mining mogul and philanthropist, says he and unnamed partners are in the early stages of developing an international news network to rival Al-Jazeera.

The President of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) told The Associated Press that he had not yet decided what the for-profit venture would be called or where it would be based. However he ruled out Kazakhstan.

Machkevitch said that he has had a longtime interest in creating media that will be less divisive than some of what is offered. He is motivated in part by his view that Israel is not given fair coverage in much of the international media.

Although he hopes to rival Al-Jazeera’s reach in the Middle East, he went out of his way to praise the the pan-Arab television news network based in Qatar.

He said that he is considering a multi-language and multimedia format that could include Arabic and Farsi programming.

He said that his biography as a Jew, who grew up and succeeded among Muslims, has motivated him to look for ways to bridge the divide.

Machkevitch said that he wants a network with editorial direction independent of any government or special interest.

He said that his interests in Kazakhstan would not influence the coverage of the network he hopes to create.

Machkevitch made his fortune as co-founder of Eurasian Natural Resources Corp., whose reach he has expanded around the world. In its most recent list of the world’s richest people, Forbes magazine ranks Machkevitch as 297 with an estimated fortune of $3.7 billion. He has close ties with some Lubavitchers.