Amidst the many diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Doha that WikiLeaks released, one in particular dealt with early preparations for the launch of Al Jazeera English.

I chose to highlight a portion of that cable in the recent Foreign Policy article What Wikileaks Tells Us About Al Jazeera, ostensibly to support the conclusion that one of the news organization’s biggest hurdles has been achieving professional standards.

Josh Rushing, a correspondent for Al Jazeera and former US marine, has now weighed in on the criticism leveled at him in the diplomatic cable:

I knew helping to start Al Jazeera English would draw criticism. And it has …

My latest surprise critic came courtesy of Wikileaks. A leaked diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Doha, Qatar, describes an early pilot of an interview show I shot for Al Jazeera International (before we changed our name to Al Jazeera English) on September 2, 2005. The unnamed author writes, “Hassan and Josh are clearly still amateur anchors and will need considerable practice to present a more professional and engaging program.” Um, ouch.

Setting aside the commentary’s sting and my bruised—though still breathing—ego for a moment, I must admit the show was bad.

Read his full post

Credit: Photo by Andrew J Ferguson