Former 'Nightline' Reporter Joins English-Language Al Jazeera - Los Angeles Times

Former 'Nightline' Reporter Joins English-Language Al Jazeera - Los Angeles Times: "Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The Arab news network Al Jazeera announced Thursday that Dave Marash, an award-winning former correspondent for ABC News' 'Nightline,' is joining its 24-hour English-language network, to be launched this spring.

In an interview Thursday, Marash, 63, described his new position as 'the most interesting job on Earth.'

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Calling Al Jazeera 'a thoroughly respectable news organization,' Marash, who will co-anchor the news from the network's Washington studio, said the new show aimed to 'win the high end. We want to give the most sophisticated, most nuanced and most global view of the day's events.'

Al Jazeera, which is based in — and financed by — the Persian Gulf nation Qatar, has been denounced by Bush administration officials for what the State Department characterized as its 'inflammatory' reports. On a number of occasions, it has been the first to broadcast communications from leaders of Al Qaeda. Other Arab nations, notably Saudi Arabia, have complained about the independence of its reporting."