It’s not been the easiest of years for the al Jazeera Network and its acting director general, Mostefa Souag. Perhaps the region’s biggest media giant has been fighting off accusations of biased reporting from some governments, and it has also had to wrestle with the detention and eventual release of three of its journalists in Egypt. Then there has been the relatively small impact of Al Jazeera’s US operation, which has been costly but has met with little success so far, resulting in the departure of its CEO, Ehab Al Shihabi. He has held various positions within the network, including director of news for Al Jazeera and media adviser to the chairman of the board of Al Jazeera Media Network. He also served as director of the Al Jazeera Center for Studies and was also based in London as editorial bureau chief. Prior to Al Jazeera, Souag was with the BBC World Service and the MBC media group. He holds a PhD in literary studies, and was a professor of literary theory at the University of Algiers until 1993.