MUMBAI: Middle East broadcaster Al Jazeera Network has announced that it will launch its documentary channel on 1 January.

The broadcaster is looking at the channel to champion the promotion of documentary culture in the Arabic world and beyond. From its unique position, Al Jazeera Documentary will pay particular attention to the Middle East with a special focus on the cultural diversity of its societies.

As the first service of its kind in the region, Al Jazeera Documentary will broadcast programmes focussed on different aspects of human activity including social, political, cultural, scientific, historical, and environmental.

The channel, which will broadcast in Arabic, will sponsor talent and work in partnership with the documentary industry and filmmakers across the world to develop programmes.

Al Jazeera Network DG Wadah Khanfar said, "Building on the spirit of Al Jazeera, the Documentary Channel will focus on under-reported stories in the region and elsewhere. It will open a new window on the human experience wherever it might be, and provide another avenue for mutual understanding between peoples and cultures. As a natural evolutionary step for the Network, the Documentary Channel will extend the vision and mission of Al Jazeera and complement what we have accomplished over the last ten years."

Al Jazeera Documentary will present the other side of reality, the side that transcends the immediacy of news coverage and digs deep into the heart of human stories. Its informative and educational approach will be driven by hope and the broader human horizon focusing on issues that are usually marginalised and ignored.