Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani is the chairman of the board.

Sheikh Ahmad bin Jassim bin Mohammad Al Thani has been appointed as new director general.

Also[1] : The U.S. State Department clearly views Al Jazeera as a tool of Qatar's foreign policy; one cable from November 2009 claims that the Persian Gulf state uses the channel "as a bargaining tool to repair relationships with other countries, particularly those soured by al-Jazeera's broadcasts, including the United States." Al Jazeera devotes suspiciously little time to covering the politics of the Gulf; for instance, after Qatar's rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, criticism of the Saudi royal family dropped dramatically.

[1] http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/09/20/the_end_of_th...