AlJazeera Network announced yesterday, the world’s first repository of broadcast-quality video footage released under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license. Select Al Jazeera video footage – at this time, footage of the War in Gaza - will be available for free to be downloaded, shared, remixed, subtitled and eventually rebroadcasted by users and TV stations across the world with acknowledgement to Al Jazeera.

Al Jazeera will release its exclusive Arabic and English coverage produced by the Network’s correspondents and crews in the Gaza Strip online at http://cc.aljazeera.net. The ongoing war and crisis in Gaza, together with the scarcity of news footage available, make the repository a key resource for anyone producing content about the current situation.

This is the first time that video footage produced by a news broadcaster is released under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license, which allows for both commercial and non-commercial use.

Mohamed Nanabhay, who headed New Media at Al Jazeera and launched the project, stated: “As one of the only international broadcasters in Gaza, our coverage of the war has been unsurpassed. The launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository means that our Gaza footage will be made available under the most permissive Creative Commons license (CC-BY). With the flexibility of the license, we expect to introduce our outstanding coverage to an even wider audience across the world. This means that news outlets, filmmakers and bloggers will be able to easily share, remix, and reuse our footage.”

Lawrence Lessig – founder of the Creative Commons organization and Professor of Law at Stanford University – stated: “Al Jazeera is teaching an important lesson about how free speech gets built and supported. By providing a free resource for the world, the network is encouraging wider debate, and a richer understanding.”

Joichi Ito – CEO of Creative Commons and a world-renowned technology entrepreneur – added: “Video news footage is an essential part of modern journalism. Providing material under a Creative Commons license to allow commercial and amateur use is an enormous contribution to the global dialogue around important events. Al Jazeera has set the example and the standard that we hope others will follow.”

As a pioneer in news and media, Al Jazeera is always looking for ways to make its unique content accessible to audiences across the world and the launch of Al Jazeera’s Creative Commons Repository is another concrete step in this direction.

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