• May 16, 2008

Tony Burman, former editor in chief and executive director of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News), has been named managing director of Al Jazeera English, the English-language version of the Arabic news network.

Launched in 2006, Al Jazeera English still has only limited distribution on cable TV systems in the U.S. But the network says its English-language arm is the most popular news channel on YouTube, and that 60% of the traffic to the Al Jazeera English Web site comes from North America.

In a statement, Burman said expanding the channel's reach into North America would be one of his main objectives as managing director.

--Mark Walsh