Arabic news channel Al Jazeera says its new English-language service will not water down its reporting style, despite US criticism of its coverage of the insurgency in Iraq. Washington has accused the satellite channel of giving free publicity to insurgents now trying to destabilise the US-backed Iraqi government.
"We have no agenda against the Americans," General Manager Waddah Khanfar told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday.
He also said: "(Viewers) will discover that we are abiding by a certain kind of professionalism or code of ethics that if it is displayed on any screen it will be seen as something fair."
Chairman Sheikh Hamed Bin Thamer Al-Thani said: "Al Jazeera's motto has always been 'the opinion and the counter opinion' and the English channel will be no different".
Al Jazeera's graphic coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and its airing of exclusive footage from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States gained it millions of viewers in the Arab world.
Its offices in Kabul and in Baghdad have been hit by US fire that Washington said was accidental and it has been banned from reporting in Saudi Arabia.
The Iraqi government has closed the station's office in Baghdad, accusing it of supporting insurgents.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week accused Al Jazeera of encouraging militant groups by airing executions.
However, Khanfar said not one killing had been shown on Al Jazeera since it its launch in 1996.
"The dead bodies, we deal with it much more sensitively, much more than many international networks, including the US"
"We don't see ourselves part of any propaganda against any country in the world. However...if it is a matter of freedom of expression, Al Jazeera has raised all the opinions."
Al Jazeera generally provides airtime to US and Iraqi government officials in its coverage of the crisis that began with the 2003 invasion.
Al Jazeera was voted the world's fifth most influential brand in a poll by online magazine Brandchannel in January. It has an estimated audience of more than 40 million.