Al Jazeera network lands Frost

WASHINGTON -- Al Jazeera, which is launching an English-language network with Washington as a hub, has landed its first big-name Western journalist: David Frost. The veteran BBC interviewer says he's perfectly comfortable with the unlikely marriage.

''I love new frontiers and new challenges," Frost, 66, said yesterday from London. He said the new network, Al Jazeera International, has promised him ''total editorial control" and that he had checked out the company with US and British government officials, ''all of which gave Al Jazeera a clean bill of health in terms of its lack of links with terrorism."

But the Bush administration has repeatedly denounced Al Jazeera. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has accused the Qatar-based operation of promoting terrorism and ''vicious lies" and has banned its reporters from Iraq. The State Department has complained about ''false" and ''inflammatory" reporting.

Frost, who will host a weekly interview program, said, ''For all the people who think it's anti-American, there are various countries in the Middle East who think it's too pro-Western. I would say the jury's out on Al Jazeera. Obviously, we all suffer from the handicap of not being able to sit there and watch in Arabic."

The announcement of the hiring of Frost, who will continue to work for the BBC, comes as Al Jazeera is looking for a few good Americans -- anchors, correspondents and producers -- for the network as it prepares to launch early next year. From a nondescript office building on K Street here, where an armed guard mans the lobby, staffers have been calling television agents about their clients. But a number of those approached, including several well-known personalities whose agent would not identify them by name, have quickly rebuffed the overture.

''Some are a bit leery," said Nigel Parsons, a former staffer for BBC and Associated Press Television News who is running Al Jazeera International. ''There is an image problem to be overcome."

Al Jazeera's reputation wasn't helped when a Spanish court last month sentenced former correspondent Taysir Alouni to seven years in prison on charges of collaborating with Al Qaeda.

Parsons dismisses the US criticism.