Organizers of the Democratic National Convention have forced Al-Jazeera to remove their banner:

Americans tuning into television coverage of this week’s Democratic convention will see signs for media outlets like CNN, ABC, NBC and CBS, but not Al-Jazeera after the Arab satellite channel was asked to remove its banner near the podium.

The 24-hour Qatar-based news outlet won over millions of Arab viewers before and during the US-led war on Afghanistan in 2001 after showing exclusive footage of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

During this week’s convention in Boston, where Senator John Kerry will be officially nominated to run for the White House, the TV channel had erected a colourful $US30,000 ($A42,411) banner that would have been seen by millions of television viewers as part of the convention backdrop.

But it was ordered to remove the sign by convention organisers, who said the decision was made for aesthetic reasons.