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But now: US viewers seek Al Jazeera coverage

132 points| aj700 | 15 years ago |english.aljazeera.net | reply

78 comments

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[+] mmaunder|15 years ago|reply
Al Jazeera is producing some of the finest global news coverage in the world today. I became a regular viewer recently so I could keep up on political debates with my family based in South Africa who have AJ on satellite.

Watching AJ reminds me how human-interest and emotion-centric the local news has become. The Egyptian coverage on CNN is nauseating. Yesterday a caller phoned in from Cairo and was falling over his words just spilling massive amounts of useful data and the anchor woman interrupts him to ask him about his feelings.

[+] sliverstorm|15 years ago|reply
Yesterday a caller phoned in from Cairo and was falling over his words just spilling massive amounts of useful data and the anchor woman interrupts him to ask him about his feelings

What's nauseating is knowing they broadcast that because they show what people want to see.

[+] adscft|15 years ago|reply
That's only because AJ is still produced in a male-dominated society. Emotional news is one of the consequences of feminism, prevailing in the West.
[+] iamelgringo|15 years ago|reply
As the vast majority of news networks have been scaling back "expensive" forms of journalism like having dedicated foreign bureaus, Al Jazeera has been one of the precious few news agencies that has been rapidly expanding it's foreign bureaus. The move is really starting to pay off for them.

In an increasingly globalized economy where we need much better coverage of international events, US news networks are going to find themselves scooped and out reported by Al Jazeera again and again. It's an impressive news agency, and to think, we bombed their offices twice in the last 10 years by accident[1].

ref:

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_coverage_of_the_Iraq_War#...

[+] russnewcomer|15 years ago|reply
Anyone wanting greater understanding of the regional dynamics in the Middle East should read al Jazeera regularly, just like anyone wanting to really understand local politics should read their local newspaper for a year, instead of reading an NYTimes article about their local politics. Watching it when there is a crisis really doesn't help understand, it just helps give you more information.

Similar to how a pipe fitter in West Texas reading HN once a month wouldn't really help them understand the culture that exists in the Y!Combinator/startup world, watching AJ when there is a crisis without watching it regularly leads you to impose your own cultural lens on the issues. I lived in a Central Asian country for three years, and it took me about two years to really understand how much I didn't understand the local culture.

[+] fwez|15 years ago|reply
Does anyone know if cable carriers in the US don't carry AJ because of lack of demand or is there documented evidence of active exclusion for business or political reasons?

Please don't take this question as conspiracy theory flame bait. I'm just curious about what is known about this.

[+] jhamburger|15 years ago|reply
Let me put it this way- If I were running a cable company, and I had to make a pure business decision on whether to carry AJE, I wouldn't do it. People were up in arms over a "mosque" several blocks away the WTC site...People were outraged at our President's middle name. there would be a HUGE uproar if cable operators started broadcasting "muslim propaganda" in our homes. I'm talking mass boycotts.
[+] Alex3917|15 years ago|reply
Even if All Jazeera is seeing a huge traffic spike, it's still only a small percentage of Americans who are trying to seek out real news. The vast majority of Americans don't even want an uncensored media.
[+] nhangen|15 years ago|reply
Do you really believe Al Jazeera is uncensored?
[+] RK|15 years ago|reply
Maybe Al Jazeera should just run with being a 21st century, Internet delivered news channel.

I mean, I don't get Al Jazeera on my TV because I don't have cable or satellite anyway. I do have Netflix, etc, though.

[+] jarek|15 years ago|reply
Satellite gets them a lot more viewers in the developing world than either internet or traditional cable. It's also a lot harder to block.
[+] borism|15 years ago|reply
Maybe Al Jazeera should just run with being a 21st century, Internet delivered news channel.

they are! I haven't seen any news network that has such high priority for having live feed on the internets. they literally have their live feed at almost every internet video delivery provider - youtube, real media, livestation, you name it...

[+] kingkawn|15 years ago|reply
I am not watching Al Jazeera because of their underlying ideology, but because they are doing the best reporting on Egypt. If they were to continue to provide such powerful reporting on other topics I would watch them for that as well.
[+] alexqgb|15 years ago|reply
Um, I think their "underlying ideology" is doing the best reporting on Egypt, and everything else they cover.

These are seriously hardcore journalists with a very global perspective. I suspect they're currently being flooded with resumes from disgruntled / disgusted / dismayed reporters at CNN, MSNBC, and even FOX - all of whom would give up their first-born to get back into real reporting, instead of the dreadful corporate infotainment that's busy getting relegated to the sphere of complete irrelevance and risible self-parody.

[+] kragen|15 years ago|reply
I think their good reporting is a result of their underlying ideology, which they explained in this article:

"Through investigative and on-site journalism, our ultimate goal is to bring greater awareness, painting a more complete picture of the Middle East's realities. Armed with more information, we believe the people of this region and further afield can make better choices to guide their lives - hopefully ones that will lead to a more peaceful and democratic future, regardless of where they live."

[+] Qz|15 years ago|reply
My guess would be that this is a reference to the alleged anti-Israeli bias as had been mentioned in comments on other recent Al Jazeera threads here.