top | item 37464797

(no title)

actuator | 2 years ago

Not that it justifies the deletion, I wonder how a state sponsored propaganda outlet came to be regarded well among global audiences. It would be interesting to read up on what they have done to garner that image.

discuss

order

thiago_fm|2 years ago

Al Jazeera is really reliable, much more than American media companies. People should first do research on this, before they start spreading those BS ideas.

Since 9/11 Americans can't trust anything with an "arabic background", they are constantly bombarded by the media, so they can't ever discover that the middle east is much more than a place with oil or "weapons of mass destruction".

Al Jazeera hires top journalists, they are well-funded. They are just very concerned when talking about Qatar, which in a geopolitical sense, doesn't matter, all other news are typically very unbiased.

Only a few news outlets from Europe are similar in quality.

Americans rarely want to see the truth anyways, so they stick with those republican/democrat-leaning media outlets, eating Mc Donalds, going bankrupt on a hospital emergency and believing in the American dream: you need to be asleep to believe on it.

weatherlite|2 years ago

> They are just very concerned when talking about Qatar,

Doesn't seem like the sign of a good news org if you can't say a word of criticism about the country you're headquartered at. Makes me wonder what else is rotten in there, how can we know the rules of the country aren't dictating a bunch of other stuff to the news? News should be as independent as possible.

bigDinosaur|2 years ago

Allegedly Al Jazeera English is much more reasonable and balanced than Arabic Al Jazeera. Unfortunately that's a claim that basically relies on trust - i.e. an Arabic speaker with cultural knowledge willing to be unbiased in their analysis. I suspect it is true though, Qatar is not a pleasant country and certainly not a democracy.

tmpX7dMeXU|2 years ago

I am assuming that this is American bias talking? Plenty of other cultures are more trusting of government than the US’s is.

The main State-sponsored media outlet in my country is considered to be of a pretty high quality. It has some international recognition.

I’d say a fair chunk of those that actually care about media outlet trustworthiness (and aren’t just sharing whatever articles come their way barring a few outlets that are in their person blocklist) are aware of the nuances of AJ’s authority and trustworthiness. The reality is that they have built this reputation by doing heaps and heaps of good reporting, not even in spite of being state-sponsored, but really because of it. There are certain topics that you shouldn’t listen to AJ regarding. Otherwise? They do a good job.

actuator|2 years ago

Well, I did write state sponsored propaganda outlet, not state sponsored media outlet as I think the journalistic freedom an organisation like BBC gets is different. They can criticise policies of UK government, something Al Jazeera can't.

I would argue that they just have more polish to their presentation rather than having more integrity, and the coverage in local language is quite different from the one in English

BiteCode_dev|2 years ago

They are pretty much the equivalent to the BBC or CNN: a lot of it is alright, but they are still tools for their own gov propaganda.

Because they are different govs, with different agendas, each of them see the propaganda of others as evil, but it's still all very much propaganda.

Remember CNN diffused many bits on how WMD were in Irak to justify the war the UN voted against. The USA went to war anyway, and we learned there were no WMD.

Al Jazeera does the same, but for their side.

It is, nevertheless, quite qualitative content for many topics, and give you another points of on the world events than our own medias outlet.

actuator|2 years ago

> They are pretty much the equivalent to the BBC

I am sorry, but they aren't. This is just false equivalence, you can just go read BBC's coverage of UK politics and you will see criticism of their government

Angostura|2 years ago

> I wonder how a state sponsored propaganda outlet came to be regarded well among global audiences.

Speaking personally, as an ex-journalist I found their English-language coverage generally to be pretty well-balanced and well reported - so that's probably why. And I came to them with a pretty sceptical eye. I've heard that their arabic language stories are rather different - but I don't have a way of checking that for myself.

helboi4|2 years ago

Wow I have heard so much that Al Jazeera is pretty reliable, never did I realise until I read your comment that they are owned by Qatari monarchy. Qatar, the country everyone was practically calling us to boycott in the 2022 World Cup. Not suitable to hold the World Cup but suitable for us to get news from apparently. They do generally seem to have a high quality of journalism though so I am suprised at how they maintain at least a decent amount of integrity.

Takennickname|2 years ago

Your source that aljazeera is a propaganda outlet is no better or even worse than aljazeera itself

tmpX7dMeXU|2 years ago

It is what it is. AJ’s bias really comes into play when talking about Qatar. Otherwise, their record speaks for itself.

lucideer|2 years ago

At the end of the day it's really just a matter of which state propaganda outlet you distrust the least, by which metric they seem to score pretty well. Beyond obvious biases one would expect to see, I also find them a little UK-influenced but otherwise I struggle to find a better state sponsored propaganda outlet.

_xivi|2 years ago

If I had to guess, it's because they have actual reporters on the ground getting shot at and killed, unlike many other media outlets who count on heresay and statements.

You realize that all media/press is backed by something, right?

Do you prefer click-baity ridden press looking for ad revenue instead? Or media as a business where they avoid reporting anything controversial that would hurt their business/image/relationships/backers.

jacooper|2 years ago

Its one of the highest rated news agencies in the world.

Just because it doesn't adopt you worldview doesn't mean its a propaganda outlet.

Neil44|2 years ago

Are you referring to Meta or Al Jazeera?

kingwill101|2 years ago

I always find it strange that Aljazeera gets so much hate. Their English coverage over the years IMO has been mostly unbiased and really stellar.

shmde|2 years ago

So funny to see *unbiased HN users take up pitchfork in support of a literally Monarchy(House of Thani) + State(Qatar) owned propaganda machine news outlet which constantly writes in favour of their Middle East Masters and silently prefers not to tell the truth in their reporting.

Angostura|2 years ago

Here's their front page. https://www.aljazeera.com Since you say they "constantly write in favour of Quatar, it shouldn't be hard for your find examples.

Certainly there's very negative coverage of Quatar's many faults, but that's not the same as constantly pushing a positive agenda. In other areas the reporting seems sound.

A starter for you https://www.aljazeera.com/search/quatar?sort=date

_xivi|2 years ago

Any examples for incredibility and misleading reporting by them?