Al-Jazeera America Prepares for Tuesday Launch

[FCPX]

(NEW YORK) — In a warren of offices at a former bank building near Madison Square Garden, dozens of journalists are at work on gleaming new electronic equipment, ready to turn their test runs of Al-Jazeera America into the real thing.

The Qatar-based news organization will finally establish a firm foothold on American television Tuesday after a decade of trying. At 3 p.m. EDT, Al Gore’s former Current TV will turn out the lights in more than 45 million TV homes, replaced by the new U.S. affiliate of Al-Jazeera.

The network has hired many veterans of U.S. television, including John Seigenthaler, Joie Chen, Antonio Mora and Sheila MacVicar, and is promising a meaty diet of news that it believes will contrast with the opinionated talk that dominates American news networks. “We’re breaking in with something that we think is unique and are confident, with our guts and some research, that the American people are looking for,” said Kate O’Brian, the former ABC News executive who is now Al-Jazeera America’s president.



Read more: Al-Jazeera America Prepares for Tuesday Launch | TIME.com

Do you think they will be able to challange the dominance of channels such as CNN, Fox, BBC, etc. in America?

 

[iranigirl2]

Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari monarchy, we can already see they are biased when it comes to Egypt, Syria...


This is just controlled opposition Media. The Corporate media knows that Alternative media is becoming more and more popular. So, they needed to do something... and Al Jazeera is the answer.

 

[FCPX]

Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari monarchy, we can already see they are biased when it comes to Egypt, Syria...


This is just controlled opposition Media. The Corporate media knows that Alternative media is becoming more and more popular. So, they needed to do something... and Al Jazeera is the answer.

Personally I prefer watching Al Jazeera over BBC, CNN, etc. I find their coverage more inclusive and balanced and their documentaries are very well produced and cover a wide variety of locations and topics.

At least with main stream media you know who controls it but with alternate media you are usually not sure and dont know their interests and motives

 

[iranigirl2]

Personally I prefer watching Al Jazeera over BBC, CNN, etc. I find their coverage more inclusive and balanced and their documentaries are very well produced and cover a wide variety of locations and topics.

At least with main stream media you know who controls it but with alternate media you are usually not sure and dont know their interests and motives

Al Jazeera used to be really good. Their coverage of Middle East region was balanced and really interesting but now..... If they kept it that way, they would've never been allowed to air in America, they had to make a deal ..

 

[rubyjackass]

Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatari monarchy, we can already see they are biased when it comes to Egypt, Syria...


This is just controlled opposition Media. The Corporate media knows that Alternative media is becoming more and more popular. So, they needed to do something... and Al Jazeera is the answer.

But apart from those compulsions, they are a much needed phenomenon. For the first time, a news agency reports from the ground in the Middle East. The earlier British and US journalists sat in high class hotels and waited for news despatch from the local reporters. And the Americans have been thinking Arabs look like Russel Peters' acts crying out 'halla halla' with an ak-47 in hand. At least Al jazeera does not lie. It merely keeps quiet on certain issues.

 

[gambit]

But apart from those compulsions, they are a much needed phenomenon. For the first time, a news agency reports from the ground in the Middle East. The earlier British and US journalists sat in high class hotels and waited for news despatch from the local reporters. And the Americans have been thinking Arabs look like Russel Peters' acts crying out 'halla halla' with an ak-47 in hand. At least Al jazeera does not lie. It merely keeps quiet on certain issues.

Distinction without a difference. Or at best -- a very minor difference.

Personally, I prefers opinionated news, and am using 'news' verrrrrrry broadly here. People are not stupid. They may be ignorant but ignorance is not a character trait. Ignorance can be remedied, not stupidity. People are smart enough to differentiate between opinions and objective reporting and each type do have their markets. Let the people decide.

That said...People are smart enough to recognize, or at least have a gut feeling, that an opinion is baseless when they hear it. Baseless as in not grounded even in raw facts, let alone filtered for noise. A lot of people prefers to hear objective reporting of raw facts, some of filtered facts, some a blend of all, and some of pure opinions. A truly free press would have a rich diversity of styles of reportage. Let the people decide and this is what people miss when they criticize US, Americans, and the American news/media market. A more cynical view is that the critics would have the US and Americans to mindless swallows what they -- the critics -- would dole out because they truly believe they know what is best for Americans when it comes to the news and reporting. The possibility that this attitude constitute a biased opinion usually do not occur to them.