dagblog - Comments for "Hillary Clinton Says Al Jazeera Is Putting American Media To Shame"

They may be testing the

artappraiser — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:44:20 +0000

In reply to Have you noticed that when

They may be testing the limits of their overlords here:

Amnesty: Qatari blogger detained
Human rights group says Sultan al-Khalaifi has been held incommunicado in Qatar since March 2 and risks being tortured.
05 Mar 2011 18:31 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/20113511455929372.html

From wikipedia on Al-Jazeera, see

Editorial independence

Al-Jazeera emphasizes that it is editorially independent, though much of its funding comes from the Qatar government. U.S. State Department internal communications, released by WikiLeaks as part of the 2010 United States diplomatic cables leak, claim that the Qatar government manipulates Al-Jazeera coverage to suit political interests.

And

Qatar

Al Jazeera has been criticized for failing to report on many hard-hitting news stories that originate from Qatar, where Al Jazeera is based. The two most frequently cited stories were the revoking of citizenship from the Al Ghafran clan of the Al Murrah tribe in response to a failed coup that members of the Al Ghafran clan were implicated in, and Qatar's growing relations with and diplomatic visits to Israel

As'ad at Angry Arab makes a sarcastic crack about this first here and then following up after finally seeing them report it here. As a far lefty, I've noticed he regularly bashes them on this front--here's another similar point made March 3--and has done so for a long time.

I just posted a video segment

acanuck — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:36:21 +0000

In reply to That could also have a tiny

I just posted a video segment on Egypt's future from Al Jazeera English's "Inside Story," appraiser. It's in flawless English, but everyone appearing (including the anchor) has an Arabic name. So it would be logical (and cost-effective) for the same cast to simply do an Arabic version as well. I have no evidence they actually do that, but it would make little sense not to.

That could also have a tiny

artappraiser — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:09:25 +0000

In reply to Have you noticed that when

That could also have a tiny bit to do with the fact that Al Jazeera is the main news source available in the Arabic language.

Part of the reason for Al Jazeera's importance in effecting change is that it brought western-style independent television network reporting to the Mideast masses, including the many functionally illiterate.

Previous to its existence, a ruler could say one thing in English to western reporters and another thing in Arabic to be disseminated to his people by state run television, and often did in many cases. One of the main reasons for the founding of the translation organization MEMRI was to highlight that kind of thing to the west, though they had their own axe to grind.

The original model is sort of BBC World in the original funding by Qatar government and its start up was helped by getting experienced staff from the shut down of BBC Arabic following Saudi censorship.

In its early days people were rightly skeptical whether it would just be another mouthpiece of another Arab ruler, playing this traditional distract 'em game.

Also I would note that its growth in the more recent years has included the hiring of lots of journalists with experience in the western MSM. Finally, there's an awful lot of non-Arab names on Al Jazeera English and as I doubt many of them are fluent in Arabic, I am always wondering how what's being said on Al Jazeera Arabic differs, whether they are translating all those pieces or they are just offered for the English speaking audience.

After decades of carrying

brewmn — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 20:05:05 +0000

In reply to Of course she's promoting the

After decades of carrying water for global capital and the impoverishment of the American working class, it would be poetically just if US news organizations themselves were actually forced to improve because of foreign competition, wouldn't it?

If they're singling out Al

Beetlejuice — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:40:19 +0000

In reply to Have you noticed that when

If they're singling out Al Jazeera that tells you their doing their job and digging deeper that just brushing off the surface dust. I suspect that's because being an Arab entity, they are more familiar with the environment and culture than the US, BBC or Europe and the last thing an Arab government needs is to loose face with the rest of the Arab world.

Have you noticed that when

acanuck — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:14:09 +0000

In reply to Of course she's promoting the

Have you noticed that when popular discontent starts to boil over in any Middle Eastern country, it's Al Jazeera that gets booted out, not the Americans, Brits or other western reporters? Shows who is doing their job. Josh Marshall at TPM has also remarked on how Al Jazeera's Egypt coverage kicked the western networks' asses.

Of course she's promoting the

Beetlejuice — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 11:07:04 +0000

In reply to I wish that was really what

Of course she's promoting the US government propoganda machine. However, in the article she singles out our private media runs broadcasts with counter purposes to what we truly are as Americans. And wouldn't our private broadcast world also be a part of the mix the State Department uses as propaganda tools too?

HuffingtonPost has a better article in which she says...Al Jazeera is gaining more prominence in the U.S. because it offers "real news" -- something she said American media were falling far short of doing...that's meat on the bone.

In the same HuffPo article she twists the knife by contrasting Al Jazera with our esteemed news network by saying......

And like it or hate it, it [Al Jazeera] is really effective. And in fact viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners.

here's the url with video :

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/03/hillary-clinton-calls-al-_n_830...

I wish that was really what

acanuck — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:25:30 +0000

In reply to Hillary Clinton Says Al Jazeera Is Putting American Media To Shame

I wish that was really what she was saying, Juice. But no, she was saying we need more money to put U.S. propaganda out there, because we're in an information war with Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera is winning.

What she fails to grasp is that Al Jazeera is winning because it puts out competent unbiased reporting, especially on the Mideast to the Mideast, but even on the U.S. and other western countries. Emulate that, and you'll win viewers abroad. But if your only intent is to spread news tailored to support U.S. policies, yes, you're bound to fail. Because most U.S. foreign policy is bullshit, and people in the Mideast already understand that.