Posted on 02/28/2008 5:12:43 AM PST by Loyalist
Avi Lewis, the former CBC host and husband of author Naomi Klein, has joined Al Jazeera’s rapidly growing English network as host of a weekly program on the American election.
In the first episode of Frontline USA (complete video at the end of this post), which aired on the weekend, Mr. Lewis said the show will follow the election through such themes as race and immigration, and offer “a full-spectrum assault of American voices” to compete with the established networks.
Al Jazeera English is not broadcast in Canada, although it has the approval of the federal regulator. Nonetheless, Mr. Lewis’s audience will, as he put it, “far exceed anything I would have had on my little show on CBC Newsworld.” The network, based in Doha, Qatar, pegs their reach at 100 million households globally.
Mr. Lewis — son of diplomat Stephen Lewis and journalist Michelle Landsberg, nephew of architect Daniel Libeskind, and grandson of former NDP leader David Lewis — is just the latest in a major influx of prominent Western journalists to the network. Mr. Lewis, who started his career as a news host on MuchMusic, became a prominent face at the CBC as host of the news discussion program counterSpin. In the past two years, he has launched two shows as host, The Big Picture and On The Map, both of which were cancelled after short runs.
Reached Wednesday outside of Calexico, Calif., on the Mexican border, where he was researching a show on military contractors turning to the border-security business, Mr. Lewis lashed out at the CBC and praised the resource-rich work environment of Al Jazeera.
“The main [CBC] network didn’t seem to have any interest in what I was doing,” he said. “Richard Stursberg [who took over English programming last November] has definitely made it clear that his biggest priority in the last couple of years has been dramas and so-called factual entertainment, and daytime shows, and Designer Guys, and Sophie and The Border, and not news and current affairs.”
Asked if Al Jazeera Arabic’s reputation for airing terrorist propaganda played into his decision, Mr. Lewis said the question is “absolutely hilarious.”
“What’s the allegation? That Al Jazeera aired [Osama] bin Laden videos? So did CNN, FOX and everybody else,” he said. “I know that Al Jazeera is a favourite target of nationalist right-wingers in the United States, but as a journalist, I like to judge things on the evidence.”
He said he has found his work so far “pretty difficult,” with public officials refusing to talk to him on the record for fear of political repercussions. But, he said, “to have the resources to do stories properly is a rare luxury.”
A network banned from broadcasting in Canada because of its anti-Semitism has just got itself a Jewish journalist from Canada to make itself look like a legitimate broadcaster instead of the media arm of Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah.
It also speaks volumes about CBC, that one of its own most prominent journalists feels right at home in this anti-Western, anti-freedom propaganda network.
Just goes to show that media whores have no ethnic or national loyalties.
Would be a riot if they lost Muslim audience by engaging a Jew.
He's a twerp. The son of socialist David Lewis.
Who needs Al Jazeera (English) when we have MSNBC?
“What’s the allegation? That Al Jazeera aired [Osama] bin Laden videos? So did CNN, FOX and everybody else,”
Um, the terrorists HANDED a copy to Al Jazeera. And it wasn’t just Bin Laden videos, it was Al Qaeda snuff videos with Islamic prayers said as they butchered the kufir.
Mr. Lewis said the show will follow the election through such themes as race and immigration, and offer “a full-spectrum assault of American voices” to compete with the established networks.
I’ve seen his show on satellite from the CBC. He’s a creep.
Al-Jazeera English can be received in the clear in the US and Canada on satellite (Ku band on Galaxy 25). It sucks along with Iran’s PressTV (also on G25). It’s a novelty to pick up this stuff but none of it is worth watching.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.