Posted on 06/28/2009 8:54:47 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Middle East news giant Al Jazeera has gained its first big foothold in the U.S. TV market. Now it has to overcome perceptions of bias.
At the headquarters of the Al Jazeera news network in Doha, Qatar, staffers were getting ready for the big news event of the day: Barack Obama's speech in Cairo. "Watch, he's about to announce he's converted to Islam," joked one of them.
More Arabs watched Obama's speech on Al Jazeera (the name means "the island") than on any other news network. The Arabic language channel boasts 53 million viewers--CNN has 70 million in the U.S.--while its three-year-old sister channel, Al Jazeera English, is available over cable and satellite to 140 million households in 100 countries.
On July 1 Al Jazeera English will begin broadcasting in Washington, D.C., its first around-the-clock carriage in the U.S. outside of Toledo, Ohio and Burlington, Vt. Its carrier is MHZ Networks, a nonprofit broadcaster with ten channels of international programming(Russia Today, France 24)in Washington.
"The transition from the Bush era to the Obama era has changed the game dramatically," says Tony Burman, managing director of Al Jazeera English (or AJE). "As America reengages with the wider world, the appetite for more international news is there."
Maybe so, but Al Jazeera has a marketing problem that would confound any media expert. Though well respected among Muslims worldwide, in the U.S. Al Jazeera is presumed to be biased against the U.S. and western Europe. It has, at any rate, some controversial connections--or, depending on your point of view, courageous reporters. Correspondent Taysir Alouni interviewed Osama bin Laden just after the Sept. 11 attacks and is now under house arrest in Madrid after a Spanish court convicted him in 2005 of transporting cash for al Qaeda. Correspondent Tarek Ayoub was killed in a
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
My world is turning on its head more and more everyday.
Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo. “Watch, he’s about to announce he’s converted to Islam,” joked one of them.
We already knew that his Christian thing was just a put on.
Really? Since when? Says who?
I call that statement absolute Bravo Sierra.
> “The transition from the Bush era to the Obama era has changed the game dramatically,” says Tony Burman, managing director of Al Jazeera English (or AJE). “As America reengages with the wider world, the appetite for more international news is there.”<
That’s the problem there for these “internationalists”. They dont know how America thinks. Americans in general, want to hear good stories about their own country. Americans in “general” dont care about what happens in Turkey, unless it affects us head on.
When you have a news network that sounds like a terrorist network, you wont get any viewers from Middle America. Now try having one of these reporters talk to a farmer in Iowa and let’s see. I can get my “hate America’ international news from CNN.
Oh, so it's got the same problem as every other MSM news outlet...
On July 1 Al Jazeera English will begin broadcasting in Washington, D.C.
Interesting choice of venue...
...in the U.S. Al Jazeera is presumed to be biased against the U.S. and western Europe.
Seems they've got a level playing field then. CNN, MSNBC, ABC, etc. all share similar, obvious biases.
Is Al Jazeera going to be on basic cable systems?
Can you imagine if, during World War II, American radio stations had broadcast Tokyo Rose or Axis Sally????????
Are we really required to give Al Jazeera an American foothold??????? Would it really violate American law if cable operators said, “no” to offering propaganda???????
Perhaps since:
"a U.S. missile strike on Al Jazeera's Baghdad headquarters in 2003"
I doubt it. Do they have any assets in Iran? Syria? Gaza?
yitbos
As "Johnny" from the movie Airplane! might say, "Just like ABC."
In the world we all grew up in, the FBI would be watching and infiltrating the Islamic groups,ACORN etc. That world doesn’t exist anymore. Instead of rule of law we have the law as just another tool for the criminals and enemies of the US.
Unless he’s on opposite Rush, you can bet your sweet bippy that I’ll be tuning into the Baghdad Bob Show on a daily basis. LOL!
Months ago a Muslim “gentleman” who owned a Muslim oriented television network somewhere on the East Coast of the US removed his wife’s head rather than allow her a divorce.
Yes Sir, there is an “image” problem.
Answer in a nutshell.....Yes!
And the Obama administration will try to make it "Cool" to tune in to!!! Kinda like the Liberals answer to Fox News.
Some may laugh at that comment, but I am half serious!
This country is in deep doo-doo with the liberals approaching almost absolute power while turning their faces away from the Constitution which was once considered the supreme law of the land! Now that same Constitution is considered as the cornerstone of the thing that needs changing the most.
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