[max_rpf]

One of the top bbg stories yesterday was that AJ would not have survived without 9-11. They cannot pay the fixed costs of broadcasting without CNN, MSNBC, etc paying for the footage that they provide. They were bragging about how they can just about pay salaries now...

The sad thing is that by watching/demanding coverage of this war we are funding the enemy.

They will go BK without this war. None of the Arab governments likes them (aside from the Saudis and that is a tender relationship as they have been heavy critics)...

Too bad </sarcasm>

[honeygrl]

"The sad thing is that by watching/demanding coverage of this war we are funding the enemy. "

I wonder if we'll see commercials now that say by watching the news you are funding terrorism?

[Timesink]

One of the top bbg stories yesterday was that AJ would not have survived without 9-11. They cannot pay the fixed costs of broadcasting without CNN, MSNBC, etc paying for the footage that they provide. They were bragging about how they can just about pay salaries now... The sad thing is that by watching/demanding coverage of this war we are funding the enemy.

Sounds like more propaganda to me (I presume you meant BBC). The owner of Al-Jazeera is the Emir of Kuwait. Perhaps he's stingy with the cash when the staffers ask for it, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have it, and didn't realize from the very beginning that it would take a good five years or more before AJ turned a profit. The story of CNN's originating business model (basically, be really REALLY cheap and pray to hell we can sign up enough cable systems to survive before Ted's cash runs out) is one of the most heavily-analyzed in history, and I doubt the Emir just did this on a whim.

All the post-9/11 world means is that the Emir can spend a little less of his gigantic jackpot wad and let KFC and Coke pay a little more. AJ would still be around.