I’ve long been a huge opponent of the Arabic version of the Qatar-based Aljazeera, a channel I call “Fox News of the Arabs” whose propaganda and hatred-filled sentiments are widely obvious. AJ incites the Arabs/Muslims against the West and Fox does the same with the Americans against the Arabs/Muslims.
However, when Al Jazeera English was launched in November 2006 I started following it to see if it is similar to its sister channel, Aljazeera Arabic. Surprisingly, I saw that it was completely different, in a good way. The standards were high and were similar to that of the BBC World.
On July 1st, AJE has finally made its way to the Washington DC area, after signing its first major U.S. cable deal with non-commercial MHz Networks last week. The channel is now available to 2.3 million subscribers, in addition to 140 million worldwide.
While watching it online most of the time, I became more interested in AJE when I noticed the variety of news the channel presented. Their documentaries and reportage are extremely helpful. They opened the window to viewers to see what is happening in the world, unlike U.S. TV news networks that have failed to do this basic journalistic task.
Now that I have AJE 24/7 on my cable TV channel list, I’ll watch the network even more closely and see if it is adhering to the basic ethical element in journalism, objectivity!
However, when Al Jazeera English was launched in November 2006 I started following it to see if it is similar to its sister channel, Aljazeera Arabic. Surprisingly, I saw that it was completely different, in a good way. The standards were high and were similar to that of the BBC World.
On July 1st, AJE has finally made its way to the Washington DC area, after signing its first major U.S. cable deal with non-commercial MHz Networks last week. The channel is now available to 2.3 million subscribers, in addition to 140 million worldwide.
While watching it online most of the time, I became more interested in AJE when I noticed the variety of news the channel presented. Their documentaries and reportage are extremely helpful. They opened the window to viewers to see what is happening in the world, unlike U.S. TV news networks that have failed to do this basic journalistic task.
Now that I have AJE 24/7 on my cable TV channel list, I’ll watch the network even more closely and see if it is adhering to the basic ethical element in journalism, objectivity!
4 Comments:
It will be amazing if it is objective about the conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs.
I have only seen a few clips from Al Jazeera English via webcast. But I have been impressed by them.
It seems like Al Jazeera is trying to straddle the fence. They want to appeal to Muslim extremists on one side with their Arabic broadcasts and moderate Muslims on the other side with their English broadcasts. Yet, both sides are aware of the other. Wont both sides think that Al Jazeera is being hypocritical? The network is trying to serve two masters. They may end up serving neither very well. I wish they would just focus on reporting the news as objectively as possible to everyone who watches their broadcasts.
Hi Bassam, I hope you are well... I look forwards to hearing more on this topic from you...
Zak
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