AL JAZEERA TO START NEW U.S.-BASED NEWS CHANNEL

[Sherman A1]

New York – January 2, 2013

Al Jazeera Media Network announced that it will launch a new U.S.-based news channel that will provide both domestic news and international news for American audiences.

The Network has won numerous U.S. and international awards for its journalism and with more than 70 bureaus across the globe it has one of the largest bureau footprints and newsgathering forces of any news network in the world.

Al Jazeera Media Network also announced that it has acquired Current TV in the United States and that the new U.S.-based news channel will be available on Current’s distribution network when it is launched in 2013. There will be a transition from existing programming until the new Al Jazeera channel begins to air.

The new channel will be headquartered in New York City. In addition to the existing Al Jazeera news bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami and Chicago, Al Jazeera will open additional bureaus in key locations across the United States. Al Jazeera’s expansion will double the network’s U.S.-based staff to more than 300 employees.

http://www.aljazeerausannouncement.com/

[madokie]

1. I see no down sides to this

For the most part I get my 'news' from the internet

[Sherman A1]

2. Agreed

I think more is better.

[retired rooster]

14. What could possibly go wrong?

[AllyCat]

22. Your point? How is having competing news sources a problem?

Could you elaborate?

[patrice]

29. Look at DU history and you'll see what could go wrong and what could go right. nt

[patrice]

31. P.S. It's a little known & under-appreciated fact that what goes wrong IS also a learning

opportunity. Yes, a RISKY learning opportunity amongst those lacking honest diligence and duty to the best truth possible, e.g. MSM, but some of the best learning opportunities possible nonetheless.

[coldbeer]

3. What's Murdock's relationship with Al Jazeera?

I am confused.

[SunSeeker]

4. Well it won't be airing on Time Warner Cable. nt

[Sherman A1]

6. Probably not

and it may take some finding, but I think more viewpoints are better.

[SunSeeker]

24. Hopefully Directtv will carry it. nt

[druidqueen]

15. I was shocked this morning at 6:00

when I switched the channel to Current TV to see the first hour of the Bill Press Show before I went to work & saw on the screen Time Warner Cable will no longer carry Current TV. I am totally pissed. Will probably have to switch to Direct TV.......

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. I cancelled my tier this morning

Back to basic.

[abelenkpe]

32. Checked last nite and yeah

just a screen saying no more current TV. Going to call and cancel today. Not sure why it's OK to pump FOX propaganda into my house but not Al Jazeera. Love how the "free market" (aka monopolistic media conglomerate) gets to determine my viewing choices.

[SunSeeker]

35. I know. I always DVR Stephanie Miller and all I got was 3 hours of blank screen. Sucks. nt

[Prometheus Bound]

5. Who would be interested in reading the propaganda arm of the Qatari government.

Interesting articles from time to time, just as Iran's Press TV has, but you know, after all, that they are there to promote the propaganda line of their owner.

Reporters have been quitting because of their biased coverage on Bahrain and Syria. The director-general was replaced in 2011 by a member of the royal family, Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani, a man with no background in journalism.

[Scootaloo]

8. Some of us like variety in our offered propaganda, however

Glib retorts aside, basically every transfer of information is propaganda. There is literally no such thing as an "unbiased source" or is there any such thing as a media without an agenda. Everything from the news you read - DU very much included - to your mother giving you the day's gossip over hte phone, is propaganda. At every stop it's been slanted, tilted to someone's viewpoint and agenda to convey an idea or notion to another person.

Your job as the consumer of information is to first, understand this basic fact - it's all propaganda. next, understand that not all or even most propaganda is false or even negative, simply given an inevitable slant. Third, you identify the slant and the reasons behind it. The motives and the agendas of the purveyors giving you the information, and what might be driving the people who give them the information. To fold my title line in here, multiple sources are thus needed to figure out what's going on, or to at least come as close as possible to knowing what's going on.

Becoming informed is hard work, which is why reality TV get better ratings than the news.

[Prometheus Bound]

10. Yes, very good analysis and advice.

[nxylas]

11. Yes, the most insidious sort of propaganda is the unconscious kind

The likes of CNN probably genuinely believe that they are unbiased, and that their corporate owners and advertisers play no part in setting the news agenda.

[Sherman A1]

12. Well Said

I would characterize the news as more of a point of view before calling it propaganda (Fox being the notable exception). We all have our biases and that is simply a fact of life, but even Fox from time to time may offer some video that the others may not have or a slant on a story that provides some insight.

[dixiegrrrrl]

23. Well said.

[patrice]

27. Well said! But watch out, sounds pretty "Third" -ish to me, someone may come in here and accuse you

of being a neoliberal.

[patrice]

26. Anyone interested in the development of authentic critical reasoning skills. AND - btw - a BFD would

also be something in the civilian range of what is referred to as Human Intelligence, a zeitgeist, the type of thing that was mostly MISSING and what we did have was fucking warped and poisoned by Evangelical End Timer psychosis, within the context of how it was that we came to invade and occupy an INNOCENT nation known as Iraq.

[Prometheus Bound]

41. Al Jazeera has changed more recently to become a despicable cheerleader of war.

Al Jazeera's War on Syria
http://sjlendman.blogspot.hk/2011/05/al-jazeeras-war-on-syria.html

Al Jazeera's War on Gaddafi
http://sjlendman.blogspot.hk/2011/04/al-jazeeras-war-on-gaddafi.html

It generally offers what Western news providers give now, except that it is much more obvious in its war propaganda and in its protection of Saudi Arabia allies. No longer is any criticism allowed of Bahrain, Oman or Saudi Arabia.

[patrice]

42. Thanks for the perspective, but, well, I wasn't planning on buying into anything they offer 100%.

I have been kind of interested about whatever role they took on 9/11/12, as we saw, here on DU that night, pictures of the citizens of Benghazi standing in the streets with their home-made signs communicating their regret and sorrow for what had happened to Ambassador Stevens; an interesting sight indeed in light of the fact that Egypt too had been in the streets that day to have their say about something (The Innocence of Muslims ...???, really?), which they apparently did, to the tune of several 10s of thousands of people in the streets, and then, when they had finished the people's street business, they all went home to supper. So, it was poignant to see Libyans trying to communicate in an emergency situation like they had going on and, as most of the signs were in their native tongues, I would assume that Al Jazeera was the primary objective of those Libyan street-messages, which found their way onto the internet and then, the signs in English, made it here. Not sure how much of that with the signs would have happened if it had not been for Al Jazeera to act as a go between for the various Muslim nations, though I do recognize that they'd represent the corporate status quo for keeping "the peace" over there.

All waaaaaaaaaaay to byzantine for my tastes and time, so I'm really just a critical observer.

[AnnieK401]

7. The news will probably be less biased

but I'm going to miss Bill Press and Stephanie Miller in the AM. Maybe they'll stay, but I seriously doubt it.

[SoCalDem]

13. Time warner has announced they will cancel the channel

maybe they already have.. probably Dish will follow..

Too bad they cannot see FOX News channel as the SAME (but probably more insidious)

[Sherman A1]

16. It is too bad

that as you say, they can't see Fox as the same thing.

[just1voice]

17. I feel sorry for the uninformed bashers of both Al-Jazeera and RT

Both media outlets are far and away better that the corrupted, bleach blond, American monopoly media and their constant propaganda.

Watch RT any day of the week and at the end of that day the viewer will be 100 times more informed than a typical American TV viewer. Current TV will be much better on Al-Jazeera.

[libdem4life]

39. Agreed. As a card-carrying Liberal, more viewpoints, more educated opinions require trips outside

the Comfort Zone. The viewership of FOX News seems to be high on DU...love them or hate them...every time someone tunes in, a vote helps keep them on the air...on the Basic Channels.

Ditto opinion on RT. Interesting irony...Russia Times.

[tom_kelly]

18. Wow! Quick!

I just checked my channel guide and Brighthouse in Tampa has already deleted Current. That didn't take long. When I ordered cable I specifically made sure my package contained Current. Ahh crap.

[Sherman A1]

19. You should contact them and

let them know that you want the channel back.

Never hurts to let them know what you want.

[kydo]

25. I've been on hold for about 30 mins now

to bright house in central fl. I already sent an email. oh my they just answered. The person didn't even know it was gone and then you could hear this on the phone, papers being shuffled. So then he starts reading the prepared statement about their deal expired. I told them I want it back and to pass along my complaint that if they don't bring it back I will terminate my account with them.

Ok so now I need to find an internet provider and new way to get cable programing. Any suggestions?

[Sherman A1]

33. Well,

You could just scale back your cable service keeping your Internet and basic tv. Then just get you news over whatever Internet services you choose.

[onenote]

28. according to the story there isn't going to be a "Current" channel to demand back

The article says that Al Jazeeral is replacing Current with a new channel that its creating.

[spanone]

20. they can replace faux on my channel box

[Pakid]

21. This sound like a good thing to me

I am sure that they will be a 100% improvement over FOX!

[bemildred]

34. Competition is good, yes? nt

[Sherman A1]

36. I believe so

Hopefully it will be carried by the cable and satellite companies.

[burrowowl]

37. Good, I hope they keep

up to their standards. CNN International is good, CNN USA is really bad.

[Ganja Ninja]

38. Maybe we'll finally get some news instead of just politics, politics, politics and more politics.

[libdem4life]

40. Perhaps now, Americans will discover the existence of real and diverse cultures and peoples

without the high cost of such geography lessons and education via Wars or Tourism. It's likely it will be a fairly even balance of world news, events, sports, politics, religions and opinions. I, for one, look forward to watching.