US viewers seek Al Jazeera coverage; Telecommunications Companies Block Its Expansion in the U. S.

[seafan]

US viewers seek Al Jazeera coverage

Wadah Khanfar
February 1, 2011



Al Jazeera's coverage of the current events in Egypt has been greatly received by global audiences (Credit: CC - khowaga1)

Wadah Khanfar writes:

This has been an unprecedented month in Al Jazeera history. Transformational events in the Middle East have brought enormous demand for news about the region.

As director general of the region's largest TV network, I am proud to say the Al Jazeera Network has been reporting from the region's hot spots well before they "mattered" in January 2011. From Sudan to Tunisia to Palestine to Egypt, our trademark "journalism of depth" has been on display for all who are able and care to see. Our courageous teams were long ago embedded among the populations, capturing their stories, and helping our wider audience find context and meaning to events taking place at home and half a world away.

At this moment, scores of our reporters are in Egypt to cover the unrest, which requires changing locations often, dealing with arrest/confiscation of equipment, and reporting with stealth as secret services threaten to jail them. Our journalists there fully appreciate these challenges.

.....

Even still, there are many places where we cannot do our jobs. The governments of Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, and Bahrain will not let our journalists step foot on their soil.

We were also banned in Ben Ali's Tunisia. We overcame this through the use of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Images of Tunisia's uprising went from local villages to our global audience of over one hundred million viewers. I am proud to say we were not only first, we were everywhere, deploying well ahead of the tipping point, arriving to cover the demonstrators when they gathered on the ministry of interior - a symbol of torture and repression in most Arab countries.

Egyptian president Mubarak closed our offices, confiscated our equipment and arrested our journalists. The Egyptian government has removed Al Jazeera from NileSat, the state-owned satellite carrier, delaying our ability to be easily found in Egypt and North Africa. We have reappeared through other carriers, while instructions on how to find us go viral across the internet.

Elsewhere, in the United States, Al Jazeera faces a different kind of blackout, based largely on misinformed views about our content and journalism. Some of the largest American cable and satellite providers have instituted corporate obstacles against Al Jazeera English.

We are on the air and on the major cable system in the nation's capital, and some of America's leading policymakers in Washington, DC, have told us that Al Jazeera English is their channel of choice for understanding global issues. But we are not available in the majority of the 50 states for much of the general public.

We believe all Americans, not just those in senior governmental positions, could benefit from having the option to watch Al Jazeera English - or at least having the option not to watch us - on their television screens.

We know the demand is there. We have seen a 2000 percent increase in hits on our English-language website, and more than 60 percent of that traffic originates in the United States.

.....

But the past month has shown us something that America can no longer ignore: millions of Americans want to watch our channel and better understand our region, and too many are deprived of that opportunity.

February 1, 2011

Media Blackout in Egypt and the U.S.: Al Jazeera Forced Off the Air by Mubarak, Telecommunications Companies Block Its Expansion in the United States


From Democracy Now!

Reporters from Al Jazeera, the Arabic-language news network, have been arrested and forced off the air by President Hosni Mubarak. "This regime, which couldn’t find the time to protect Egypt’s priceless relics in the National Museum in Cairo, found the time to drag journalists through the streets ... and found time to shut down Al Jazeera," says Mohamed Abdel Dayem of the Committee to Protect Journalists. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera English is broadcast to more than 200 million homes around the world, but it’s hardly available in the United States. Critics have called it a media blackout by U.S. cable and satellite providers. We speak to Tony Burman of Al Jazeera English. (includes rush transcript)

From the rush transcript:

.....

AMY GOODMAN: Al Jazeera English, by the way, is now reporting up to two million people in and around Tahrir Square. And, of course, there are protests all over Egypt.

Speaking of Al Jazeera English, we turn now to our next guest. Al Jazeera English, the satellite network that’s been providing on-the-ground coverage of the rebellion in Egypt, it’s broadcast to more than 200 million homes around the world and throughout Canada, but just a handful of those homes are in the United States. Critics have been calling it a media blackout by U.S. cable and satellite providers. If you live in the U.S., you may have been one of the people driving up Al Jazeera’s online traffic in the last week. Visits to their website with a live video stream jumped by more than two-and-a-half thousand percent. More than 60 percent of that traffic was from the United States.

Joining us to discuss Al Jazeera English and its struggle to expand in the United States is Tony Burman, Al Jazeera’s chief strategic adviser for the Americas and the network’s former managing director.

I wanted to start by saying there’s been a lot made of a lot of information about Al Jazeera Arabic being shut down in Egypt, and yet very few people understand that Al Jazeera English, there is almost a media blackout on it here in the United States. Tony Burman, can you explain why?

TONY BURMAN: Well, I mean, it’s an interesting comparison. I mean, as you mentioned, Al Jazeera English is available in more than—I think it’s now 220 million households worldwide. It’s now available, as of a year ago, across Canada, but in very few centers here in the United States. You know, I think there are commercial, there are political reasons for that. There was, I think, a resistance on the part of the cable and satellite companies at the launch of Al Jazeera English in 2006. This was pre-Obama, as one recalls. During the Bush administration, I think there was a fear on their part that Americans don’t want more international news, that perhaps they’d lose more subscribers than they would gain. I think the events of the past week or so, and earlier, really put a lie to that. I mean, I think that there’s a—I’ve always felt there’s a real untapped appetite for international global coverage in America, and our hope is that people will call their cable and satellite companies and indicate that, because, you know, that is what needs to happen right now, is that Americans need, in my view, need to be given at least the opportunity to choose to watch it or not watch it.

AMY GOODMAN: Tony Burman, right now, it’s where? In Burlington, Vermont, on a cable station. It’s in Toledo, Ohio, and—

TONY BURMAN: Correct.

AMY GOODMAN:—in Washington, D.C.?

TONY BURMAN: Yeah, it’s in Washington, D.C., which is our largest market, which is, I think, in more than two million households, the whole kind of Washington area, which is—which I think was really about a year and a half ago. It’s a very—that’s a significant city, you know, as to stress, in the sense that, you know, it’s a political and kind of media capital, I guess, with New York. And I think what has been intriguing—and it’s available in virtually every home in the Washington area. And what’s intriguing to us is that the response—I mean, let’s face it—and I’m speaking now from Washington—this is a city of news addicts, a city that probably per capita has more people globally engaged and interested than perhaps a lot of other places in America, and the response has really been really quite positive. We know senators, we know important people in the administration, you know, who regard Al Jazeera English—this is prior to Egypt and Tunisia—regard Al Jazeera English as their kind of default news channel, because it provides such global coverage. So, our goal, obviously, is, you know, to convince Americans to tell their cable and satellite companies that, you know, what is available in Washington, what’s available in Burlington and Toledo should really be available nationwide in the United States.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s also being broadcast on Link TV on DISH Network channel 9410—

TONY BURMAN: Correct.

AMY GOODMAN:—and on DirecTV, channel 375.

TONY BURMAN: That’s right, and Pacifica Radio, as well.

.....

Interesting that our politicians give plenty of interviews on Al Jazeera and consider it their 'default news channel', yet 98% of Americans do not have access to Al Jazeera English.

DC politicians ought to be terrified that we the people are finding out the truth about what is happening abroad, and our own government's shameful role in perpetuating this violence and repression by supporting these dictatorships in places like the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.


We must call and demand from the cable companies that Al Jazeera English be accessible in all American households and to the general public.

We will not accept excuses such as "the networks are too crowded" or more shamefully, "Americans aren't interested in international news". (Or so says Fox "News" and the rest of the repressive right wing cabal.)

If you live in the U.S., you may have been one of the people driving up Al Jazeera’s online traffic in the last week. Visits to their website with a live video stream jumped by more than two-and-a-half thousand percent. More than 60 percent of that traffic was from the United States. ---Amy Goodman in above transcript, February 1, 2011

[Cali_Democrat]

1. K&R!

[Buzz Clik]

2. If al Jazeera were economically attractive for cable companies, it would be on.

It's a business decision. We may not like the decision, but trying to turn this into some evil conspiracy is far too complicated.

[Ron Green]

4. That's the problem with the media given to the private sector.

A "business decision" is not what's best for democracy when it concerns media and journalism. When we have corporate propaganda we don't need an evil conspiracy.

[Buzz Clik]

5. Interesting. How does the lack of Al Jazeera translate into "corporate propaganda"?

[Ron Green]

7. It's the other way around.

Corporate hegemony of the Teevee requires a massive dumbing down of the entire environment. CNN, Fox News, "Dancing With the Stars," et al, keep the mainstream ignorant and marginalize programming of worth, including real journalism. Therefore, corporate propaganda translates into the lack of Aljazeera.

[Buzz Clik]

14. So, telecommunications companies are intentionally making us stupid?

Not buying it. Sorry.

We are stupid voluntarily. They are simply cashing in on it.

[HuckleB]

19. I'll go with Edward R. Murrow.

http://www.turnoffyourtv.com/commentary/hiddenagenda/murrow.html

Responsibilities cannot be shirked by such simple excuses. Sorry.

[Buzz Clik]

22. You are NOT in line with Murrow's point. In fact, you are the one making excuses.

"I'm uninformed because evil corporations want me to be stupid." Jesus.

[HuckleB]

24. Nice try.

I'm very much in line with Murrow's point. Your desire to ignore that, and to attempt to put words in my mouth, is noted.

[Buzz Clik]

47. Thank you for noticing.

And give my regards to Eddie.

[HuckleB]

53. That's quite the confession.

[Ron Green]

23. Not only Ed Murrow, but Vance Packard explained this phenomenon

over 50 years ago. If you think "teh stupid" isn't tended and cultivated by the corporate message system, you're missing a huge part of the picture, in my opinion.

[molly77]

63. How can you say that?

Well , I think it is "state media". Maybe it is a combination.Dumbed down people are easier to control. The media controls and dumbs down at the same time.

[pscot]

29. An ignorant public is a compliant public

Corporations are heavily vested in keeping Americans in the dark. An ignorant public is a compliant public

[HuckleB]

20. Journalism is supposed to have a responsibility to democracy.

Somehow that is forgotten.

[Enthusiast]

56. I'm with you!

"When we have corporate propaganda we don't need an evil conspiracy."

Besides, corporate propaganda is an evil conspiracy.

[molly77]

62. Maybe this has something to do with it

Incidentally, Goldman Sachs holds close to a billion in Halliburton stock (a $42 billion company) and Fluor ownership is similar (i.e. Wall Street) - and so you can imagine the scale of the lobbying effort right now - it's a who's who of major Wall Street investment firms, hedge funds, etc.

What they're really worried about is the domino effect - as per Southeast Asia - but this time, the "enemy" is not communism, but rather democracy.

That should tell you something about Wall Street's true agenda, if nothing else does. Autocratic plutocracy is what they're after, not democracy.

[azul]

8. Perhaps a legitimate excuse obfuscating empire building?

Business empire building. Nations and the differences in their laws and their armies are now the tools of international big business.

It just makes business sense to keep the authoritative narrative unchallenged in the militant state that intimidates and invades those nations unwilling to sign up for the economic treaties. To keep the bully nation's customers in a comfortable buying-trance and keep the world economy growing without shackling businesses interests is, after all, the advantage point of capitalism. And, as it may turn out, disaster capitalism?

[Buzz Clik]

15. That's pretty complicated.

I truly believe that if there's money to be made, somebody would be making it and Al Jazeera would be on the tube in the US.

[provis99]

10. Fox News is hugely unprofitable.

Would you care to explain then why it is still on?

[Buzz Clik]

16. You're wrong.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/02/02/business/main7311097.shtml?tag=mantle_skin%3Bcontent

[HuckleB]

26. Indeed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/air-america-vs-fox-news_b_157381.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1__j-bn4bk

[SnakeEyes]

42. News Corp is huge

Them losing money is not the same as Fox News losing money. Fox News is a money maker for News Corp. Has been for over a decade

[HuckleB]

52. Pay attention. Fox News has long been the money loser for NewsCorp.

[Shagbark Hickory]

11. They offer it. You just gotta pay more.

At least disnetwork does.

You can get it on free-to-air satellite I belive. (if you got about $350 to spend to get set up)

[Buzz Clik]

18. And there you go. End of story. No conspiracies needed. Just add money.

[Selatius]

41. That is the problem. It puts AJE at a competitive disadvantage to FOX/CNN/et al.

When the middle class has trouble paying the monthly bills, they are not going to shell out a lot of money buying a more expensive product than the ones they already have.

[Turborama]

No, it doesn't cost "a lot of money". Al Jazeera English offer it as part of the basic package

See my post below.

[Shagbark Hickory]

45. Well that's indonesia. In the usa, out of market programming is frowned upon.

Not watching 15 minutes of commercials an hour = naughty, naughty viewer.

[Turborama]

46. LOL, I thought it was 45 minutes of commercials per hour now? n/t

[Turborama]

49. Actually, I forgot to mention, There are some local ads but to receive AJE it's included with

all the other news channels. Including Faux, unfortunately.

[Turborama]

37. It comes on the basic package where I live

In Indonesia. But that doesn't matter, AJ English are clearly happy to let satellite or cable operators add it to their basic packages is the point.

[sulphurdunn]

33. Of course!

That explains why Comcast sank MSNBC's flagship news show, Countdown. It just wasn't economically attractive. :thumbsdown:

[BlueMTexpat]

34. 90 percent of what my family receives on US cable is crap.

The 90 percent crap includes cable news such as Faux, almost all domestic CNN programming, and MSNBC with the exception of Rachel Maddow. I used to have SKY satellite TV coverage abroad - which included Al Jazeera, BOTH English and Arabic. Rupert Murdoch may be someone I personally abhor, but he is not generally known for making bad business decisions insofar as telecommunications are concerned. AJE is part of nearly every European cable/satellite system. I have it there and will be returning soon. Thankfully. Frankly, most of Europe is much better and more factually informed by their news outlets than we in the US are by ours.

To say that the majority of US cable/satellite companies have made a "business decision" to deny airtime to AJE may not show an "evil conspiracy" - but it does show that stupidity - including stupid decision-making - rules the US airwaves.

It is also true that there are certain interest groups who do not want AJE - or any uncensored or alternative viewpoints on world affairs, for that matter - shown to US audiences. So, no, it isn't really too complicated to see some lockstep decision-making here unless one totally lacks imagination or an ability to connect the dots.

[Buzz Clik]

48. Would you pay extra for Al Jazeera? Would you pay $10 a month?

$25?

[BlueMTexpat]

50. It's already included as part of my basic cable fee in Switzerland ...

and I'll be there soon, so the question doesn't arise for me.

It should be included as part of the basic cable service here. That was my point and that of the OP. The fact that it isn't is not necessarily due to demand, as has been demonstrated most recently. But you go right on with your capitalism uber alles arguments that keep avoidng the point.

[Buzz Clik]

55. Not as much "capitalism uber alles" as ridiculing the conspiracy theories.

Well deserved ridicule.

[nadinbrzezinski]

51. Nah, given that fox bleeds cash

and that they cancel top rated shows... no that is not the reason.

[Buzz Clik]

67. Fox makes money.

[Disintermedia8]

54. Thank goodness that when an argument is broken beyond repair

the Invisible Hand is always on call to fix it up.

I also heard that US troops were shooting at AJ reporters in Iraq because the film crew was not profitable.

[DBoon]

3. Weren't they denied press access to the NYSE some years back?

They were thought to be apologists for terrorism, so the patriotic thing to do is keep them out?

[TomClash]

60. AJ has long had access to the NYSE

Not that the NYSE really matters much anymore but still . . .

[Newest Reality]

6. Our current, dominant regime of Corporate Overlords

have revealed a card, though the deck is stacked. Their reaction to Al Jezeera betrays the poker face they tend to wear during the commercial overthrow in progress.

The game is usually played far behind the glaring facade of the media they own and script, deep within the bowels of corporate strongholds where their Potentates, Viziers and Wizards weave the magic spells and fashion the policies that their well-compensated government officials enact.

Though it is not yet perfected, it is only a matter of time before they achieve perfection in manipulation and control of unsuspecting masses. The pinnacle of their efforts will be immortalized in future history when they are portrayed as gods and heroes unparalleled by any before them because the victors always write the history.

The Holy Charter will become sacred writ: "And in the beginning, the Corporations recreated the heavens and the Earth. And they said, 'Let there be profit!' And there was, and it was fiscally sound. And then they said, 'Let there be peons to serve us well'. And lo, and behold, there were 1.5 billion of them spared after the culling to serve the Holy Masters of Earth."

[Octafish]

9. The Media Trust

Like the oil, gold, etc trusts before Teddy Roosevelt, Corporate McPravda wants no competitors for their scripted version of reality.

Thus, Al Jazeera is a treat to liars.

Thank you for the OP and its important information, seafan.

[seafan]

27. Yes, Al Jazeera is a threat to liars. Ours. That is the reason why it's not on our teevees.

Al Jazeera (and WikiLeaks) expose how the U. S. directly enables the never-ending unrest and violence across the far corners of the world, as it plies dictators with military equipment, weaponry, steady rivers of US taxpayers' money and journalistic clampdown abroad and here in America.


Eric Holder has plenty of time to go after Julian Assange, but to go after Clarence Thomas for lying for 20 years about his wife's income from right wing sources? Or Bush/Cheney for their war crimes? Or the bankster vampires for sucking the life out of our futures? Not so much.

But, I digress.



Notwithstanding the hundreds of US military bases around the world and Obama's famous Cairo speech in June of 2009, he is being afforded yet another, and this time incalculable, opportunity to do the right thing for the world, and that is to publicly and vehemently cease all support for repressive dictators and human rights violators worldwide, and, instead, to declare and institute support for political, economic, civil, human and democratic rights for the people of the world.


For a change.



We are all Egyptians now, my friend Octafish.

[Enthusiast]

59. K&R on the OP and plus one on this. nt

[Enthusiast]

57. Plus one.......nt

[Shagbark Hickory]

12. I remember when Bill-O used to make al-jazeera out to be terrorist sympathizers

because they kept releasing those bin laden videos.
Looks whos number #1 now, billo.

[EFerrari]

17. The Bush Junta sold that idea in any way it could

because AJ was reporting their atrocities in Iraq.

[Bragi]

13. FWIW, AJE costs me $2.90 a month in Canada

Just started subscribing via cable last week. Great coverage.

[madrchsod]

21. china`s news channel CCTVnews is....

more informative and more balanced that any us cable news. plus there`s the added pleasure of tv readers speaking perfect english.

[SoCalDem]

25. Americans' delicate sensibilities MUST be protected from truth

heavens to betsy..what if the accidentally saw a real body of a real dead person:(

only furriners are able to cope with reality

over here we like our reality..well scripted & measured out in 1 hr episodes:)

[Bluenorthwest]

28. How many here had asked for AJ English prior to the events in

Cairo? I've been trying to get people to ask for them and for Current TV and a few others for sometime, most tell me they do not bother.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Kicked and recommended for a "free press."

Thanks for the thread, seafan.

[hay rick]

31. K&R

[bdamomma]

32. watching on line has been pretty to me.

very good reporting.

[azul]

35. Viewers wanting to wake up, or not buy stuff?

I had heard that the news reportage was docile in the US by design so as to not scare or upset viewers. The thinking being that advertisers had a better chance at sales when potential customers are at ease and not so much worrying about the future.

This comfort-zone news may be an excuse or cover for lying or deceiving for other purposes or interests, but it is an understandable business opportunity that was taken. And they are attempting to take the power of truth with it.

Why do we allow it to continue? We like to work but we don't like to be lied to.



"You Don't Understand Our Audience"

By John Hockenberry
*****
This was one in a series of lessons I learned about how television news had lost its most basic journalistic instincts in its search for the audience-driven sweet spot, the "emotional center" of the American people. Gone was the mission of using technology to veer out onto the edge of American understanding in order to introduce something fundamentally new into the national debate. The informational edge was perilous, it was unpredictable, and it required the news audience to be willing to learn something it did not already know. Stories from the edge were not typically reassuring about the future. In this sense they were like actual news, unpredictable flashes from the unknown. On the other hand, the coveted emotional center was reliable, it was predictable, and its story lines could be duplicated over and over. It reassured the audience by telling it what it already knew rather than challenging it to learn. This explains why TV news voices all use similar cadences, why all anchors seem to sound alike, why reporters in the field all use the identical tone of urgency no matter whether the story is about the devastating aftermath of an earthquake or someone's lost kitty.

www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19845/page3/

[Turborama]

36. Details on how to demand from the cable companies that Al Jazeera English be accessible

Here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x326334

[Turborama]

38. There Are A Number Of Misperceptions And Myths That Exist About Al Jazeera English In North America

I hope you don't mind me piggy backing your excellent OP but I've posted about this before and think this adds value to what you've posted: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x315131

I love the way people argue that "it's the way capitalism works, man". Apart from the fact they keep kicking OPs like this, I won't go into the main reason why because I don't want this reply deleted.

[azul]

39. Capitalism is failing, horribly.

"Life's a ball! (TV tonight!)
Do you love it, do you hate it?
There it is, the way you made it (WOOOooow)"
-F Zappa


Don't know if "the way capitalism works" is an argument so much as an apology. The love of money has to take a back seat to the reverence or respect for life. Else this planet is toast.

[Bozita]

40. K&R ... Hey Comcast! Can you hear me now?

[SnakeEyes]

43. Problem here is nothing sinister

It's simply an issue of cost vs benefit and demand and damage. They would be more inclined to do so if cost vs benefit were in their favor and if demand were high enough. There is also the belief that Al Jazeera is seen as being middle eastern, anti-Israel/west, propaganda. Companies believe carrying them would lead to a backlash and negative publicity, boycotts and cancellations. This too has to be weighed to ensure there is a net positive gain for the company

[Turborama]

44. "middle eastern, anti-Israel/west, propaganda" - That IS the sinister myth that is the main problem

Started by Bush's junta during the Iraq war and continued ever since: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x315131

[wisteria]

58. How many Americans really want them here? I don't, but I would not censor them.

I just think they are no better than Fox News and I don't trust their reporting at all.

[Turborama]

61. "I just think they are no better than Fox News"

Statements like that are perpetuating a myth and just prove that you've never watched them. They are the antithesis of Faux.

[decidedlyso]

64. I think they are excellent. Once again, your posts make me wonder

about your underlying motivations. "No better than Fox News...." ROFLMAO

[seafan]

65. Al Jazeera's Cairo office stormed and burned Feb. 4

Egyptian Mob Burns Al Jazeera's Cairo Office

By NICK SCHIFRIN
DOHA, Qatar

Feb. 4, 2011

Al Jazeera's office in Cairo was stormed and burned today, the most dramatic evidence yet that Egyptian authorities are desperate to shut down the network widely praised for revealing the size and reach of the demonstrations.

Over the last week nine of the network's reporters have been detained and satellite providers across the region have shut its signal off.

The assault on Al Jazeera is part of an offensive against the foreign press by those in Cairo upset by the portrayal of the rock and fire bomb battles. More than 100 reporters, including those from ABC News, have (been) menaced, threatened with death and beaten in the streets.

Much of the anger by the supporters of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak has been aimed at Al Jazeera.

That authorities have targeted reporters for Al Jazeera English – as well as those for Al Jazeera Arabic -- shows how the younger, more analytical of the two channels has come echo the Arabic channel's ability to get under the skin of autocratic, unpopular regimes.

For almost five years, Al Jazeera English has followed a single motto: "Giving voice to the voiceless." Despite the attempts to silence it, the network's coverage of the revolts seem to be ensuring that its own voice is only getting louder.

.....

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

---- Mahatma Gandhi (Indian Philosopher, internationally esteemed for his doctrine of nonviolent protest, 1869-1948)

[seafan]

66. Newsweek: Not Coming to America: The U.S. censors Al Jazeera for no good reason

Newsweek: Not Coming to America: The U.S. censors Al Jazeera for no good reason


(Hat tip to DUer Better Believe It.)

[Better Believe It]

68. Kick