Obama White House Warming to Al-Jazeera

[Frodo]

Needless to say, this is a poll primarily geared to Americans -I am not sure whether Al Jazeera has its own channel in the European Union, or other developed countries:

Once shunned, Al-Jazeera has fans in Obama W.H.

By KEACH HAGEY & BYRON TAU | 4/17/11 4:31 PM EDT

In the halls of American power, the Arab Spring has brought Al-Jazeera in from the cold.

Seven years after then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called the broadcaster’s reporting “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable” and President George W. Bush joked about bombing it, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised it as “real news” in her recent Senate testimony.

Not only that, her staffers, as well as those of the CIA and the Obama White House, were attending the Congressional Correspondents’ Dinner as Al-Jazeera’s guests.

“They are a really important media entity, and we have a really great relationship with them,” said Dana Shell Smith, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for international media engagement, who speaks Arabic and has frequently appeared on the channel. “This administration has empowered those of us who actually do the communicating to be in a close relationship with Al-Jazeera. They understand that the relationship can’t consist of complaining to each other about the differences we have.”

The differences also have shrunk as the big story in the Middle East has shifted from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the democratic movements sweeping the region. In the recent uprisings, U.S. interests tended to line up with Al-Jazeera’s, and President Barack Obama alluded to both the network’s influence and its pro-democracy bent in remarks caught on an open mic during a closed-door fundraiser last week.

[courts]

I'd rather have RT, but Al Jazeera at least has Frost and a few other competent people working for it.

[specific_name]

I'd rather have RT, but Al Jazeera at least has Frost and a few other competent people working for it.

RT is such a great news source.... exhibit A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UAeSsvHhTg

RT and Al Jazeera are not really comparable. Al Jazeera has it's problems but they are a real news organization. RT on the hand incubates the worst conspiracy theorists and other nitwits on the internet, pretty much anyone who will criticize the West or the American government can get their 15 minutes. RT is such a joke state propaganda network it's unbelievable.

[opebo]

I've never heard of RT, but here in Thailand I mostly watch Al Jazeera and a good deal of the German channel (deutche welle or something like that).  A little BBC for the standard line of pro-western hoo-hah you'd get on American news once in a while.  I will say Al Jazeera, while a good channel, does get a little boring at time - something one can never say about the Germans (though I'll admit they do include human-interest type stories and so forth, they're not just hard news).

[courts]

CNN's human interest stories involving cats do nothing for me and Fox is boring now that they kicked the black board off.  And the less said about MSNBC the better. I like having the crackpots mixed in with more respectable types, it's far more interesting than what passes for infotainment among american cable's geriatric audience. Besides that I like Keiser and Palast.

[Bacon King]

Yeah, I'd watch it. They were my primary info source for The egyptian revolution and I was very impressed.

[specific_name]

You can always watch the channel's streaming English version on their site. I suppose it hardly matters if my cable company bothers to pick it up. Al Jazeera is pretty much essential if you're following the Arab Spring. Naturally, I'm beginning to distrust them when it comes to the GCC. Qatar is a member after all and I'm not sure how much editorial control the govt. has. The Saudis invaded Bahrain and Al Jazeera covered it, but it seems that what they were reporting was toned down after awhile. The only other news source in the region is Iran's Press.tv, but I'm very suspect of them - as I am of RT.

Now I suppose we can all just pick our own set of pundits and state tv that confirms all our biases. I do fear for those who haven't developed much in the way of critical thinking skills, those that now enter this splintered infotainment environment. Truth is not merely a series of opinions triangulated and averaged out.

[The Dowager Mod]

I get live Al Jazeera on my roku!

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

I can't imagine life without having Al-Jazeera, both English and Arabic.

[Hash]

It's one of the only real news sources. I wish we could get it in Canada, but instead we're stuck with stupid nationalist CBC/SRC, useless biased CTV and soon the CPC propaganda network 'Sun TV News' owned by our very own snake oil salesman PK Pelladeau.

[Lambsbread]

I voted no.

I'd prefer to have less "news" organizations here in the states because none of it is "news" and whatever "news" there is, it's about an IED going of in Iraq killing x amount of soldiers. How come we never hear about what goes on in Congress? Unless there's major unrest between both parties on a major issue, it's not considered news. Why didn't we hear more about the so called "minor" acts that have been passed in Congress? You know, like the one that allows FEMA to build "shelter" (death) camps all across the country? Introduced by Alcee Hastings (D-FL)?

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-645

[Sewer]

FEMA death camps

oh u

[Phony Moderate]

FEMA death camps

oh u

O U !

[opebo]

I get live Al Jazeera on my roku!

What the devil is a roku?

[phk]

Al Jazeera is basically the Sunni Arab PoV.

[The Mikado]

Al Jazeera is basically the Sunni Arab PoV.

Which is why seemingly everyone but Riz Khan is British?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Al Jazeera is basically the Sunni Arab PoV.

Which is why seemingly everyone but Riz Khan is British?

It's a bit like how BBC News used to be.

[Username MechaRFK]

Why not? We need credible new sources on TV for the average Joe to watch and Al Jazeera is just one of them.  I also would want RT, Iran Press TV, CCTV, BBC news, France 24 and pretty much all other international news to have their own channels on Comcast, DirectTV, and Verizon.

[Likely Voter]

with news orgs pulling back on foreign correspondents, I think having AJE, BBC, RT and other foreign outlets available is a good thing, especially when covering news in their regions.

They may have a slant, but as long as you are aware of that, then you factor it in (like you do when watching FOX or MSNBC)

[Free Palestine]

Al-Jazeera is great.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

Al-Jazeera is great.

Agreed.  I'd love to have them on Fios.

[Free Palestine]

Al-Jazeera is great.

Agreed.  I'd love to have them on Fios.

You like Al-Jazeera?!

[Kaine for Senate '18]

You like Al-Jazeera?!

I do indeed; they provide excellent coverage of the Middle East.

[Free Palestine]

You like Al-Jazeera?!

I do indeed; they provide excellent coverage of the Middle East.

Cool.