al-Jazeera in Vermont

Neatorama points to an NPR story about a battle in Vermont over al-Jazeera’s English-language 24-hr news channel.

There’s been an interesting news story out of Burlington, Vermont - a great town if you ever have a chance to visit. The city of Burlington owns the city’s cable television service and their cable system is one of only two, apparently, in the United States that carries al-Jazeera’s English-language 24-hr news channel.

A small group of people have come together to demand that Burlington drop al-Jazeera from its cable service, claiming that al-Jazeera is anti-American and anti-Israeli and is engaged in “cultural Jihad” against the United States. Yes - people like this really do exist. Advocates for keeping al-Jazeera remind detractors that they can simply “turn the channel,” and insist that as freedom-lovers they cherish al-Jazeera’s presence on their local cable system as an exercise in diversity of viewpoints.

There have been a number of public hearings and discussions, and it appears that a final decision from the city government as to what will happen is being put on hold.

I agree that al-Jazeera is probably more than bias toward the bad guys, but there are two points;
1- I'd like to know what the bad guys are being told.
2- More importantly, it's censorship and that's bad, plain and simple.

Right on target.

Keep em. You're never completely useless....you can always be used as a bad example.

The English Al-Jeseera and the Arabic Al-Jeseera, aren't even close on content.

If we're in a war of ideas, it'd be nice to know what we're fighting.

Yeah, what they said. A) At risk of being branded a first amendment absolutist, I have a hard time buying that there's any justification for blocking a news broadcast just because some people (or even most people) think it's biased. B) Know thine enemy.

SteveDallas;464369 wrote:

At risk of being branded a first amendment absolutist, I have a hard time buying that there's any justification for blocking a news broadcast just because some people (or even most people) think it's biased.

Yeah, otherwise they'd have to kill FOX News.:haha:

What really burns my nads about any news channel or agency is that they have the balls to look me in the proverbial eye and tell me "were not biased, we just tell the truth".

It is possible that they tell the truth about what they cover, but choosing what to cover is where the bias is. They are all biased towards sensationalistic nonsense, which plays right into the hands of politicians who need face time.

Yeah, lest's dig up Tokyo Rose, and put her on CNN!

It is possible that they tell the truth about what they cover, but choosing what to cover is where the bias is.

That is a very good point, Griff.

I don't really see where the problem lies, myself. The English language Al Jazeera that I have watched is not pushing an islamic agenda, nor is it overtly anti- American, the West, or Israel. What it does do is display a more sympathetic attitude towards, for example, Palestine in its reporting, and is rather more critical about Israel's actions, than most of the English news channels. That said, I don't think it hurts much to have that other perspective out there. Bear in mind, there is a world of difference between being critical of a country's actions or policies, and being anti- that country.

Given that the mainstay of their audience will be the English-speaking and therefore most assimilated portion of the immigrant arab population, it wouldn't be a very popular move to just slam America all the time. Like any news channel, their aim is not to keep their audience as small as humanly possible, therefore limiting themselves purely to the most stridently anti-American parts of the population would be a very poor business model. So far Al Jazeera has shown themselves more than capable of finding a respectable niche within the broadcasting spectrum.

I don't subscribe to any cable service, but if I did, I would be interested in having as many channels as possible that cater to my own interests. I don't picture myself watching al-Jazeera much. But who knows? Maybe I would find it fascinating and watch it all the time.

regular.joe;464399 wrote:

What really burns my nads about any news channel or agency is that they have the balls to look me in the proverbial eye and tell me "were not biased, we just tell the truth".

Especially when they've gone to court several times to defend their right to NOT tell the truth. Fuckin jerks...

Yea. Why not?

I have a hard time listening to any raghead "News Station"
named "Al's Jizz Rah" :headshake

raghead?

Showing off the awesome American education.

What really burns the 'mainstream media' here is that al-Jazeera routinely outscoops them re: Middle East affairs.

To be fair, in order to show that once upon a time, while Ted Koppel was there, ABC News actually had good news journalism, they dedicated an entire hour late at night to Iraqi TV News, just as the first Gulf War started. It was funny to hear the anchors refer to George H Bush as 'criminal Bush'.

Sooooo...you're surprised that Al Jazeera gets an inside scoop in the Middle East ahead of American news agencies?????

I'll bet then, that people in the Middle East are burned because Al Jazeera doesn't get the inside scoop inside the U.S. behind American news agencies. :smack:

I thought CNN was Al- Jizzra

spudcon;464698 wrote:

I thought CNN was Al- Jizzra

You are correct, Sir............:D

I recently received a chain e-mail with the above subject line. Here's the text of the e-mail:

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2]6/25/2008[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2]I just signed a petition opposing the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" and similar efforts to silence conservative leaders such as Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Prager, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2][COLOR=black][COLOR=black]The “Fairness Doctrine” is anything but fair and amounts to total government control over the radio airwaves. Imagine the government determining content of a radio show. How Un-American is that![/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2]Now I understand that liberal leaders in Congress are blocking an effort to protect free speech and the rights of Americans to have their voices heard.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2][B]Please join me in signing this petition:
[/SIZE][/FONT][/B][FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2][link removed][/SIZE][/FONT]

I replied to the sender asking them what they thought about US cable channels broadcasting al-Jazeera. I'm interested to hear what he says.

Have any of you heard about the attempt to re-introduce the Fairness Doctrine? I've done a search and found articles for and against.

I thought this line was funny: "[FONT=Courier New][SIZE=2][COLOR=black][COLOR=black]Imagine the government determining content of a radio show. How Un-American is that![/COLOR][/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]" considering increasing FCC censorship.

Here's one of the 'against' articles: http://www.mrcaction.org/CMI_FairnessDoctrine_PDF.pdf

From my recollection, the fairness doctrine is anything but fair.

The GWOT will be won or lost on our understanding of the antidemocracy, illiberal, anticonnectivitist foe's thought processes. And you never know beforehand what path that knowledge will take to arrive in your mind.

DanaC: raghead -- pejorative remark on Arab headcloths.