http://www.indianexpress.com/story/16778.html
US cable networks have no airtime for Al Jazeeras English version New York Times Posted online: Friday, November 17, 2006 at 0000 hrs IST New York, november 16 The lead story on the debut of Al Jazeeras new English language channel on Wednesday was the re-election of President Joseph Kabila of Congo. There were also features on the hip, multicultural scene in Damascus; traffic in Beijing; Brazilian indigenous tribes; and the trials and tribulations of a Palestinian ambulance driver in Gaza. Everywoman, a weekly womans programme, took on the horrors of skin-bleaching cream and also spoke to the wife of Sami al-Hajj, an Al Jazeera cameraman who has spent years imprisoned without trial at Guantánamo Bay. Secretary of Defence Donald H Rumsfeld once famously denounced the Arab-language Al Jazeera as vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable, which may be one reason that major cable and satellite providers in the United States declined to offer the English version. On Wednesday, most Americans could watch it only on the Internet at english.aljazeera.net. Its a shame. Americans can see almost anything on television these days, from Polish newscasts to reruns of Benson. The new channel, Al Jazeera English, will never displace CNN, MSNBC or Fox News, but it provides the curious or the passionately concerned with a window into how the world sees us, or doesnt. Its a Saul Steinberg map of the globe in which the channels hub in Doha, Qatar, looms over Iran, Iraq, Syria and the West Bank the dots in the horizon are New York and Hollywood. While American cable news shows focussed on Wednesday on live coverage of the Senate Armed Services Committees hearings on Iraq, Al Jazeera English was crammed with reports about Irans growing influence in the Middle East, the crisis in Darfur, kidnappings in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with frequent updates on Israeli retaliatory air strikes in Gaza. Just as Fox News gives its viewers a vision of the world as seen by conservative, patriotic Americans, Al Jazeera English reflects the mindsets across much of Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It is an American-style cable news network with jazzy newsrooms, poised, attractive anchors, flashy promos and sleek ads for Qatar Airways, Nokia and Shell. But its goal is to bring a non-Western perspective to the West. There was no fuss over Naomi Campbells court appearance on accusations that she had struck her maid or People magazines choice for Sexiest Man Alive (George Clooney) on Al Jazeera English. A promo for an upcoming programme described American policy in Iraq as George Bushs alleged war on terror. Al Jazeera English which also broadcasts from bureaus in London, Washington and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recruited many Western journalists, including David Frost and Dave Marash, a longtime Nightline correspondent who was let go by ABC almost a year ago. Both men are showcased in advertisements for the channel, but were not as visible on the maiden newscast. Marash, based in Washington, is the anchor of an evening newscast alongside Ghida Fakhry. Riz Khan, a veteran of the BBC and CNN, is one of the channels bigger stars he has his own show, Riz Khan, on Al Jazeera English. On Wednesday, he conducted separate but equally long satellite interviews with Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, and Shimon Peres, Israels deputy prime minister. The original Al Jazeera, created in 1996 with the backing of the emir of Qatar, boasts it gets as many complaints from African dictators and Muslim leaders as American officials. American viewers mostly know it as an Arab-language channel that shows Osama bin Laden videos. If Wednesday is any indication, the English language version is more button-down and cosmopolitan. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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