This just in! Mike Kohl advises that Al Jazeera is also on C-band at 58 West with a parallel transmission, and is on Ku-band via 97 West (now called Galaxy 19), viewable with a 30 inch dish in most of North America.
George Antunes wrote: > [Anyone in North America with a C band dish and a FTA receiver can watch > Al Jazeera in English. It is in the clear on Galaxy 23 at 121 Deg West > longitude; Transponder 10, 3900 MHz vertical polarity, Symbol Rate = > 27.684, FEC = 3/4.] > > January 12, 2009 > > Few in U.S. See Jazeera’s Coverage of Gaza War > By NOAM COHEN > NY Times > > http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/business/media/12jazeera.html?ref=business&pagewanted=print > > > Last June, Al Jazeera English produced a report from Gaza about a young > couple who were preparing to marry during the relative calm of the > cease-fire between Hamas and the Israeli government, a time when they > could finally shop for furniture and, as the reporter put it, let > themselves “dream that a happy life together is within reach.” > > Now that reporter, Ayman Mohyeldin, a former CNN producer, can be seen > with a helmet and flak jacket answering questions from an anchor back in > the studio in Doha, Qatar, describing the Israeli bombing and ground > campaign in Gaza intended to stop Hamas missiles from being fired into > Israel. > > In a conflict where the Western news media have been largely prevented > from reporting from Gaza because of restrictions imposed by the Israeli > military, Al Jazeera has had a distinct advantage. It was already there. > > There are six reporters in Gaza, two working for Al Jazeera English and > four working for the much larger and more popular Arabic version of the > network, which was created in 1996 with a $150 million grant from the > emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani. Al Jazeera describes > itself on the air as “the only international broadcaster with a presence > there.” > > While getting to the story has not been an insurmountable problem for Al > Jazeera English’s journalists — they are, in effect, surrounded by it — > getting their reports to the English-speaking public has been a bit > trickier. The network is largely unavailable in the United States, > carried only by cable providers in Burlington, Vt.; Toledo, Ohio; and > Washington, D.C. (In Burlington, the local government last summer > rejected public calls for the city-owned cable provider, Burlington > Telecom, to drop the channel.) > > By contrast, Al Jazeera’s English-language service can be seen in over > 100 countries via cable and satellite, according to Molly Conroy, a > spokeswoman for the network in Washington. > > Recognizing that its material from Gaza will have influence in the > United States only if it is highly accessible online, Al Jazeera has > aggressively experimented with using the Internet to distribute the > information it has gathered. > > For example, Mohamed Nanabhay, the 29-year-old executive who established > Al Jazeera’s new-media group, beginning in late 2006, said that Al > Jazeera planned to announce this week that all its video material of the > war in Gaza would become available under the most lenient Creative > Commons license, which basically means it can be used by anyone — rival > broadcaster, documentary maker or individual blogger, for example — as > long as Al Jazeera is credited. > > Also, it currently streams its broadcasts in a variety of formats and > has a dedicated channel on YouTube with more than 6,800 videos. > > Al Jazeera said that since the war started the number of people watching > its broadcasts via the Livestream service has increased by over 500 > percent, and the views of videos on its YouTube channel have increased > by more than 150 percent. > > Also, Al Jazeera has created a Twitter feed on the “war on Gaza,” which > provides frequent short messages that refer the public to new material > that can be viewed online. During the weekend, there were more than > 4,600 followers, not including the many more who view those short > messages, called “tweets,” online. The Twitter feeds are also streamed > onto Al Jazeera’s English Web site. > > And unlike purely commercial broadcasters, Al Jazeera does not have to > accompany its new-media strategies with revised new-media business models. > > “Part of our mission, our mandate, is to get our news out,” Mr. Nanabhay > said. “We don’t have the direct commercial pressures that others have. > If we can make some money that is great.” > > The near-total blackout in the United States is no doubt related to the > sharp criticism Al Jazeera received from the United States government > during the initial stages of the war in Iraq for its coverage of the > American invasion. Officials like Vice President Dick Cheney and the > defense secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, said the network’s > reporting was inflammatory, irresponsible and frequently misleading. > > And in Israel, where news media commonly quote from material on Al > Jazeera, the network is frequently criticized for inflaming the Arab > public by running unfiltered and out-of-context videotape showing blood > and gore in battle zones. > > Al Jazeera officials respond that they are being blamed for accurately > reporting what is going on in the world from an Arab perspective. > > Al Jazeera’s coverage of the Israeli military campaign from Gaza > includes reports on civilians killed and made homeless by the attacks as > well as on clashes between Hamas fighters and Israeli troops. In a > recent segment, Mr. Mohyeldin played exclusive videotape of what > appeared to be a Hamas sniper’s killing of an Israeli tank commander; > the reporter repeatedly cautioned that what was being shown could not be > independently confirmed. > > Nonetheless, the dearth of distribution in the United States means that > the dispatches from Mr. Mohyeldin and others reach America almost > exclusively via the Internet. > > The report on the couple shopping for furniture in Gaza City, for > example, had been viewed nearly 6,000 times on YouTube, generating more > than 100 comments in the six months it had been available; the report on > the videotape of Hamas militants in action has been viewed nearly > 150,000 times in less than three days, with more than 700 comments. > > The network has begun its first ad campaign in the United States to > publicize its Web site, since reaching Americans would seem to be at the > heart of Al Jazeera’s mission. > > “It is something on our minds, we think about the U.S. market,” said Mr. > Nanabhay, who is now the co-chairman of a “digital leap committee” for > Al Jazeera English. But he said, “even if the U.S. market were > completely open, we would still be innovating.” > > According to Mr. Nanabhay, and another new-media evangelist within Al > Jazeera, Riyaad Minty, a 24-year-old South African who is a senior > analyst at the network, the Gaza crisis is helping to convince their > superiors of the power of the Internet to tell a sprawling story that > unfolds over weeks or perhaps months. > > Thus far, however, Al Jazeera has largely stayed away from the blogging > that is common on news sites, though that is being reconsidered, Mr. > Nanabhay said. > > “Especially during these crises, they present a lot of opportunity to > use these tools, and the value becomes apparent very quickly,” Mr. > Nanabhay said. > > Mr. Minty has been focusing on the introduction of a platform at > aljazeera.net to allow the public to contribute opinion or “citizen > journalism,” ideas that he said were still new to the Arab world. > > He said the site gets many contributions, particularly video comments > and other content, from people in the West. > > -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
