3 posts tagged “media”
You've probably heard of Al Jazeera before; most likely with followed by the words Osama Bin Laden if you're watching the news media in the United States. For some reason Al Jazeera has a mysterious label placed upon it of being a radical propaganda spreading news organization with tied to those spooky freedom hating terrorist. Truth is, Al Jazeera started as a devision of the BBC World News Service back in 1996 to deliver news to the middle eastern region. The network faced with censorship demands by the Saudi Arabian government, and was shut down after two years of operation.
Many former BBC World Service staff members joined Al Jazeera, together they introduced a level of freedom of speech and of the press on television that was previously unheard of in many of these countries. Al Jazeera presented controversial views regarding the governments of many Persian Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar; it also presented controversial views about Syria's relationship with Lebanon, and the Egyptian judiciary.
Prior to September 11, 2001, the US government had lauded Al Jazeera for its role as an independent media outlet in the Middle East, US officials have since claimed an anti-American bias to Al Jazeera's news coverage. As the station first gained widespread attention in the West following the September 11th attacks, when the network broadcasted videos in which Osama Bin Laden justified the attacks. This led to significant controversy and accusations by the United States government that Al Jazeera was engaging in the fore mentioned propaganda on behalf of terrorists. Al Jazeera countered that it was merely making information available without comment, and indeed several western television channels later followed suit in broadcasting portions of the tapes.
On November 13, 2001 during the US lead invasion of Afghanistan a missile strike destroyed Al Jazeera's office in Kabul. Nigel Parsons, managing director of Al-Jazeera's English service said the channel's viewership is growing in the U.S., despite the service being shunned by major cable or satellite providers in the country who say there is no market.
"We are even making inroads in the United States, not only via cable and satellite," Parsons said at a branding forum in Singapore. "Our service is available via broadband ... we now have tens of thousands of subscribers in America, dispelling the notion that Americans aren't interested in foreign news. They must be, they're fighting two wars."
Parsons also said a distribution tie-up between the network and YouTube has been "an astonishing success," with almost 100,000 viewers downloading videos every week, and many of them from the United States.
Al-Jazeera could not immediately provide exact figures on U.S. online subscriptions and YouTube viewers. YouTube Inc. is owned by Google Inc.
In America, one of the few cable companies in the country to offer Al-Jazeera in its cable packages is city-owned Burlington Telecom, which serves 1,200 households in Vermont's largest city. The channel is also on the air in Houston, Washington, D.C., and parts of Ohio.
Learn more:
http://english.aljazeera.net/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera
Thanks to Sharonb for originally sharing this video.
Editor Content
I don't really listen to Adam Corolla much, frankly after the Man Show was thankfully yanked off the air I thought he pretty much dropped off the face of the earth. No disrespect, his style of comedy just never appalled to me, however the man is blessed with the gift of gab -- so in the tradition of washed up television personalities turning to radio for an income i.e. Steve Harvey. Adam Corolla signed a contract with 97.1 Free FM of Los Angeles. At that brings me to the subject of this post. Back on April 10th Corolla interviewed the late Isaac Hayes on this call-in program, Hayes appear to be incoherent, stuttering, and obviously in an impaired state of mind. Corolla tried his best to conduct a proper interview. However when the interview started heading south because of Hayes inability to verbalize a complete thought Adam and his cronies relentlessly teased Isaac. All this a mere four months before Isaac Hayes death.
You can listen to the complete unedited interview fiasco here.
Now, the post-mortem "disrespectful" memorial segment to Isaac Hayes. I wouldn't consider myself a fan of Hayes, but I respect the work the man has accomplished in his career, he's certainly had more of a successful career than Adam Corolla. Needless to say, Corolla hasn't made a new fan here.
Last week FCC chief Kevin Martin announced a plan that if accepted would break a long standing rule governing the number of television, radio, and newspaper operations one particular corporation could own within a market. The original rules governing ownership has been in effect for over thirty years to keep company's from developing media monopoly's in various regions throughout the nation. Martins proposal if enacted could lead to restricted liberty's in journalism where a smaller sector has the majority control over what is said in the media. Large corporations will be able to purchase and operate television & radio stations including newspapers in all the nations top markets. Imagine if all your local media outlets where headed by a single person regardless of network affiliations the buck stops with a single head-honcho or chief operating officer. This person would control the flow of information to millions within a defined geographical area without any competition or an opposing voice.
It's a scary prospect, especially for anyone working in broadcasting. The consolidation of ownership undoubtedly could lead to less jobs and a decrease in competition between employers looking to hire talent; thus lower benefits and compensation across the board. Journalist and columnists will find their voices stifled if their viewpoints oppose those of the organization and without another media outlet their reporting will go unheard. There will never again be a second side to a story. Only the filtered information the corporations allows you to know...
Take for instance the recent story CNN and Hillary Clinton found themselves in over the planting of audience members and pre-screened questions during the last democratic debate aired on CNN. Maria Luisa, a college student at UNLV was a participate at the debate and was allowed to question the candidates she wrote on her MySpace page that the six audience members that posed questions to Hillary during the debates where "Democratic Party Operatives" and that CNN forced her to ask the frilly question "What do you prefer diamonds or pearls?" rather than her actual query about nuclear waste storage at the Yucca Mountain depository.
"Every single question asked during the debate by the audience had to be approved by CNN," Luisa writes. "I was asked to submit questions including "lighthearted/fun" questions. I submitted more than five questions on issues important to me. I did a policy memo on Yucca Mountain a year ago and was the finalist for the Truman Scholarship. For sure, I thought I would get to ask the Yucca question that was APPROVED by CNN days in advance."
It's shameful enough that during a open townhouse formatted preliminary presidential debate the audiences questions required any kind of screening but what makes it really bad is CNN was aware and deliberately sought to undermine its viewers by planting hashed questions to benefit a single candidate. In this case it appears CNN wanted to assist Clinton's odds of winning the debate. So pause for a moment and imagine this level of deceitfulness in a corporation that owns every major media platform in your city. Imagine what they might not want you to know and how they may resort to this level of trickery to persuade your opinion.
Scary isn't it?
