A little while ago, I was watching a news network that was showing something live from Al Jazeer(sp?) TV in Afganstan. On the TV from Afganastan there was a woman reporter, she was not wearing a burqa, she had make-up on, and everyone could hear her voice. Dosen’t that go against the Taliban rules for women ? It is possible the the TV station is from somewhere else. Does anyone know what the story is ?
Thanks in advance.
Al Jazeer is broadcast from Qatar.
From the same website as the linked map:
It appears that Qatar does not hold to anything resembling Taliban-istic rules regarding women (among other things).
I saw a TV newsmagazine profile of Al Jazeera. They are really shaking things up in the Middle East, since they are one of the only news outlets there not government-censored. They are at least partially funded by the royalty of Qatar, but they are allowed to function as freely as ‘Western media’ is.
The people running the network believe that getting better information to the people of the Middle East will help bring peace to the region and to correct many issues in many countries. I hope they’re right.
If Al Jazerra is the network that’s been promoting the Zionist conspiracy rumors about the WTC, and broadcasting with an editorial slant that can best be described as “dancing Palestinian,” I certainly hope that what the network provides isn’t considered “better information.”
Al Jazeer is THE TV network in the Middle East, and there is one lively talk show that is THE show to watch in the Arabic world (except Afghanistan, since they aren’t allowed to watch TV! 
).
With all that is going on in the world, I would actually be suprised if Al Jazeer doesn’t find a home in most cable systems across the U.S., I don’t know about the anti-Zionist thing, but they often have news coverage in that part of the world not seen anywhere in America.
[nitpick]
That’s al-Jazirah; it refers to the (Arabian) Peninsula.
[/nitpick]
Are CNN and the other stations paying Al Jazirah for use of this footage?
A followup to my post – I ddi some research, and discovered that Al Jazerra is supposedly quite open-minded in its editorial outlook, including both pro-US and anti-US viewpoints.
Some cable systems in the United States preempt a little-viewed station to broadcast NASA coverage of space shuttle missions. Considering current events, I would be interested in seeing cable systems bump a channel for Al Jazerra.
In the five years of its existence, al-Jazeera has become the most-watched satellite channel in the Arab world and has infuriated every government from Libya to Kuwait - both of which once threatened to pull out their ambassadors from Qatar in protest.
What draws the viewers is not soaps, millionaire quizzes or Big-Brother-style reality TV, but news and political debate of a kind that the Arab world had never seen until the channel started in 1996. It has become the channel that Arabs turn to for big events - such as the Palestinian intifada or the Afghan conflict - though in some countries they are technically breaking the law if they do.
Some describe it as “the Arab BBC”, which is not surprising, given its origins. They lie in the mid-90s when the BBC set up an Arabic-language TV channel and contracted - unwisely as it turned out - with a Saudi satellite company to transmit its programmes to the Middle East. It was not long before the Saudis, unhappy with the content, pulled the plug.
That would have been the end of it had the Emir of Qatar not offered $100m, spread over five years, to fund a new and independent-minded TV station. Ready-trained staff from the BBC channel joined it en masse, bringing - as they see it - BBC values with them.
Which countries allow satellite TV equipment but prohibit the watching of certain content? What content is prohibited to watch?
yeah, i don’t know how you can control what people with satellite dishes will subscribe to…
but content wise, i imagine anything giving Israeli opinion an inch is pretty much a no-no, although Al-Jazeera has been the only Arab TV channel in the Mid-East to have interviewed Barak and other Israeli leaders.
visit the links…'cos thats where I’m getting all this info from; they’re both very good articles.
Al Jazeer TV is freely available here in the UK. It is broadcast via the Eurobird digital satellite which has a “footprint” that covers the whole of Europe. It is even listed on the Electronic Programme Guide on my satellite receiver.
Al-Jazeera is also available in the United States through Dish Network.