They think there’s a huge gap in the market, for English-language reporting of world events that doesn’t heavily lean towards (or rely upon) American opinions. Are you interested to see what their output is like? I sure am.
I’d maybe check it out for Presidential election coverage and maybe occasionally reference it for a different perspective on world events, but I seriously doubt I’d be close to a regular viewer, if it’s even carried anywhere near me.
You bet! Very interested in knowing what these people think.
If I’m right in thinking you’re in Ontario, it looks like there’s some third of a million Muslims living with you (Google suggests there’s no firm figures). Many of them no doubt speak English as a first language. That’s a pretty big market for a niche channel.
Sky TV viewers in the Uk already get Al-Jazeera. So no doubt we’ll get this new English language version.
I will sample it out of interest.
I’ll watch it until the FCC bans it. Like Luc, I enjoy examining a variety of viewpoints.
Does the FCC have jurisdiction over cable TV? If not, is there some other agency that does?
I’ll watch it if my local cable provider carries it.
The CRTC is going to let Al-Jazeera into Canada, subject to prior screening to ensure that “hate speech” is not broadcast.
This decision raised a stink because the cable and satellite companies do not normally prescreen their programs, and would have to set up new facilities. They replied that they would have to screen other external, biased and/or controversial news sources–and then mentioned CNN and the Fox News Network as examples.
It will be interesting to see what happens to all the Tamil channels, the German channel, the British channels, the Greek channels, the Japanese channel, the Chinese channels, the South Asian channels, everything with a lot of external-to-Canada content. There isn’t an Israeli channel yet, but I suspect it would have a very interesting ride trying to be let in here…
(The Fox News Network is also trying to get in, and so far has been treated with derision by columnists in the conservative Globe and Mail (the cetrist Toronto Star has ignored it).
I would.
I remember making some posts about “The Control Room” after seeing that documentary in June. It was striking view into Al-Jazeera. I didn’t come away from that thinking these guys were a bunch of frothing idealogues. They seemed to have some pretty keen insights, and I for one would like to see news of the world (and the Middle East) with a different flavor.
What’s their Web address?
In English: http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage
No, I live in Clearwater, Florida. There are probably 10s of 100s of Muslims living nearby. Maybe more. 
Great, a news channel that will do nothing but trash Israel with the most biased outlook possible. I can’t wait.
At least it will counteract the Zionist-owned media.
14,000 in Clearwater, St Petersburg and Tampa, from the 2000 census.
Or, you could find out what they ctually broadcast before you decide to dismiss them. I doubt that they will appear as overly friendly to Israel, but they tend to get fairly good marks for their actual reporting. When they have been bashed by the current U.S. administration, it has always been for opinion pieces (the Arab equivalent of O’Reilly and Hannity).
That’s funny. I must have clicked on the wrong link to get to their website, because I found rational, clear-headed, well-informed pro-Palestinian articles.
…in fact, there’s no more anti-Israeli sentiment in their current news reports than those of the BBC.
How the FCC will moderate Aljazeera:
Replace asterisks with audio bleeps.
Oh, sure, when you throw in Tampa and St. Pete. I know of two mosques in Clearwater but I doubt we have more than 1000 Muslims locally. Tampa has inflated numbers owing to the universities, and there are a number of refugees from recent conflicts in the Balkans in my county, but mostly south of here in St. Petersburg. It took a long time for Spanish language stuff to show up here, even with 20,000 Mexicans in Clearwater. I’m not holding my breath for Al Jazeera News, although stranger things have happened.