# Should U.S. Corporations be required to carry Al-Jazeera? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 31, 2011, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633 "2011-01-31T12:15:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/61 "2011-01-31T20:58:03Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Certainly the TV companies _think_ that now. I’m saying that isn’t necessarily the case, or if it is, it’s because of misperceptions about what AJ is (“the terrorist news network,” or only in Arabic, or whatever). > > That’s fine. But there are a lot of people who don’t have high-speed internet available to them at all, and more who may have internet but don’t find it convenient to watch TV that way. And I’m suggesting that among these groups is a not-insignificant number who _would_ find something of value in AJ being available to them. Especially at times like now, I feel reasonably sure more Americans would choose to watch some Al Jazeera than to watch some of the marginal-interest stations that you and I both receive (and pay for) but only scroll past. Well, it sounds like you just found yourself a great business opportunity! ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/62 "2011-01-31T21:02:14Z")
It’s not just the demand you need, you also have to convince enough sponsors to put their ads on the channel too. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/63 "2011-02-01T16:02:27Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > It’s not just the demand you need, you also have to convince enough sponsors to put their ads on the channel too. In my area, Al Jazeera is on a non commercial group of stations ,Link TV. They carry Democracy Now, Thom Hartmann, Al Jazeera, a German News Station , Deutsche Welle Journal, Mosaic, news from the middle east from the viewpoint of every country in the M.E., Grit Tv, Riz Khan, and others including news from the gay and lesbian viewpoint. It is viewer supported. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/64 "2011-02-01T16:57:53Z")
I’ve watched a fair bit of Al Jazeera English and it’s not bad. It’s not as good as the BBC News channel in general but does offer better coverage of Middle East issues, and it’s much better than Russia Today (which is trying to be propagandistic but hasn’t got the hang of it yet) or CNN (which is news for the ADD-afflicted). I’ve also heard (but have no evidence to support) that the AJ Arabic channel has a much stronger anti-Western bias. Anyone have any facts on that? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/65 "2011-02-01T18:11:14Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > In my area, Al Jazeera is on a non commercial group of stations ,Link TV. They carry Democracy Now, Thom Hartmann, Al Jazeera, a German News Station , Deutsche Welle Journal, Mosaic, news from the middle east from the viewpoint of every country in the M.E., Grit Tv, Riz Khan, and others including news from the gay and lesbian viewpoint. It is viewer supported. Ok. AJ is not offered on the cable network that services my area. PBS has commercials (I think) on my system. Definately the History Channel, AMC, TLC, Discovery Channel, and other “educational” channels all have commercials. (CSPAN doesn’t.) I figured AJ would be following the PBS model. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/66 "2011-02-01T18:44:11Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Found it. Bell TV offers Al-Jazeera for $3/month, along with something called i-Channel. Not sure whether that’s the English version or not, come to think of it. I looked at my cable provider (Videotron) and Al Jazeera English is available to digital cable suscribers like me either à la carte, or as part of some of their channel packages, including the “News” package (which is Al Jazeera English, BBC World News, CNBC, HLN, Investigation Discovery and MSNBC). The News package is $7.09/month. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/67 "2011-02-01T22:08:22Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Required? No. > > But it seems clear that there’s a tacit political-religious bias at work. Objectively, Al Jazeera is an _important_ network for world news. It would be entirely sensible and natural for it to be widely available in the United States–except for our fear of Islam. > > So, Americans, _call your television provider_ and tell them that, yes, you would like Al Jazeera to be available. The “big three” cable news networks (CNN, MSNBC, and Fox) get extremely small ratings compared to any sporting event, prime time comedy or drama, game or variety/competition show out there. I think sometimes there’s under 1 million people at a time watching CNN or MSNBC, maybe even under 800,00 at a time. Out of probably 280m+ regular TV viewers in America, I imagine Al-J in its English form would have less than 20,000 viewers at a given time _if_ it was available to everyone. I’d wager in a poll 85-90% of Americans have no idea what Al-Jazeera is. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/68 "2011-02-01T22:47:08Z")
One of the points Josh Rushing (Al Jazeera correspondent) made in that talk I watched a couple years back was that the dollar guys at some of the cable providers didn’t even particularly like offering BBC News; they figured that the all-Tractor-Pull channel or whatever would generate more revenue. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/69 "2011-02-02T05:59:52Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Essentially, yes. Just a few months ago, on this board, Al Jazeera was described by **cosmosdan** (who I think is generally “liberal”) as “fear mongering by Muslims,” and compared to Glenn Beck. It would be interesting to see whther it was, indeed, an SDMB Lefty who made that comment. Are you sure it was not Clothahump? (Not that I wish to imply that it was Cothahump, only that he is a poster on the Right with a username beginning with “C”.) Beyond that, the board is sufficiently laden with posters from the “Left” that there are probably myriad conflicting views among the “Left’s” posters, meaning that any specific comment from a Lefty poster needs to be checked before decribing it as a “Left” position. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/70 "2011-02-02T06:52:21Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Certainly the Israeli Military gave them good access when they made the documentary on the Merkava Tank. A disclaimer at the end says that Israel never responded to their requests for access. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/71 "2011-02-02T08:21:44Z")
Simply for the sake of clarity, I do not think cable/satellite providers should be **required** to carry AJ English. I’m just surprised it isn’t available in the US given you have a strong ethic of freedom of speech, plus an educated population. I wouldn’t have thought the cost of carrying the channel to be significant. But no, not compulsion. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/72 "2011-02-02T08:49:56Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > It would be interesting to see whther it was, indeed, an SDMB Lefty who made that comment. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12841783#post12841783) it is. I don’t mean to single out **cosmosdan** –the point was that there is a _widespread_ misperception of Al Jazeera. The view reflected in that offhand remark may well be the _prevailing_ view in the US. ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/73 "2011-02-02T08:55:21Z")
NO! ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/74 "2011-02-02T11:06:43Z")
> [@rayman5321](#): > > NO! Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/75 "2011-02-02T11:57:34Z")
I just want to say that as a Brit, nominally Christian, pro Israel person, I watch Al Jazeera often and find it fairly unbiased, interesting and very useful. It does a job that other news channels have yet to fulfil. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/76 "2011-02-02T17:40:56Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > I looked at my cable provider (Videotron) and Al Jazeera English is available to digital cable suscribers like me either à la carte, or as part of some of their channel packages, including the “News” package (which is Al Jazeera English, BBC World News, CNBC, HLN, Investigation Discovery and MSNBC). The News package is $7.09/month. > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > One of the points Josh Rushing (Al Jazeera correspondent) made in that talk I watched a couple years back was that the dollar guys at some of the cable providers didn’t even particularly like offering BBC News; they figured that the all-Tractor-Pull channel or whatever would generate more revenue. Around here, you can’t even get BBC America until you get to the fourth tier (after basic, expanded basic and digital basic), a level it shares with Fox Business, the Military Channel, Oprah Winfrey, several ESPN channels and a few others. Don’t forget that cable systems pay networks to carry them. I can imagine a system’s subscribers screaming if their basic cable fees were going to pay for AJ. Why isn’t the OP agitating for many more news sources to be carried? How about the CBC? Israeli TV? I know there’s at least one Japanese news program broadcast in English. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/77 "2011-02-02T18:10:04Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > A disclaimer at the end says that Israel never responded to their requests for access. Its been a while, but IIRC they interviewed some serving Merkava Tankers, including a very pretty female, which is why I remember. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/78 "2011-02-02T18:14:08Z")
While I won’t argue here that the Land of the Free should make its media _less_ free, there is a certain fallacy: > [@jonesj2205](#): > > So they don’t carry it because there isn’t a market for it. But isn’t it possible that part of the reason the market isn’t there, is because few Americans are exposed to Al-Jazeera? I don’t know if foreign movies are generally “better” than American movies, but I enjoy watching them for a change, just because they’re so different from American films. Yet even the best foreign movies can be very hard to find in America whether in theatres, TV, or rental shops. (One of the heights of American hypocrisy was “free trade” negotiations under Clinton which forbade government subsidy of domestic films. The claim was that such subsidies discourage diversity when instead the exact opposite is the case: Filmmakers like Disney already dominate worldwide, so the effect was to increase American dominance, not “diversity.”) ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/79 "2011-02-02T21:07:57Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > The OP is already an extremely rich individual (by his own assertion), That made me snort out my drink! I always assumed the OP was **Curtis Lemay** ’s neighbor down the street. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633/80 "2011-02-02T21:09:33Z")
> [@spark240](#): > > Required? No. > > But it seems clear that there’s a tacit political-religious bias at work. Objectively, Al Jazeera is an _important_ network for world news. It would be entirely sensible and natural for it to be widely available in the United States–except for our fear of Islam. > > So, Americans, _call your television provider_ and tell them that, yes, you would like Al Jazeera to be available. I don’t have a television provider, so I am fine that it already _is_ available widely on the medium I could watch. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-u-s-corporations-be-required-to-carry-al-jazeera/569633.md?page=5)