Should U.S. Corporations be required to carry Al-Jazeera?

[not_alice]

@spark240

I disagreed.
And that’s precisely why I encourage people reading this thread, who might want to watch Al Jazeera sometime, to call their TV providers and say so. And to let their friends know what AJ is really like.

Not having seen it myself, would you describe its programming and any less propaganda or propaganda-ish than any other news station (albeit with different point of view)?

If so, how is it less so?

[not_alice]

@Martin_Hyde

I’d wager in a poll 85-90% of Americans have no idea what Al-Jazeera is.

That does speak to a marketing opportunity though - how hard could it be to start a grassroots campaign from wherever HQ is via fb: 1 million people wanting al jazeera onour cable tv" or something.

[not_alice]

@Lust4Life

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.

Bolding mine.

The next catchphrase for Fox News, no doubt. That is quite an oxymoron with multiple layers!

[not_alice]

@septimus

But isn’t it possible that part of the reason the market isn’t there, is because few Americans are exposed to Al-Jazeera?

No. It is AJ’s business to market itself, not the US government’s, or even cable providers with whom it does not already do business. As I noted above, a small investment in facebook time would increase awareness dramatically, and can be done from anywhere.

Or, to make the OP happy, AJ could outsource that to the US!

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.”)

[hijack]

The market for financing of film is all kinds of fucked up in this country - that is part of my work field.

Briefly, very briefly:

IME, even the scattered tax breaks states and other jurisdictions offer just serve to make the matter worse. Federal tax credits or whatever would muddy the water even more, not the least because the structure of the film business is undergoing extremely rapid change right now. Tax credits suck as a way to attract investors in part because you then end up with a business plan designed to lose money so the tax credits can be assigned, or at least not focused on making money as other entrepreneurial high risk high return ventures take as a starting point.
[/hijack]

[Peremensoe]

Well, I can’t watch it online now. Anyone else notice a problem connecting to AJE servers this morning?