+3 votes
145 views
in News & Informations ⌨ by

I have always assumed Al Jazeera was not a quality news source because it has been so controversial. But then the other day, Dan posted three Al Jazeera videos about Venezuela and they were wonderful, I felt I learned a great deal from them! Truthfully, the coverage was more in-depth than the video I found from BBC...

So I went to Wikipedia and learned that although owned by the government of Qatar, Al Jazeera is not funded by the government. Anyway I may subscribe to their YouTube channel, and just wondering what experience you have of their news coverage?

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4 Answers

+3 votes
by

Um... well, I must admit that I did not go out of my way to watch al-Jazeera since I saw this interview years ago.  :ermm:


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Thanks, Tink! I wish there were more followup on this clip, I can think of/imagine various ramifications...:unsure:

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I also recall that Al Gore sold his failing cable network to al-Jazeera, but then sued them for not paying in full.  :D

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28812885

It seems not to have turned out well for al-Jazeera, but here is an opinion piece that thinks al-Jazeera was trying to sell honest, straight news, and that that was the cause of its downfall on American cable TV.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/01/14/this-is-what-doomed-al-jazeera-america/?utm_term=.9ea65ade8bf7

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Tink, I cannot fully open the Washington Post article, but I think I saw some of what they were trying to say...thank you...it's almost a refreshing change! :silly:

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Basically, the columnist was claiming that al-Jazeera was TOO straight in its news reporting, but that the US cable market had transitioned away from straight journalism to slanted opinion, as on MSNBC, Fox, CNN.

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Well that is rather discouraging! Yes I was able to read bits and snatches of that, but could hardly believe what I was seeing!

How do YOU get your news? Is it just going to lots of different sources, with a skeptical eye toward them all?

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Yes, Virginia, I look at a lot of sources, particularly with an eye to seeing what may have been left out.  Fake news stories are generally not whole-cloth fabrications (although some have been), but rather leave out certain facts, in order to give readers the impression the writer wants to instill.

This is particularly true of headlines, which, as the writers know perfectly well, is all that many people will read. Sometimes I find information towards the end of the article that negates or strongly modifies the impression made by the headline.  It's similar in purpose and effect as when a newspaper retracts a false/erroneous front-page story; the retraction, of course, appears on p. 57.  :D

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Hmmm...there is an art to reading news, I am seeing...flags go up for me when I see terms like "Mafia-style," or something on the order of "Nazi-like," but have not looked for the 'whole-cloth' aspect.

btw, I have noticed that the "18 school shootings" has been dutifully repeated in several areas, well-meaning I know but, well, far too trusting of MSM? :sick: Shame on MSM!

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Yes, Virginia, that "18 school shootings" is an excellent example of a misleading story.

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O'Tink...do you think this is an example also of overly liberal media trying to promote a gun-control agenda? As an avid gun-lover, appreciative of their beauty, I still think the NRA for example is WAY off in the other direction...but apparently you cannot trust ANY of them?

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Yes, Virginia, I think it is an example of the MSM's agenda.

The difference between the NRA and the MSM is that the former is a special-interest group with a well-defined agenda.  The MSM, on the other hand, pretends to be neutral journalism, which it clearly is not, in my opinion.

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That is a  useful assessment, O'Tink! (i.e., the difference between NRA and MSM.)

+4 votes
by

I don't watch Al Jazeera. I don't know what to say about it. I don't have a satelite TV. I also don't have a cable TV. I can watch only Serbian TVs and Romanian state television TVR. Twenty years ago, some Serbian televisions transmitted some Western televisions for children and I watched them.

Television can be used for propaganda. It transmits certain opinions as truth. 

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But you can watch them on Youtube and on the internet (if you are interested).

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Thank you Kninjanin, that is interesting!

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OK! I will look it. 

+3 votes
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To be honest? I've never watched it. I haven't seen it offered in my Dish package, so I've only gotten bits and pieces here and there.

+2 votes
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I don't receive this channel, but heard a lot about it, its popularity and its positive and negative aspects. 

As usual, I am referring to Wikipedia and their references:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jazeera

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