And Now...The News!
This is officially it. The post that is for sure going to get a CIA agent assigned to monitor this blog on a daily basis. Shoot. That's probably the least of my problems, what with all of the domestic spying going on, and such.
Anyway, Al-Jazeera has a very nice English language website now. You can even get an online subscription to their channel so that you can see all of their content. What you probably cannot do, however, is watch it on your television. That's because cable and satellite providers are afraid of the backlash that would ensue if they gave the channel a spot in their lineups. Apparently, people think it is disrespectful and harmful to the USA if this particular station is widely accessible.
Which doesn't make much sense. Look, Al-Jazeera has a slant. But what news station doesn't? I think that the key is that we understand what the slants are and filter accordingly. The worst thing we can do is assume that our news services don't have slants, and then accept everything they say at face value. Different media outlets have different agendas, and those agendas are centered around some combination of money and power.
Even Christian media organizations. Money and power.
And to this whole point that AJ would be bad for US society...Really???? Worse than 99% of news in the US? When major news stations stop mentioning that Paris woman and incessantly running talk shows where hosts bait guests into saying things that allow the host to rip them three separate ways, I'll buy that argument. Until then, I will contend that watching news on TV from US media outlets actually makes me dumber. AJ's website will be in my regular rotation, though I plan on lobbying my satellite company to pick it up. I'll keep with BBC News (now expanding to one hour), Jim Lehrer and Washington Week in Review.
Fair Dinkum
Anyway, Al-Jazeera has a very nice English language website now. You can even get an online subscription to their channel so that you can see all of their content. What you probably cannot do, however, is watch it on your television. That's because cable and satellite providers are afraid of the backlash that would ensue if they gave the channel a spot in their lineups. Apparently, people think it is disrespectful and harmful to the USA if this particular station is widely accessible.
Which doesn't make much sense. Look, Al-Jazeera has a slant. But what news station doesn't? I think that the key is that we understand what the slants are and filter accordingly. The worst thing we can do is assume that our news services don't have slants, and then accept everything they say at face value. Different media outlets have different agendas, and those agendas are centered around some combination of money and power.
Even Christian media organizations. Money and power.
And to this whole point that AJ would be bad for US society...Really???? Worse than 99% of news in the US? When major news stations stop mentioning that Paris woman and incessantly running talk shows where hosts bait guests into saying things that allow the host to rip them three separate ways, I'll buy that argument. Until then, I will contend that watching news on TV from US media outlets actually makes me dumber. AJ's website will be in my regular rotation, though I plan on lobbying my satellite company to pick it up. I'll keep with BBC News (now expanding to one hour), Jim Lehrer and Washington Week in Review.
Fair Dinkum