Al Jazeera - the tide is turning

my first real exposure to al jazeera came in afghanistan when it was offered as one of several global news networks - cnn international, bbc world, france 24 - that were carried on the satellite service that provided tv access in the guest house where i was staying... watching al jazeera opened my eyes... they seemed intent on providing truly global coverage and did so at a level of quality and depth that i had not experienced on other global networks and especially not on u.s. domestic services... now it seems as though al jazeera might be close to getting the kind of respect in the united states that has been a long time coming... maybe the respect will be backed up by having some u.s. television cable and satellite providers making it more widely available...

jeremy scahill writing in the nation...

If it weren't for Al Jazeera, much of the unfolding Egyptian revolution would never have been televised. Its Arabic and English language channels have provided the most comprehensive coverage of any network in any language hands-down. Despite the Mubarak regime's attempts to shut it down, Al Jazeera's brave reporters and camera crews have persevered. Six Al Jazeera journalists were detained briefly on Monday, their equipment seized. The US responded swiftly to their detention with the State Department calling for their release. "We are concerned by the shutdown of Al Jazeera in Egypt and arrest of its correspondents," State Department spokesperson PJ Crowley tweeted. "Egypt must be open and the reporters released."

The Obama White House has been intently monitoring al Jazeera's coverage of the Egyptian revolt. The network, already famous worldwide, is now a household name in the US. Thousands of Americans—many of whom likely had never watched the network before—are livestreaming Al Jazeera on the internet and over their phones. With a handful of exceptions, most US cities and states have no channel that broadcasts Al Jazeera. That's because cowardly US cable providers refuse to grant the channel a distribution platform, largely for fear of being perceived as supporting or enabling a network that for years has been portrayed negatively by US officials.

For people who have followed Al Jazeera's history with the US, the fact that it is now perceived by the White House and the American public as a force for democracy and freedom is an ironic, some would say hypocritical, development. The contrast between Washington's posture toward Al Jazeera from the Bush era to the Obama presidency could not be more stark.

as i mentioned in an earlier post, i've been watching al jazeera's livestreaming from egypt and it's been uniformly superb...

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