OK, this might actually work for us
I read today that Al-Jazeera, the Mideastern news channel is launching an english language channel. On the surface of things, my first reaction is "great, just what we need", but after a few moments of thought I came to the conclusion that this may actually be a good thing.
First, I confess that I know little of mideastern journalism, how independent it is from the various political or religious factions that dot the media landscape, nor its ideals. It might be beneficial to keep in mind that the standards that they adhere to may not match the standards that we expect journalists to maintain. Truth is, I just don't know. Another potential bias factor is the notion, (that we sometimes ignore), that the mideast is monolithic in thought and ideology. Not particularly true, just as we as a people are all over the political and ideological map. It might be interesting to try to identify the right and left wingers of the Islamic world, then see whose thinking most compliments ours.
Consider the proposition that a vigorous press is both a potent weapon, as well as a heavy anchor. This will impose some accountability to those powers that influence the content of this effort. Is this to be a going concern, or will it be like a high-tech version of the Peoples Daily, the North Korean mouthpiece?
This could benefit us as it can both illuminate a vision of life and opinion in that region, as well as hold the leaders of the nations in the area to a narrower focus of accountability than what they may be used to.
A truly free press is a lot like having a nuclear weapon. It gives its owner a lot of influence, but it also commits those parties to a path that maintains their standing and credibility.
I wish them well, (and hope that this becomes a free cable channel).
First, I confess that I know little of mideastern journalism, how independent it is from the various political or religious factions that dot the media landscape, nor its ideals. It might be beneficial to keep in mind that the standards that they adhere to may not match the standards that we expect journalists to maintain. Truth is, I just don't know. Another potential bias factor is the notion, (that we sometimes ignore), that the mideast is monolithic in thought and ideology. Not particularly true, just as we as a people are all over the political and ideological map. It might be interesting to try to identify the right and left wingers of the Islamic world, then see whose thinking most compliments ours.
Consider the proposition that a vigorous press is both a potent weapon, as well as a heavy anchor. This will impose some accountability to those powers that influence the content of this effort. Is this to be a going concern, or will it be like a high-tech version of the Peoples Daily, the North Korean mouthpiece?
This could benefit us as it can both illuminate a vision of life and opinion in that region, as well as hold the leaders of the nations in the area to a narrower focus of accountability than what they may be used to.
A truly free press is a lot like having a nuclear weapon. It gives its owner a lot of influence, but it also commits those parties to a path that maintains their standing and credibility.
I wish them well, (and hope that this becomes a free cable channel).
posted by eccentric recluse at 1:13 PM
8 Comments:
I think that's great. I want to know exactly what they are saying, instead of relying on the spotty and suspect translation from the government.
i think al-jazeera is very similar to the rupert murdoch model, grab attention and make money.
i've already got more channels than brains. bruce springsteen summed it years ago for me, 57 channels and nothing to watch.
It sounds like a good idea to hear other countries' news from their point of view, but to take ALL news agencies with a grain of salt. I suspect bloggers, even human, passionate and imperfect as they are, actually give a better idea of the whole truth. The trick is to try to hear all sides of the story.
English language Mideastern news you say? Okay, as long as it doesn't interrupt my Glenn Beck watching time (snark)
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/11/15/when-is-cnn-gonna-dump-this-guy/
JB
The standards that we expect ? Political, factional influence ? Just flip back and forth between CNN & FoxNews and you'll think you're living in two, different countries.
What they need are blogs, English would be good. The irony here is that "our" blogs are predominately doom & gloom; and ridicule all the economic/industrial/political establishments on which they rely.
Malcontents-R-Us won't be offering affordable computers; or maintaining an internet, any time soon.
you of course are right bh, but what makes you think that these folks are not already using blogs to influence opinion?
I know nothing of the demographics of Iran, Iraq and the other mideast countries, but I suspect that computers and net access are a bit more widespread than we might think from watching the footage that we see on our news networks.
this will be interesting.
I know even less of these Middle Eastern demographics, but I think it's safe to assume that the average resident isn't choosing from hi-speed ISPs @ $14.95/month. That's still a luxury in much of Europe.
Blogs flourish when accessing and even creating them is taken for granted. You can't blog when your subconcsious, "how many minutes do I have left this month" clock is ticking... let alone wondering about who might be monitoring your IP address (oops, that might be happening here).
Funny that we'd be blogging about their ability to blog, based on what our news lets us see, in a blog thread pondering what their news network will become.
(without a good graphics card and monitor (or speakers), they'd not be able to make out today's word verification)
You might be right on that, but I suppose that it remains to be seen.
I am pretty sure that we are going to have a whole lot more of middle-eastern culture to observe, assess, and possibly assimilate. That won't be a bad thing if the culture moves equally in both directions.
Thanks for stopping by!
E_R
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