Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April • Hacker News Board

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#141

Post by hackuser » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 9:59 PM UTC

Cyph0n wrote: post #55

hackuser wrote: post #20

This is too bad. They were one of two sources of serious news on cable TV [1] and their global breath of coverage, including many important, original stories I didn't see elsewhere, was exceptional. I always held my breath a little, expecting some propaganda because Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar, but I never noticed any even in Middle East coverage. That doesn't mean it wasn't there - the point of pr…

They do a good job of separating the regional channels from the main one. AJ English is quite different from AJ Arabic that at times I feel it's a different channel entirely. However as an Arab Muslim my goto is AJ Arabic as it focuses on the region and I feel covers important events and causes. It's documentaries and investigative pieces are awesome as well.

> AJ English is quite different from AJ Arabic that at times I feel it's a different channel entirely.

I'd be very interested to know about AJ Arabic (and I don't speak Arabic at all). If you don't mind sharing a little more: How does it differ from AJ English?

Also, maybe 15 years ago I'd hear how AJ Arabic was the only real journalism in the Arab world and a force for democracy and reform. Was that your experience? Is it still?

Finally, how and how much does AJ Arabic serve Qatar's rulers' interests? How much better or worse is it than the other government sponsored competitors (e.g., I seem to remember Saudi Arabia runs one, and of course there is the BBC).

The best coverage I've found, in English, of the Middle East is Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, both from Israel. I know people may assume they would follow the Israeli government line but I haven't noticed it in the journalism which reports much that challenges the government, including abuse of Palestinians (maybe in the editorials support the government but I don't read them, and Haaretz is against Netanyahu). They cover important stories I don't see in AJ English and cover other stories better - though I read all three anyway.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#142

Post by arprocter » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 9:59 PM UTC

gardano wrote: post #60

afshin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a strong opinion about your larger point. It might be correct, I'm still thinking it through. But the Chevy Nova thing is an urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/business/misxlate/nova.asp

This might be an urban myth; however, when we were travelling in Europe a few years ago, my Argentine wife just laughed and laughed when she saw a car "Pajero", which in Argentina means "wanker"…

Toyota renamed the MR2 in France because 'MR deux' sounds like 'merde'

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#143

Post by moo » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:01 PM UTC

hackuser wrote: post #32

andrewclunn wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Moving away from service chord cutters at this point was just odd. Embracing alternative media has done wonders for outlets like Russia Today (Though that's state sponsored so it might not be the best comparison).

> Russia Today (Though that's state sponsored so it might not be the best comparison) Al Jazeera is owned by the government of Qatar. However, I agree with you that it's not a good comparision. BBC also is state sponsored, but generally considered to be trustworthy. RT is propaganda run by a government that has propaganda as its modus operendi; I wouldn't trust their weather reports.

If Western media could not stop the WMD lie, what are they good for? You can find BBC fabrication in faked Madaya media images [1], or see bad stage acting used in BBC Panorama 'Saving Syria's Children.' [2]

[1] https://thewallwillfall.wordpress.com/2016/01/11/madaya-bbc-...

[2] https://bbcpanoramasavingsyriaschildren.wordpress.com/

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#144

Post by smt88 » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:07 PM UTC

No1 wrote: post #120

brightball wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever people talk about the money in college football right now, I generally tell them to blame Tivo (and subsequently Netflix). Tivo started it with the ability to record and watch later while fast forwarding through commercials. Netflix with it's mountains of commercial free content followed next. That put a huge advertising premium on content that people NEED to watch live like sports or hit shows like Walking…

> It's just a question of scalability that gets complicated if millions of people all want to watch the same thing at the exact same time. That's a nice use case for multicast. Worked for me over a decade ago. I can only assume the technology has gotten better since.

The number of people and expected video quality have also increased

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#145

Post by slg » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:08 PM UTC

aaronkrolik wrote: post #138

>And Al Jazeera America has not been free of controversy in recent months. In November, the news station’s general counsel, David W. Harleston, was suspended following a report in The New York Times that he did not appear to be licensed to practice law. In late December, Al Jazeera aired an hourlong documentary that linked some of the biggest stars in Major League Baseball and the National Football League to performa…

I surprised their is no discussion of that here. It might not be the most important story Al Jazeera had broken, but it was their biggest pop culture story in a country that often puts a huge pop culture emphasis on their news. The story has been mostly ignored by the mainstream American media and the people accused were more aggressive in their responses than similar athletes have been after similar reports. I can't remember the last time a news organization was immediately sued for libel after these type of accusations.

If you are being critical of Al Jazeera, it was a shoddy reporting job and didn't merit being published. If you are being generous, it shows they have almost no impact on American news cycles. Either way, the response wasn't good news for Al Jazeera.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#146

Post by wnevets » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:11 PM UTC

drjesusphd wrote: post #121

wnevets wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like you're just more tolerate to their brand of bias.

He/she was challenging your assertion that they are not respectable, not claiming that they lack bias. These are very different things and you're attacking a strawman.

He/she is comparing them to other major networks and claiming they were better. I'm disagreeing with that assertion.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#147

Post by jgh » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:16 PM UTC

sp332 wrote: post #35

I thought the coverage was pretty crummy, back when it had just launched which was the last time I looked at it. Hopefully we'll get access to Al Jazeera English videos back when AJA goes away! Edit: Why is this off the front page already?

Is there any indication we will? I really hope so! I enjoyed the AJE content and thought AJA was pretty terrible. It really sucked that they cut off people in the USA from watching AJE everywhere.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#148

Post by 13thLetter » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:21 PM UTC

hackuser wrote: post #137

13thLetter wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not so much that the news is a government mouthpiece, more that each network tends to report the news in a fashion that supports its political views: CNN, MSNBC, and the traditional alphabet networks on the left, Fox News on the right. (And, of course, these are American definitions of left and right, so feel free to map them to your nation of origin however you please.) If the network is simpatico to the party…

> CNN, MSNBC, and the traditional alphabet networks on the left An important point, I think: The propagandists, most prominently today the News Corp outlets such as Fox and the WSJ, want to portray the whole world as ideologically driven. It innoculates their followers against anything anyone else can say (e.g., 'it's all left-wing propaganda, don't even bother') and justifies their own propaganda. But everyone is no…

Eh, for one thing, ideology in journalism can be just as much what you choose to report on as how you report on it. You could find right-wingers who will complain at you all day about how CNN/NBC/whoever spend virtually no time reporting on things which make the current Administration look bad and lots of time reporting on things which make their opponents look bad, and it'll be hard to say they're wrong.

I doubt it's possible for the news to be truly non-ideological for this, and many other, reasons. The best one can hope for is a news organization that is a) straightforward and open about its political viewpoint and b) reports in a sober and accurate manner with a minimum of flinging partisan red meat around. There are a fair number of American news sources that are a), but b) is much harder to come by, especially on television. Given this, I can understand why some Americans flock to the BBC or Al Jazeera or whoever, even if I personally despise their editorial positions.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#149

Post by tedks » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:24 PM UTC

hackuser wrote: post #131

Someone1234 wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to be clear I never said RT wasn't a government mouthpiece. I said that some US news is "as bad as" them. I have no idea how exactly it works with CBS/NBC/60 minutes. Does the US government literally write the words? Do they just dictate what they should report on? Do they send them pre-produced bottled reports? It is unclear, but what is clear is the ultimate result: pure dripping pro-US government propaganda o…

> Does the US government literally write the words? Do they just dictate what they should report on? Do they send them pre-produced bottled reports? It is unclear, but what is clear is the ultimate result: pure dripping pro-US government propaganda of the worst kind. They often attack and upset the government, including leaking government secrets and sometimes getting prosecuted for it. I don't think it's at all comp…

When was the last time NBC, CNN, Fox, or CBS leaked government secrets?

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#150

Post by electricblue » Wed, Jan 13, 2016, 10:25 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #93

learc83 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think we are watching the same news at all. CBS and NBC regularly have reports that the government would stop if they could. >I said that some US news is "as bad as" them. I've seen plenty of reports on NBC or CBS criticizing Obama (or Bush before him), have you ever seen a report that was critical of Putin on RT? How would this even work. Do they switch stories depending on who is in power?

> have you ever seen a report that was critical of Putin on RT? Yes. Additionally I didn't say Obama was running anything, I was more thinking the DoD. They likely fund, produce, or have produced specific bottled segments. Which isn't to say they have direct editorial control, just that propaganda is a common sight on US TVs. Plus I can back up what I am saying, here's a program from 2002: https://en.wikipedia.org/wi…

The US isn't run by an autocracy so there are competing interests in the government. It doesn't make sense to claim they are being controlled by the government, because they wouldn't agree with each other on what should be said. That said, there's definitely an implicit bias that America is right and North Korea/Iran/Russia etc are wrong but that's a nationwide problem, hardly evidence of some mass conspiracy.