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Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

nytimes.com

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Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#181

Post by ZenoArrow »

KineticLensman wrote: post #127
hackuser wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> BBC also is state sponsored, but generally considered to be trustworthy. Brit here: The BBC is state-funded, but it's output is not state-driven. The news team (IMHO) generally takes an editorial view that is to the left of the current Tory government. For once I think the BBC is to the right of the current Labour opposition, whose new leadership is the furthest left it has been for a generation. And perhaps worryi…

> "worryingly non-electable"

I find it baffling that people still believe this rhetoric, especially after Corbyn winning the Labour leadership election by a huge margin. The whole 'unelectable' thing certainly gets repeated enough in the media, but I'd hoped more people would've seen through the concerted effort to attack him by now.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#182

Post by stvswn »

huac wrote: post #83
yellowstuff wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know a good way to prove that US media is not a government mouthpiece, but I don't think there is much evidence to support such a strong claim, whereas it is pretty easy to argue that RT is a government mouthpiece. EG: http://www.spectator.co.uk/2014/12/the-truth-about-russia-to...

There's pretty good evidence that lots of American media outlets are government mouthpieces - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent for example

That book argues that mass media are biased because they are beholden to for-profit corporations, advertisers, and large-entity sourcing. I didn't read it, that's just in the outline that's in the link you provided.

I think Noam would prefer if they were government mouthpieces instead of corporate mouthpieces, as he's socialist.

Regardless, I don't think "Noam Chomsky wrote a book" is an argument with evidence. It's rather an appeal to authority. But if it were, the book should actually be about the argument you're making.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#183

Post by jessaustin »

brightball wrote: post #86
rogerbinns wrote: post #7

The article did not mention Al Jazeera deciding to remove their Internet streaming, and requiring that you can only view via your local cable provider. See this page with the big note to US people: http://www.aljazeera.com/watch_now/201146152255537258.html I used to check in on their coverage on the Roku channel, but they made a business decision to prevent that. I can understand their decision to make their success…

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…

Whenever people talk about the money in college football right now, I generally tell them to blame Tivo...

Surely at least some of the blame can be shared with the total abdication of the educational mission on the part of thousands of university administrators. The athletic tail has been wagging the academic dog for decades longer than Tivo has been around.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#185

Post by stvswn »

abalone wrote: post #115
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?

There is a saying.. We in the USA have one party, the Business Party, with two right wings. The Democrat-Republican spectrum spans the spectrum of opinion that is fundable by the business community. There is plenty of vigorous debate within that spectrum. But money wins elections and funds advertising-dependent media, so that's how non business friendly perspectives get filtered out. It's not a conspiracy, it's more…

If money wins elections, can you explain why Jeb Bush isn't polling first in the Republican primary process right now? Can you also explain why Bernie Sanders is within single digits of Clinton nationally, and beating her in Iowa and New Hampshire? You'd expect that the candidates who spend the most (and represent the monied establishment) would do the best, right? Is it possible that there are other forces at play (for instance, popular opinion?)

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#186

Post by Rayearth »

jgh wrote: post #147
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.

Indeed, I was a little surprised that AJA was both a thing at all and also a thing completely different from AJE. I first discovered AJE while living abroad in a place where the only english news channels were CNN, BBC and AJE, and my impression was that AJE was worthy to stand alongside the other two channels.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#187

Post by rayiner »

Someone1234 wrote: post #67
hackuser wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

> RT is propaganda run by a government that has propaganda as its modus operendi; I wouldn't trust their weather reports. So like NBC nightly news? The US is full of what can only be described as US government propaganda, 60 minutes is a prime example. CBS and NBC are no better than RT unfortunately, they just often tell Americans what they want to hear so nobody bats an eyelid. AJ and BBC have their biases but at le…

What is propaganda about NBA nightly news or 60 minutes, something that isn't better explained by those shows catering to the values and preconceptions of their viewers?

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#188

Post by stvswn »

ck2 wrote: post #52

Every time there is news somehow connected to Gore, I can't help but think somewhere in a parallel universe, the supreme court stayed out of election politics, didn't hand the election to Bush instead of Gore then 9/11 never happened the following year because he actually paid attention to the memo about "Bin Laden determined to strike in US" - then Iraq was never invaded - then the TSA was never created - Gitmo wasn…

They'd have evacuated New Orleans before Katrina hit. They wouldn't have canceled Firefly. Steven Avery wouldn't have been convicted. Imagine.

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#189

Post by xufi »

I actually liked AJ to watch besides watching RT a change of the mainstream media news sources, sad to see them go. They were like the BBC but had reporting from more places that even typical alternative news channesl dont spend time on. They also had great documentaries from time to time.

Wonder if they'll ever come back perhaps in a different form

Re: Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April

#190

Post by huac »

stvswn wrote: post #182
huac wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's pretty good evidence that lots of American media outlets are government mouthpieces - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent for example

That book argues that mass media are biased because they are beholden to for-profit corporations, advertisers, and large-entity sourcing. I didn't read it, that's just in the outline that's in the link you provided. I think Noam would prefer if they were government mouthpieces instead of corporate mouthpieces, as he's socialist. Regardless, I don't think "Noam Chomsky wrote a book" is an argument with evidence. It's…

The book is about the argument. One example from the book is the 1984 Nicaraguan general election (Wikipedia notes this), where US media sources took the White House press secretary's words as gospel, ignoring the atrocities on the ground.

Also, thinking that socialists are willing to blindly trust government sources is pretty wrong as well. Far left and far right both share a distrust of the state.

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