Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau • Hacker News Board

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#21

Post by enry_straker » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 1:24 PM UTC

dfaasdfasdf wrote: post #15

hasenj wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Have you seen any criticism of the Iran or Syrian regimes on al-J? Have you seen any criticism of Hamas or Hezbollah? All the time. > Are these guys really beyond reproach? What? Have you seen anything of Al Jazeera? probably not. Now, does any western media channel regularly host speakers from Hamas? I doubt it. Al-Jazeera always interviews people from the Israeli side (and they get a lot of heat for it).

> Have you seen anything of Al Jazeera? probably not. Please do not make any assumptions about me, I have seen plenty. For example, when al-J threw a birthday party to Samir Kuntar and called him a hero. Samir Kuntar is a guy who was doing time in Israel for killing a 4-year old girl by bashing her head with a rock. > Al-Jazeera always interviews people from the Israeli side (and they get a lot of heat for it). You'r…

True.

How can you compare a nation and it's minions who are conducting a terrible subjugation of an entire group of people who made the mistake of being born there.

Silly.

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#22

Post by redthrowaway » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 1:41 PM UTC

tybris wrote: post #10

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

> where free speech isn't a concept rooted in law. Actually, it all makes sense now. In the West we're used to having free speech as a given right. We don't do much to protect, expand, or enhance it.

More to the point, it's actively abused. You can't say people aren't allowed to lie, so they can heavily editorialize or even outright fabricate and still call it news. Because the average person watches the news to be told, not to think, networks that do as above in a way that reinforces people's preconceived notions are rewarded with viewership. In an effort to regain viewers, the so-called "legitimate" networks resort to cheap gimmicks and demagoguery of their own, and the actual news gets lost in the scuffle.

One of the best parts about having an independent public broadcaster is that they aren't slaves to viewership, and by association ads. BBC, CBC, NPR, PBS... all have quality news programs. CNN, Fox, MSNBC... not so much.

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#23

Post by c3o » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 1:49 PM UTC

hasenj wrote: post #16

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

> I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. "pure nonsense" is exactly what it is :) The only reason it seems that way from the western perspective is because: 1) They interview Islamist figures 2) They don't portray them as evil But they also interview people from every color of the political spectrum. > g…

"When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It's the truth." – Steve Jobs in WIRED magazine, February 1996

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#24

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:03 PM UTC

hasenj wrote: post #16

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

> I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. "pure nonsense" is exactly what it is :) The only reason it seems that way from the western perspective is because: 1) They interview Islamist figures 2) They don't portray them as evil But they also interview people from every color of the political spectrum. > g…

[deleted]

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#25

Post by hasenj » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:05 PM UTC

c3o wrote: post #23

hasenj wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. "pure nonsense" is exactly what it is :) The only reason it seems that way from the western perspective is because: 1) They interview Islamist figures 2) They don't portray them as evil But they also interview people from every color of the political spectrum. > g…

"When you're young, you look at television and think, There's a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that's not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That's a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give peo…

That describes my experience perfectly!

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#26

Post by srean » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:12 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #20

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

Saying that US Networks do a poor job of reporting because their coverage sucks is exactly like saying that Wal-Mart does a poor job of retailing because they sell plastic junk. It's what the people want.

http://www.relfe.com/media_can_legally_lie.html and apparently legal as well.

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#27

Post by joubert » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:15 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #20

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

Saying that US Networks do a poor job of reporting because their coverage sucks is exactly like saying that Wal-Mart does a poor job of retailing because they sell plastic junk. It's what the people want.

To some extent. But "news coverage" can, and is, also slanted by many networks to shape and promote specific behavior and knowledge amongst it's viewers, without them necessarily being aware of that. There is perhaps a deeper evolutionary reason for viewers to crave information of a certain color, but the producers also cleverly manipulate.

One could perhaps argue that "reporting" sucks in inverse proportion to it's objectivity, completeness, and emotional neutrality.

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#28

Post by jacquesm » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:29 PM UTC

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

Being impartial means that everybody hates your guts equally.

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#29

Post by Vivtek » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:35 PM UTC

tybris wrote: post #10

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

> where free speech isn't a concept rooted in law. Actually, it all makes sense now. In the West we're used to having free speech as a given right. We don't do much to protect, expand, or enhance it.

Worse than that: the assumption is that since free speech is a given right, whatever we've got must be the maximally free speech available.

Re: Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau

#30

Post by hasenj » Sun, Jan 30, 2011, 2:45 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #20

yequalsx wrote: post #5

I guess this is a ringing endorsement of Al Jazeera. It's the network the dictators fear. I can see some people saying they are being shut down because they are supporters of radical Islam but from what I've seen of them this is pure nonsense. It's nice to have a news network that doesn't suck so bad. It's shocking that this network does better (in my opinion) at news reporting than American news networks given that…

Saying that US Networks do a poor job of reporting because their coverage sucks is exactly like saying that Wal-Mart does a poor job of retailing because they sell plastic junk. It's what the people want.

Journalism is not about satisfying consumer demands; it's about getting the truth out.

Or at least that's what I like to think.