If you’ve been reading my material, I think you know that I am not too impressed by the mainstream news channels. Increasingly, we see news as entertainment, and the notion of news “stories” being just that; stories FIRST - stories that fascinate, intrigue, titillate, and arouse curiosity - and news only as a poor second. Competition between channels increasingly brings the entertainment element to the fore, and truthful reporting to the rear.


Well, I am happy to say that all that has finally changed for the better!

There IS a channel that I can recommend, and that I believe does deliver the goods in reporting things around the world that really matter, and that strives to do so in an honest way.

Although, this channel has been around for years, it has not had very good press, and has not even been available in English. Hence, we have not really had the chance to get an unbiased opinion of it by watching it ourselves.

So who am I talking about?…..

The new Al-Jazeera in English!

It only started up a few months ago, but I have to say that I am totally impressed.

It comes out of Doha, London and Washington, and it looks as if the parent station have spent billions on setting up this brave new venture.

Perhaps it is because this is the first English-speaking news channel to be outside of the US/UK propaganda nexus that we finally get to hear what is REALLY going on in places like Israel, Iraq, Iran and the like. Perhaps it is because Al-Jazeera is an Arab channel that we finally get to hear what the people of the Middle East REALLY think.

For example, you don’t just get the usual baloney labelling of people whose grievances we don’t understand as “terrorists”. Instead, you might actually find the grievances of some of these people being honestly discussed. Al-Jazeera does not just spoon-feed you the party line of propaganda, by treating the issues ridiculously simplistically, as is often the case elsewhere.

Instead, they make a real effort to connect with the complexity of each issue they discuss. That’s why you will hear opinions expressed that you just won’t get elsewhere. Other English new channels have too many interests to protect, i.e. toe the party line etc., to ever dare to break new ground in honesty.

In fact, it’s precisely because Al-Jazeera is (a) Arabic and (b) does NOT possess the in-built bias of the US/UK nexus of English channels, that they are actually trusted to report in some places that are off-limits to the rest.

It’s not all Middle East coverage. They have many quality documentaries from all parts of the world, and excellent interview programs (President Jimmy Carter and Jesse Jackson have been on).

They’ve got Riz Khan (can’t remember where he came from, but it was a big news channel), who always hosts a fascinating mixture of interview and viewer Q%A. then, there’s the UK’s legendary David Frost. The fact that he’s moved to Al-Jazeera is a major statement.

However, it goes beyond that. They try to report REAL news; things that matter, or SHOULD matter, to intelligent educated people.

Hence, if you are more interested in knowing the latest on missing blonde teenagers in Aruba, or Britney Spear’s latest haircut, or where Anna Nicole Smith gets to be buried and by whose permission…. well, you KNOW where to go for that. Al Jazeera is NOT for you!

Anyway, last time I heard, Al-Jazeera in English was not actually available anywhere in the USA. THAT in itself is a pretty telling statement, for the so-called Land Of The Free. Hopefully, that will change soon.

You can still get to see it at:

http://www.aljazeera.net/English

There is a free service there, as well as a paid broadband version. Frankly, it IS worth paying for if you are in the US and cannot get it any other way. I think you will find it a breath of fresh air compared to the rest that are out there.

It’s not that ALL other English news channels are bad. It’s just that they have a huge inherent (and often invisible) bias in them when it comes to reporting international news. Hence, “the truth” is almost impossible (and that’s before we even get into the issue of them running “stories” that are more for entertainment than actual news value, just to stay up in the ratings).

Let us not forget that both the US and the UK and the primary CAUSES of many of the worst problems we see in the world today. I am NOT talking about just the last six years either. Check your history, people, going back the last hundred years or more! Interestingly though, you will NEVER find the US/UK news channels ever pointing the finger down at the ground upon which they are walking.

Check out Al-Jazeera. If you have an open mind, and a functional brain, I think you’ll be very impressed.

Copyright 2007. Asoka Selvarajah. All Rights Reserved.