Good. I like Al Jazeera, they cover a lot more news than American channels:
Al Jazeera on Wednesday completed a deal to take over Current TV, the low-rated cable channel that was founded by Al Gore and his business partners seven years ago.
Current will provide the pan-Arab news giant with something it has sought for years: a pathway into American living rooms. Current is available in about 60 million of the 100 million homes in the United States with cable or satellite service.
Rather than simply use Current to distribute its English-language channel, called Al Jazeera English and based in Doha, Qatar, Al Jazeera will create a new channel, called Al Jazeera America, based in New York. Roughly 60 percent of the programming will be produced in the United States, while the remaining 40 percent will come from Al Jazeera English.
Al Jazeera may absorb some Current TV staff members, according to people with knowledge of the deal who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But Current’s schedule of shows will most likely be dissolved in the spring.
Looking at my above comment in moderation view, I guess my blockquotes didn’t work. The entire second paragraph is a quote from the linked article.
(Trying a failed comment again without some of the coding, please erase if duplicated)
It always disturbs that most seem to have no clue of Dianne Feinstein’s Husband Dick Blum’s enormous investment in Current TV – it certainly was omitted in the Al Jazeera piece – just like people seem to forget how tightly aligned Al was with Lieberman. …Yup, Al was/is surrounded by Robber Barons and HAWKS.
”Indeed, perhaps the least publicized aspect of the Gore-Hyatt venture is where the money has come from. Securities and Exchange Commission records and other public documents suggest that a big chunk of the funding for INdTV is being supplied, at least indirectly, by ordinary Californians who probably have no idea that they are invested in the former vice president’s next career move. That’s because two of the six “beneficial owners” listed in documents filed with the SEC are private equity funds controlled by the Burkle and Blum firms, respectively. And each of those funds is slated to receive huge investments from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, a $160 billion public pension fund controlled by Democratic officials whose party and campaigns have been supported by huge contributions from Burkle and Blum [Senator Feinstein’s Robber Baron, UC Regent Husband]. ”
(Link: http://www.sfweekly.com/2004-07-28/news/looking-inside-indtv/ )
Given that Al Jazeera is owned by the Qatar ‘government’ (a ‘Traditional Monarchy,’ ruled solely by one stunningly wealthy family), I doubt the new overseers will be any less Robber Baronish and Hawkish, at the end of the day, than Al Gore ( http://www.fastcompany.com/node/60067/print ,’fa$t’ company indeed) and Senators DiFi[Blum] and Lieberman are.
Yah, except that Time Warner Cable just dropped them. We can’t have real news reaching an American audience.
Time Warner Cable in NYC pulled the plug on Current TV about 10 minutes into Eliot Spitzer’s program last night. I was watching Spitzer on Comcast here when a friend in Manhattan phoned to say the program suddenly switched to a card saying “no longer available.” Class act, TWC.
BTW — Spitzer’s show was consistently interesting. Much better than Olbermann, whom he replaced on the schedule. Just my opinion, of course.
Al Jazeera covered the Egyptian uprising quite well, but it clearly took sides in Libya and now has again in Syria. It seems to have become much more under control of the government’s (the emir’s?) control now.
I see this as a big loss to US information.
Big loss. (Not that I could get Current, but I could read about it and at least it was covering issues which are important to the likes of us here on the lonely left….)
The corporate media is freightened to death by Al Jazeera. An informed public will bring this whole charade of a country to its knees. Way to go Mr. Gore! We all knew that you’d eventually exact your revenge from the 1% for the 2000 election results.
Al Jazeera may absorb some Current TV staff members, according to people with knowledge of the deal who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. But Current’s schedule of shows will most likely be dissolved in the spring.
In other words, Al Jazeera didn’t buy the Current TV organization, it merely bought its bandwidth. How is this broadening our available information? It’s just a substitution.