Aljazeera

[November]

Who watches Aljazera's english language news service?

I do, I think it's top notch, very informative and tells you loads of stuff you don''t get from the likes of the Beeb or C4 news.

But perhaps other people watch it and find the quality of reporting and analysis poor or propagandist?

[danny la rouge]

I don't have access to the TV channel, but I do use the website. It's a news source amongst many.

[November]

Certainly. My OP on the reread comes over abit advert, didn't mean it like that. But I'm on holiday at the moment and after a long day doing holiday stuff, crashed out in front of the guest house telly, flicking through German language channel after German language channel untill finally found AJ international and settled in, every time I've watched it it's been really interesting insightful stuff, like Unreported World at its best.

We get BBC World Service too, and comparing them... one the pitiful exhibit of a Northern European country whinning endlessly about abit of snow (most unimpressed about that here in centralny europe) and the other with interesting reports on th Middle East yes, but also the situation in Sri Lanka, the Australian super-fires, Pakistan etc. All important meaningful stuff, and only th briefest mention of ball-games, nothing about slebs.

Impressed anyway. There are other news sources on the telly and streaming, but I'm not that impressed by em. Recommendations welcome tho (not talking read-news, I mean 24 hour telly/streaming type stuff)

[purplex]

I watch the online version quite often, find it really interesting, with better coverage of news items that are glanced over on british channels.
Theres a link on
www.tvlizer.com

[selamlar]

Its the best of the satelite news channels you can get over here by a long chalk.

[gentlegreen]

I've only got the Arabic feed so I can't comment on the quality of the journalism ...

[derf]

I like it.
Sometimes you have to filter out the bits that are over biased but, in general, I put it around BBC quality and trust it's output.
They have done some outstanding reports on news stories that other stations totally dropped the ball on.

[marty21]

don't get it on my telly, would watch it if i could

[London_Calling]

Old school reporting and journalism. Love it.

Won't go near the BBC News anymore - it was worrying before Hutton but since Hutton it really, sadly, is just a government organ.

[Debord]

I like it and watch it often when im at my mums house, but recently i've started straying to France 24 . There are lots of programs where people just sit around a table being rude and witty to each other....which as my French friend assures me is what French TV is actually like. I like the run you can do on Sky from Sky News to Bloomberg to BBC 24 to CNN , ignore Fox and then Euronews, CCTV (Chinese), the Russian one, France 24, Aljazeera , the Iranian one and then NHK (Japan).

[Debord]

Just remembered I was watching Aljazeera on Christmas Day and the difference between it and the British channels was incredible.They made no real concession to Christmas but then why should they?. They were showing stuff about AIDS and a lepers colony and the Beeb were showing fluffy kittens and newborn babies (slight exaggeration) . It reminded me of how filtered our news is.

[AnnO'Neemus]

Originally Posted by marty21

don't get it on my telly, would watch it if i could

You can:

http://www.livestation.com/aje

And you can also watch loads of other channels there.

[Hocus Eye.]

I second the livestation.com recommendation. I have only recently discovered it and must admit that Aljazeera which comes first on the alphabetical list of stations on there is a breath of fresh air. Livestation also has a chatroom that is quite interesting. I understand that Aljazeera staff had training from BBC staff. Mark Seddon is one of their presenters - he who used to edit Tribune years ago. On Aljazeera I even enjoy the weather forecasts where you get the temperature and rain conditions for the whole world. Aljazeera is a good thing, especially now that the BBC is so cowed by the British government. In any case an international perspective is better than a purely British one.

[8den]

I've freelanced for most major news stations, and always found the time I've worked at Al Jazeera to be some of the most stimulating intelligent news work I've ever done.

[November]

Originally Posted by AnnO'Neemus

You can:

http://www.livestation.com/aje

And you can also watch loads of other channels there.

Thanks for this.

[November]

Originally Posted by 8den

I've freelanced for most major news stations, and always found the time I've worked at Al Jazeera to be some of the most stimulating intelligent news work I've ever done.

I struggled to articulate my thoughts on AJ thismorning when I started the thread, so it's reasuring to find a proffesional news person of some sort agreeing with my whole "Aljazeera is cool, like... really interesting an 'at and not just about snow" sentiments expressed above.

I think I'll hunt out that film Control Room now, I'm interested to see some of what goes on behind the scenes. Specially as (iirc) that documentary was made around the time the US bombed one of their station buildings during the invasion of Iraq. Someone said the Arabic language version of AJ is very different from the english language version... does anyone else think that's true?

[derf]

Over here I keep a very fancy little radio that allows me to listen to news broadcasts from all over the shant.
(Well it does when the fucking Chinese government are playing shitty traditional music to block news from their own people - Bastards)
Anyway the point is I get a rare selection of things to listen to and most are, frankly, shit.
Politically run stations with a one sided point of view that only the terminally indoctrinated would ever believe.
The same goes for TV out here. I have:
RT (USSR - Well wonnabe)
Al Jazeera (Both)
VOA (USA - Now that is some shit TV)
DW TV (germany)
Channel news asia (Sing)
Press TV (Iran)
A raw feed uplink station (Unedited news feed)
And a load of other channels mostly from Arabic countries.

AlJazeera (English) stands apart from the lot. They cover what other miss and do so from both sides of a story. The gaza story did show bias but at the same time the reporting was good.
They grilled the Israeli spokesmen and had a pop at hamas for continued rocket attacks.

[8den]

Originally Posted by November

I struggled to articulate my thoughts on AJ thismorning when I started the thread, so it's reasuring to find a proffesional news person of some sort agreeing with my whole "Aljazeera is cool, like... really interesting an 'at and not just about snow" sentiments expressed above.

Yes. I've just enjoyed working in Al Jazeera, they don't talk down to their audience, they do long laid out pieces, detailing the background, and history of situation. For example there African bureaus are bigger than any other news organisation in the west. Or I was working in AlJ the day Michael Stone attacked the Nth Irl assembly with a grenade. A New York Producer tracked down an American Irish History professor who had written a biography of Stone and did a detailed 15 minute interview laying out the history and background of Stone, and the conflict and the significance of the event.

I think I'll hunt out that film Control Room now, I'm interested to see some of what goes on behind the scenes. Specially as (iirc) that documentary was made around the time the US bombed one of their station buildings during the invasion of Iraq. Someone said the Arabic language version of AJ is very different from the english language version... does anyone else think that's true?

Yes very much so. Al Jazeera Arabic tends to editorialise to a greater degree, its' hard to blame the station for having an "Anti American" Stance, but when your headquarters in Qatar were targeted by the US. Al Jazeera Int. is staffed by mainly UK ex BBC, ITN, and Sky, staff.

[derf]

Originally Posted by 8den

. Or I was working in AlJ the day Michael Stone attacked the Nth Irl assembly with a grenade. A New York Producer tracked down an American Irish History professor who had written a biography of Stone and did a detailed 15 minute interview laying out the history and background of Stone, and the conflict and the significance of the event.

That sounds like the AJ I have come to know over the last 18 months.
Quality reporting and background information at it's best.

[pk]

Originally Posted by 8den

I've freelanced for most major news stations, and always found the time I've worked at Al Jazeera to be some of the most stimulating intelligent news work I've ever done.

Me too, and I would agree.

It shits on the BBC from a great height now, since the Hutton enquiry.

[radiohead]

no option for me so i picked the top one

truth is, watch it very rarely rate it highly

[rhod]

Originally Posted by November

All important meaningful stuff, and only th briefest mention of ball-games, nothing about slebs.

AJ does feature "lighter" stuff, but it still pisses over a lot of the output of other news channels. For example, just watched a very informative edition of "Music of Resistance" featuring excellent Saharan Krautrock band Tinariwen