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US Should Tune In to Al Jazeera

English-language network affords a close-up view of our own loss of influence

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 12, 2007 9:56 PM CST
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(Newser) – Year-old Al Jazeera English is only in a handful of US markets—a fact that “amounts to self-destructive blindness,” says the Times’ Roger Cohen. By not watching the channel Donald Rumsfeld called “vicious, inaccurate, and inexcusable,” we damage our chances in the war of ideas—because we don’t know what the world is thinking.

Al Jazeera’s broadcasts reveal the “solidification of anti-Americanism,” which we can dangerously shrug off or pay attention to and get a sobering lesson, Cohen writes. But though the station’s attempt at balanced reporting “seems genuine,” most US cable companies are declining to air the network—efforts one cable exec calls "neo-McCarthyism."

This image from video released by IntelCenter on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 shows a photo of Osama bin Laden as part of an audiotaped speech calling for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive extremism, apparently intended to win over Sunnis opposed to al-Qaida's branch in Iraq. The audio, of...
This image from video released by IntelCenter on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2007 shows a photo of Osama bin Laden as part of an audiotaped speech calling for Iraqi insurgents to unite and avoid divisive "extremism,"...   (Associated Press)
In this photo released by Al-Jazeera, television presenters Dave Marash and Ghida Fakhry, right, are seen in the channel's Washington D.C. broadcast center in Washington, USA Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006. Nearly six months after its debut, Al-Jazeera's English language television has gained strong viewership across Europe and in parts...
In this photo released by Al-Jazeera, television presenters Dave Marash and Ghida Fakhry, right, are seen in the channel's Washington D.C. broadcast center in Washington, USA Thursday, Sept. 28, 2006....   (Associated Press)
The editing booth for al-Jazeera English
The editing booth for al-Jazeera English   (Getty Images)
Al-Jazeera's English channel presenters
Al-Jazeera's English channel presenters   (Getty Images)
Anchors Dave Marash and Ghida Fakhry, right, al Jazeera's Washington DC broadcast center Monday, Sept. 25, 2006. Nearly a year after its debut, Al-Jazeera's English language television has gained strong viewership across Europe and in parts of Asia, Australia and even in Israel, according to station executives, but no major...
Anchors Dave Marash and Ghida Fakhry, right, al Jazeera's Washington DC broadcast center Monday, Sept. 25, 2006. Nearly a year after its debut, Al-Jazeera's English language television has gained strong...   (Associated Press)
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Angered blogger points out some Cohen oversights, says writer 'should be ashamed'
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Donald Rumsfeld • Toledo, Ohio • Burlington, Vermont • war of ideas • al-Jazeera

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