FOLLOW US ON:
GET THE NEWSLETTER
CONTACT US
Al-Jazeera on the rise: Bloggingheads investigates

image
Shiulie Ghosh and Sami Zeidan present the first program on Al-Jazeera English, which premiered in November 2006
 

The Arab revolts of the past couple of months have of course been incubating for many years and crystallizing for many recent months. It’s become a media meme that they’ve resulted from social networks like Twitter and Facebook. But these have been more organizing tools than anything else.

We still don’t know the depth of the role played by 15-year-old Qatr-based Arabic TV news network Al-Jazeera as the region’s only non-state-controlled media platform. It’s definitely turned out to be the most reliable on-the-ground reporting platform during the revolts. With rising American cable customer demand for the network’s English-language channel emboldening the company to make its case to Comcast and our Secretary of State praising it as “real news,” it seems that AJ’s time has truly come.

Last week, journalist and author Robert Wright invited British-Egyptian Mideast media scholar Adel Iskandar onto his highly recommended Bloggingheads.tv vlog platform to talk about where Al-Jazeera’s been, what its significance is, and where it seems to be going.

Extremely informative.
 

Posted by Ron Nachmann
|
03.04.2011
08:38 pm
|
Gaddafi’s Hot Bodyguards
09.28.2009
07:54 pm
Topics:
Tags:

image


You know, I gotta say, as far as crackpot Middle Eastern dictators go, Muammar Gaddafi at least has some style. Not only did he just propose that the UN abolish Switzerland, he also sets up Bedouin tents wherever he travels and has a crack squad of hot female bodyguards who are all trained to kill. How awesome is that? I’m all for dictators taking more cues from, uh, Raul Julia in Street Fighter. I would also like my own crack squad of hot female bodyguards who are all trained to kill, please.

Posted by Jason Louv
|
09.28.2009
07:54 pm
|