Al Jazeera English News Broadcast

From observing Al Jazeera English and Press TV, it was very interesting to see America not in the spotlight for the news. Both covered world news activity, but from a different perspective than what American news channels show. At one point on Press TV America was criticized about its help with Israel missile projects and that it was America not helping with the Middle East’s peace issue and that it was only going to suck more of Americans money to Israel. Both news stations looked and sounded like something we would see on CNN or MSNBC stations, only from a different world view. Russia Today wasn’t available anymore to watch unfortunately, but BBC World News wasn’t accessible to views in the US, UK or Japan which I found interesting. More interesting was with the views of women being subservient in the Middle Eastern culture and one of the anchors on Press TV was female, granted she was still fully covered, but as someone who was an informant to the public it surprised me that such a culture would allow a woman in that kind of a position.

1. How effective do you think the Internet will be for Al Jazeera as it attempts to reach a U.S. audience?

The Internet could be effective depending on the amount of attention Al Jazeera is able to generate by perfecting their SEO’s and ability to be discovered by an American Audience. Unfortunately, America’s view today on the Middle East might put a stop on the success Al Jazeera is attempting to find as a news source in the U.S. People see a news source from the Middle Eastern point of view dangerous to the publics’ view on the war we are currently fighting.

2. Based on your own observations, do you think that Al Jazeera English should be allowed to broadcast in the U.S.?

In my opinion I don’t see a problem with Al Jazeera English being broadcasted in the U.S. In fact, America is so full of immigrants from all over the world that America may seem more welcoming to other cultures by broadcasting news from their countries as well. Also stereotypes might fall if we able see another countries point of view about our country.

3. What, if anything, do you notice about Al Jazeera's approach to telling the news? How is it different than the U.S.-based TV news outlets that you have experienced?

I see a news style close to what we would see from CNN or MSNBC, only stories that are covered may not be covered by U.S.-based TV. Stories about Afghan political parties working toward peace wouldn’t be broadcasted in the U.S. because it would contradict our presence of war in the Middle East.

4. While on the Al Jazeera site, be sure to check out the network's published Code of Ethics. Based on your own observations, do you think they are adhering to them?

I do believe this site is adhering to their Code of Ethics. We can look at the first code to adhere to the journalistic values of giving not priority to commercial or political considerations with some lenience. Coming from a Middle Eastern point of view, they do a decent job of covering news from around the world, but they showed no media coverage of U.S. issues that would shed the U.S. in good light.