Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Al Jazeera is more and more a resource of quality, it's gotten to the point that when you want news that is relatively spin free that you can go to the BBC or to Al Jazeera. The interesting part for me is that they are a better source of real info on the US and Europe than most local media.

The chances are though that that is because they're not reporting on their 'home turf', does that extend to them reporting on Arab affairs as well?

View on HN

Absolutely. Right now on the newsfeed, the journalist is holding the US spokesperson's feet to the fire about the disconnect between the US' support for Mubarak, and it's expressed principles in favor of democracy. They are directly pointing out the hypocrisy of the US' position.

It's the kind of journalism we're just not used to anymore in the U.S.

That strikes me as less "spin free" than "a useful countervailing spin."

I think it's hilarious the same people who complain about corporate/government interests affecting Western media often praise Al Jazeera. Do you really assume Qatar's Emir funds the network out of sheer philanthropy, or some passion for quality journalism?

Al Jazeera does not cover issues that are uncomfortable to Qatar - whether it's the WikiLeaks Qatar documents, where they urge the US to strike Iran or issues within Qatar itself. Their hard-hitting coverage is limited to issues that won't harm Qatar's interests - in much the same way USSR's Pravda might cover American corruption.

It's amazing how easy it is to fool people with just a slightly more sophisticated approach.

Al Jazeera's relationship with Qatar is similar to the BBC's relationship with the UK. Their internal reporting is very different from their international reporting due to this, just as with the BBC.

That doesn't change the fact that their international reporting, much like the BBC's, is quite good. To compare it to Pravda is ridiculous.

This is exactly the kind of ridiculous relativism I'm talking about.

The UK is a democracy where some of the taxpayer's money goes towards financing the BBC.

Qatar is a monarchy, where the control of the nation is passed within Al Thani dyansty which uses some of its oil/gas revenues to finance Al Jazeera.

When the BBC reports something that is inconvenient to the UK government, as it often does, there's no real risk involved. Al Jazeera simply does not report things inconvenient to Qatar's Emir, with good reason.

It's a very simple idea that one can independently evaluate the quality of the reporting, regardless of funding source, especially when Al Jazeera is not the primary source of information (as no news agency should be).

>It's a very simple idea that one can independently evaluate the quality of the reporting

I would think that's actually very far from a simple idea. How do you evaluate the quality of reporting? By going to where the news happened and researching it yourself? By choosing the source that confirms what you wanted to believe?

If your answer is "by seeing who reports about Kim Kardashian and who interviews Chomsky", then this is exactly the trick AJ is pulling on you. Al Jazeera is well financed and can afford not to pander to ratings (that's the English version - the Arab version is a crasser version of Fox). This provides the appearance of quality reporting, until you dig deeper and see certain stuff is just not reported on at all.

It's a very simple idea that if someone gives you money, you're indebted to them. I'd rather my network indebted to the UK taxpayer than to the Qatar ruling family.

> f your answer is "by seeing who reports about Kim Kardashian and who interviews Chomsky"

I understood the subtle point your making, but what struck me was that it is roughly the heuristic I use to choose between whether to visit CNN.com or DemocracyNow.org on any particular day. And yes I prefer hearing what Chomsky has to say rather than Kimmie.

I would prefer it too. But it wouldn't automatically validate the medium he's using - and I wouldn't unquestioningly take his words as well. I would take them as the opinions of a smart person.

> The UK is a democracy

The UK is a constitutional monarchy.

Why, it's almost the same as Qatar then..

Agreed that it is non-ideal and unpleasant that the US backs Mubarak. However, you make a big assumption. Because in reality, the alternative to Mubarak is not necessarily democracy. It might be another autocrat. And it might be something even worse. Freedom does not necessarily lead to a bunch of shiny happy people living safely on a shining hill. Sometimes it leads to anarchy or genocide or war.

However, you make a big assumption.

I make no such assumption, but I'm not willing to support dictatorship in order to avoid dictatorship. Straussian compromises of democratic values quite honestly make my blood run cold.

Mubarak was hacking the US in the sense that US needed an Arabian partner who was willing to be an intermediary between Palestinians and Israel. Reality is that Mubarak hasn't been of any use to Egypt. If he is disposed, he is just another old man who have achieved little despite of his power.

My impression of Al Jazeera is that they're closest in principles and journalistic ethics to our own Fox News. They have a specific narrative that they reinforce through reporting of specific details, while omitting others. Though their facts are usually "correct", they are chosen to fit the narrative, rather than used to construct/change the narrative as it develops.

My impression comes mostly through direct conversations with Israelis who were at certain reported-upon events and have a very different account of how the events transpired than were reported on Al Jazeera. Of course, my sources could be mistaken and/or disingenuous, and are certainly biased.

The NYTimes shared comments (and criticisms) about Al Jazeera today: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/middleeast/28jazeera...

I lived in Morocco from 1992-2003 and watched/saw a lot of people watch Al Jazeera (the arabic version).

Although it's possible it has improved since 2003, the Arabic version of Al Jazeera back then was even worse than Fox News in what they reported and how they reported it.

I'm fairly convinced the english version they've been cultivating is a massive coup for mind share in the US. They've done an absolutely amazing job at convincing the intelligent elite that they're an unbiased news source to be trusted. My experience is exactly the opposite.

Thank you! I can't read/speak Arabic so I have absolutely no way to verify but I definitely fell hook, line and sinker for the way they've been working on their international image.

Also, to be fair, things may have changed there since 2003, but that was the state of affairs at that time.

Apparently, it's subjective. Someone on Reddit said the Arabic version is akin to Fox News, while others felt it's doing a good job. So I guess it depends on what you're expecting to hear.

http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/eryzu/al_jazeera_...

The documentary "Control Room" is a good one about Al Jazeera: http://tinyurl.com/4hz5zzw

Reply on news.ycombinator.com