The New Iron Curtain of Journalism in America: Banning Al Jazeera

[Donnachaidh]

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/12342

I now know what it must have felt like to those folks stuck behind the old Iron Curtain back in the day. They couldn't watch or listen to western TV or radio because those signals were jammed by their own governments.

Over the past two weeks, if I wanted to get an unadulterated Middle Eastern take on the unfolding Egyptian revolution, I had to go on the Web and log on to al Jazeera to watch their live Web coverage.

Ironically, even as our own government prodded Egyptian officials to be more open, both we Americans and the Egyptian people were prevented from watching al Jazeera's own coverage on TV.

The reason neither country's citizens had access to al Jazeera TV is because, in both countries, those in charge of the transmitters were terrified by a news source they could not manipulate, control, limit or intimidate.

More at the link --

[Odin2005]

1. The MSM is Corporate McPravda.

[DCKit]

2. But it's not true.

The market for Al Jazeera here in the DC area is the population of the DC area.

We have AJ both over the air (free) and on Comcast.

[boppers]

3. If it's banned, how is it on the web?

Oh, wait, that's because it *isn't* banned.

Analogy fail.

[SoCalDem]

4. "banned" from inclusion in cable/dish/local programming

ON-the-air on TV :)

Not everyone has computer access or broadband

from wikipedia
Availability

The original Al Jazeera channel is available worldwide through various satellite and cable systems.<25> In the United States, it is available through subscription satellite and free to air DVB-S on the Galaxy 25 and Galaxy 23 satellites. However, "ther than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. - including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. - cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera."<26> Al Jazeera can also be freely viewed with a DVB-S receiver in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East as it is broadcast on the Astra and Hot Bird satellites. The Optus C1 satellite in Australia carries the channel for free, while in the UK Al Jazeera English is available on Freeview, Sky and Freesat platforms.

For availability info of the Al Jazeera network's other TV channels, see their respective articles. Segments of Al Jazeera English are uploaded to YouTube.<27>

It is also possible to watch Al Jazeera English over the internet from their official website. The low-resolution version is available free of charge,<28> while the high-resolution version is available under subscription fees through partner sites.

Al Jazeera's English division has also partnered with Livestation for Internet-based broadcasting.<29> This enables viewers to watch Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera live worldwide.

Al Jazeera is available in Canada on Bell Express Vu Channel 516, as part of the package "International News I."

[AsahinaKimi]

5. Maybe because Fox News

has called Al Jazeera a network used by the terrorists..and it has that funny sounding foreign name. So many Xenophobic Americans..

[jeff47]

12. Well, it is available on "dish"

Dish TV and Direct TV carry it.

As for over the air, I'm no sure how the lack of a cable channel over the air is "banning" it. Is Nickelodeon banned because I can't get it OTA?

As for cable, nobody's been asking for it. Did my cable company ban the cooking channel by not carrying it, or are they just reacting to the demand of their customers?

[Bonhomme Richard]

6. They do show themselves if you pay attention. n/t

[FLPanhandle]

7. Hyperbole to compare the old Iron Curtain to watching Al Jaz on your computer

Hardly banned when anyone with a computer can watch it freely all day long.

With mobile devices so prominent now, being on TV isn't any big deal.

[mmonk]

8. But if you didn't have a computer?

[FLPanhandle]

10. What if you don't have a TV?

Come on, either mode of communication requires a piece of technology.

When 2/3rds of US households have at least one computer and many more have mobile devices, it's stupid to call it "banned".

[kayakjohnny]

9. We got it every night on air tv.

It never was blocked or banned.

[malaise]

11. If people had access to AJE they would not watch

the rest of crap of MSGreedia. That is very bad news for the scumbags and scoundrels.