Unless I am mistaken, I became interested in watching Al Jazeera on television when I was directed to the EATV channel, which was the abbreviation for “East Africa Television,” which is based in Dar es Salaam, described on its Wikipedia page as “the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania.” While access to this network is very limited through my xfinity service, YouTube has created an Al Jazeera English | Live Web page with 24/7 “live” activity. My original intention in exploring this site was to find a source that would balance against television news programs that tend to focus primarily on the United States, Europe, and Asia, leaving the Middle East limited to little more than Israel.
Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican Dan Sullivan, candidates for representing Alaska in the United States Senate (courtesy of Agence France-Presse (AFP))
As Al Jazeera has grown, it has begun to cast a wider web. Unless I am mistaken, I have even begun to see faces that first became familiar when I was watching the news from BBC. More recently, I have to come to recognize the Al Jazeera reporters based in the District of Columbia (who are perfectly capable of accounting for the antics of our country’s politics with a straight face). This morning, however, I was drawn to an Al Jazeera article with the headline “What to watch in the Alaska and Wyoming primary elections.”
I am beginning to think that those living in Europe, Asia, and Africa are all becoming more attentive to what is happening to the United States, particularly when the President is involved. In that respect, it is important that Al Jazeera has managed to maintain a non-partisan stance. One might almost say that their news-readers are better at keeping a straight face than the news hosts on channels for ABC, CBS, and NBC (as well as, of course, Public Television).
Consider, as an example, the way Al Jazeera handled the behavior of our President this morning. They posted a NewsFeed Web page with the headline "Trump lashes out at CNN reporter over South Korea question." Since this was the caption for a video, the description was limited to a single sentence: "'You’re a fake reporter,' Donald Trump told a CNN reporter who asked whether North Korea’s president had requested the US president scale back military drills with South Korea." Presumably, this episode was aired by CNN; but I was glad to see that Al Jazeera gave it “international exposure!”
None of this should surprise readers with common sense; the view from “outside” always has a broader scope than the view from “inside!”
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