My friend James North was just in Central America. Watched Al-Jazeera English all the time. It is stunning, he says, because the coverage is so professional and sophisticated. The panels aren't loaded the moderators are smart. (Though I pity anyone who has to cross swords with the amazing Shihab Rattansi; some day this guy will be on "60 Minutes"). And of course Al Jazeera is in Gaza. Few others are. Shouldn't Americans be exposed to this? Well, no.
It is astonishing that this superb piece on Al-Jazeera's censorship by Noam Cohen in today's Times appeared deep in the Business section, on page B7. It should have been on the front page. It is about censorship. Also note Cohen's reference to "public calls" for Burlington Telecom to drop Al-Jazeera. This is a nicety. Noam, I love you (we're old friends), but pal this is a euphemism. It was Jewish groups. The longer journalists prevaricate about describing the coordinated campaigns against independent journalists by pro-Israel groups, the longer those campaigns will continue to be effective. (And why are they effective? Because they're our sisters and our cousins and our aunts! I saw my old friend Morris Renek, an accomplished novelist, at a CAMERA event. Didn't have the guts to say, Morris what are you doing here? I knew what he was doing there.) Speak, Cohen:
only by cable providers in Burlington, Vt.; Toledo, Ohio; and
Washington, D.C. (In Burlington, the local government last summer
rejected public calls for the city-owned cable provider, Burlington
Telecom, to drop the channel.)
By contrast, Al Jazeera’s
English-language service can be seen in over 100 countries via cable
and satellite, according to Molly Conroy, a spokeswoman for the network
in Washington.
influence in the United States only if it is highly accessible online,
Al Jazeera has aggressively experimented with using the Internet to
distribute the information it has gathered.
