Here’s a report that the only TV studio available to Al Jazeera English to do satellite feeds from New Hampshire– WMUR in Manchester– has arbitrarily rescinded the Arab network’s access to the station. I’m told that WMUR is the only broadcast affiliate in NH, and the one that presidential candidates live and die by every 4 years. Media Nation:
Last week WMUR-TV (Channel 9) in Manchester, N.H., apparently shut off access to Al Jazeera, which [reporter Deborah] Arnesen had used to broadcast several segments. According to the Concord Monitor, Arnesen had been scheduled to appear on Al-Jazeera to discuss President Obama’s outreach to women and minorities. Instead, she had to do it by phone.
The Monitor reports that WMUR has not responded to requests for comment. But Sarah Alansary, a producer for Al Jazeera, is quoted as saying the station sent a message cutting off access:
They sent an e-mail telling them sorry, the studio’s no longer booked for you. We don’t wish to do business with your organization. I don’t know what’s the reason.
…“Every candidate on the planet who thinks of running for president is coming here,” Arnesen tells the Monitor. “Don’t you want the Middle East to know what’s going on? What message are they sending by shutting them off?”
I don’t understand why Israel Lobby in the US would be afraid of Al-Jazeera? I can understand their being paranoid by Lebanese Al-Manar TV – but Al-Jazeera (English) which is controlled by some pro-Israel Jews. After six year of Arab promoter’s failure – Ottawa has just allowed Al-Jazeera to beam into the country since now its Canadian promoter happens to be a Jew who is in good book of Israeli Lobby, Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC).
Al-Jazeera – Pro-Israel Arab Network
link to rehmat1.wordpress.com
Al-Manar TV haunts warmongers
link to rehmat1.wordpress.com
It’s because Al-Jazeera displays a modicum of journalistic objectivity, totally unlike any established news network in the US. Also, it helps that Al-Jazeera is a sceery sceery Ayrab word, and the powers that be want to make fnords out of the entire Arabic language. Americans are conditioned to fear anything Arabic.
I wonder what the position of the law is on this issue, if there would be a point in Al-J suing the station.
Only if they had a contract and there was a violation of the contract terms.
Either way, I don’t think it’s a problem in this day and age. Back in the early 90s CNN correspondents in Iraq and the Gulf were using portable satellite uplink units that were collapsible like an umbrella. So, nowadays, al-Jazeera shouldn’t have a problem. They could probably rent some office space and set up a studio on their own if need be.