I have been watching it most of the morning - its been very good, for the most part.

Its focus seems to be centred around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is hardly surprising, I suppose, as that is 'where they come from'. But this is not to suggest that they have restricted focus, quite the contrary.

What I have found most refreshing about today's output has been the breadth of interest; a half hour of investigative, on the (very dangerous) spot reporting of the problems in Liberia post cease-fire; a lengthy report direct from Darfur which explained the issues to me with greater clarity than any western media I had previously watched; a piece on Beijing's 'boy racers'; cutting to threats of Tsunami in Japan (as did other media); the meeting of Putin and Bush; and a 'first-hand' report by an ambulance driver in a Gazan hospital.

In short - worlds we rarely see.

As this is their first day I am sure they are determined to put their best-foot-forward. But if they continue in the same vein it will be a welcome addition to the western (BBC, ITN, RTE, Sky, Fox, CNN) the Chinese and the Indian (NDTV) outlets we already receive here. A new perspective, with a welcome breadth (so far).

But its a bit early to judge.

In a generous report on the competing service the BBC introduced Al Jazeera's English arrival by showing their chastisment during the Iraq war (early stages) by both Comical Ali and Donald Rumsfeld - each complaining of Al Jazeera's bias reporting in favour of the other side.

Their main news led with the story of an elderly Israeli woman killed by rocket fire from Gaza.

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

I'll watch it if we get it here. I would likely find it interesting.

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I wasn't born with enough middle fingers.

I wonder where CNN will get their viewers now...

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"A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away."

The Solution for Illegal Immigrants (Gray areas discussed throughout the thread)

There was also a very interesting (and disturbing) report on the very high suicide rate among the indigenous Guaraní people in Brazil.

Again, in an 'on the spot' report direct from a Guarani village, a father explained how he had found his 17 year old son hanging from a tree the previous week, 'just like that one'. A young boy and girl had similarly been found a couple of weeks beforehand. Youth suicides are common.

Lula's land reforms are not going far enough to restore to these people their tribal homelands, or even sufficient of their former lands for them to make a living.

The Guarani have one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

I once asked a man from Alabama if he watched any foreign newscasts. He told me that he didn`t need to because...

"...if there is anything I need to know [then] my government will tell me about it."

As Thurber remarked: Reason is six-sevenths of treason

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

An in-depth report from DR Congo last night on the post election tensions between Kabila (who won) and Bembe. Bembe has acted to decrease the potential for renewed civil strife when he called on his supporters to act only within the law, though he did not accept the result. They had an exclusive interview with Kabila prior to that.

Another piece today from SA on the huge influx of people from Zimbabwe desperate for work. On a train filled with a few hundred Zimbabweans being deported the Al Jazeera reporter interviewed those being forced to leave - imagine that, this young female reporter was actually on the train, not reporting from her desk, or from the corporation's regional headquarters, or from the nation's capital - she got on the bloody train herself. Thats reporting!

In Zimbabwe the inflation rate is 1,200%. People spend over a week queuing for petrol.

And then on 'The Listening Post' - a monitor of global media - they had a piece on Bahrain's national broadcaster. Evidently they spent twelve minutes at the start of their nightly news showing Bahraini elites meeting, kissing and greeting their visiting UAE counterparts as they arrived at the airport on an official state visit - as if this was the most important thing happening in the world! I think there were about 50 kisses in all - almost a foreign relations orgy, of sorts.

Another piece followed on the Fox memo to corporate troops. On censorship in America they highlighted 'what Americans are not allowed to see' - what happens in war, and draped coffins. They contrasted this with what happened in Canada when Harper tried to censor such images. It lasted about two weeks; one father who's son had been killed in Iraq wanted his son's service and life honoured, not hid away like some dirty little secret. He quickly got support from other families in similar circumstances, the public rowed-in and it was overturned in no time.

Different strokes...

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

I doubt that many local cable companies will pick it up. I expect them to genuflect in fear to the pigheaded public.

Have they done a 'foxnews good, al jazeera bad' number on your heads over there?

Hard to be free when you are confined within your own skull.....

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"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

It will be available to 80 million homes - double its target audience - in Europe, Africa and south-east Asia.

In the United States, the channel will be available via a broadband internet connection, but not distributed by a major cable or satellite system.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6149310.stm

Just watched a feature on Sami Al`Haj, the Aljazeera cameraman held in Gitmo, still uncharged.

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Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
Marx (G.)

A black or a white man?