Um... Al Jazeera America??? uh... ......... official thread?

[JasonPratt]

Part of me thinks this is genius in a way. Not necessarily a good way, but a... a way.

I was talking to Mom this afternoon after work, and the TV started playing an advertisement in the background, seemed to be about people losing their houses due to storm surge damage, apparently being shafted by the government afterward. Couldn't tell if it was an advertisement for insurance, or a political party ad, or maybe something to do with global warming advocacy.

Then I turn around to leave the room, and I happen to see it's a commercial for the Al Jazeera America network.

So I come over here to Current Events, and apparently -- that wasn't a joke, that's a real thing.

Which makes sense, from strategic perspective: their people have our channels (if bootlegged), so why not start a legitimate American channel here in the home of free speech etc.? Turnabout's fair play. ;)


Anyway. Since we don't have an official thread on it yet, for people to make observations... here's one? I guess?

(Note to mods: might need to go in "Enigmas of the Mystical" instead...?)

[Staggerwing]

IIRC Al Jazeera America has been around for a few years.

[JasonPratt]

Really?

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised. Here in West Tennessee we don't get much culture.  ;D

[mirth]

Hee Haw is very cultured.

[Phobos]

The Al Jazeera Media Group is based out of Qatar, which was a member of the British Protectorate (not commonwealth)  until sometime in the 1970's.  While the group claims to be a politically independent broadcaster, they receive the majority of their funding from the Qatar government.

[TheCommandTent]

Don't forget that the great patriot Al Gore sold his struggling station, Current TV, to them so they could reach more households.  ::)  Ok I just threw up a little in my mouth after typing that..... :-[

LOS ANGELES — Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes.

With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that co-founder Al Gore couldn't make relevant.

The former vice president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a statement that Al-Jazeera shared Current TV's mission "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/02/al-jazeera-current-tv-al-gore/1805685/

[JasonPratt]

Ah, yes, now I remember He Who Invented The Internet and the inconvenient truth of his sale to AlJaz this spring. ;)

That would explain why it's suddenly showing up on our DirectTV.

THIS IS THE FAULT OF A TENNESSEAN, I AM SO ASHAMED!!


(We prefer to ignore his existence, or to pretend he isn't from TN, but that's cheating....)

[GDS_Starfury]

MANBEARPIG!!!

[Windigo]

God you guys whine and cry like little girls. Free enterprise and an unfettered market remember? You also have the cable channel called Russian TV. that's right the ruskies are beaming TV signal right to your homes where they can brainwash your children into becoming communists. You guys are being as reactionary as liberals.


;) ;D :o

[LongBlade]

[Windigo]

Says the AGW denialists. Oh the trollite irony. And trolls appreciate irony.

[GDS_Starfury]

says the global warming tree hater.

theres more then enough irony to go around.

[Windigo]

I never said LB's and my own roles were'nt ....   uhhhhh....   complex ones. For that matter neither is yours mister bacon eating Jewish carpenter, master of the f-bomb, dedicated and loving son, and high-practitioner of the carnal arts.


:P

[GDS_Starfury]

thats the nicest thing youve said to me in months.

I wuv you!
is it hugs time now?  ;D

[Windigo]

No! I have an issue with being raised in a redneck family, homophobic reactions and all.... I'll just take your warm fuzzy feelings and put them in my Memories beer bottle. Or is it a champagne bottle... I forget.