Al-Jazeera English found a provider in the USA. Having a struck a deal with MHz Networks, AJE is now available in the Washington area. According to the Washington Post, some 18 million homes in 20 cities throughout the US will receive "some or all of the network's programming."
What are viewers in for regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
For starters, the network's English-speaking correspondent in Gaza, Ayman Mohyeldin, told Online Journalism News last week that "the Western media has failed tremendously in covering Israeli-Palestinian conflict." And colleague Sherine Tadros added:
Tadros said the 'success' of the Gaza coverage had been the incorporation of emotion and feeling in the reporting. "We lived the war with the 1.5 million Gazans and we tried to tell it how it was," she said.
And Americans can watch Al-Jazeera's birthday tributes to baby killers like Samir Quntar.
Tony Burman, AJE's managing director, is also lobbying hard for Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for permission to broadcast in Canada. (Burman, is the former head of the CBC News.)
It's widely assumed that AJE will obtain CRTC approval and hit Canadian airwaves this fall. After all, time — and Arab cash — appear to be on AJE's side. Broadcasting and Cable explains why:
And with Western news organizations facing painful budget cuts to their foreign bureaus, the need for news from abroad has only served to further the network’s cause. Including the original Arabic language service, Al Jazeera operates 69 bureaus internationally. That’s more than the BBC or CNN.
For what it's worth, MHz also airs some Israeli Broadcasting Authority programming daily.
