Yesterday United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed, "Viewership of Al Jazeera is going up in the United States because it's real news. You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news which, you know, is not particularly informative to us, let alone foreigners." Because viewership is up that translates to "real news"? Many, here on the blog and elsewhere, rail against Fox News for their fabrications and stretching of the truth. If viewership is the prerequisite of "real news" then Fox News would trump them all.
Perhaps Secretary Clinton should look to the recent Census Bureau report that counted nearly 1.2 million Arabs in 2000; 860,000 in 1990; and 610,000 in 1980. Combine the rising Arab population with the increase uses of the internet and it is reasonable to conclude that increased viewership is driven by other factors unrelated to "real news". Or did CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News change their programming similar to what MTV did when they moved from music videos to reality television shows? I figured Secretary Clinton to be smarter than this. Then again she may be taking a shot at the liberal media outlets for their lack of vetting and holy alliance with Obama during the Democratic Primary and the 2010 Presidential campaign. Either way, if Al Jazeera is being considered as a "real" news source by the Obama Administration over the outlets here in the United States does make one ponder…….
I love this:
ReplyDelete"the liberal media outlets for their lack of vetting and holy alliance with Obama during the Democratic Primary and the 2010 Presidential campaign."
Holy crap, Viper...are you going to finish the statement and comment on the holy alliance of FOX news and the GOP? No, probably not.
Anonymous - I am well aware of the alliance that Fox News has with the GOP but one thing you won't see is them blubbering or not vetting all GOP candidates. You don't think Clinton harbors some ill-will toward the Liberal media's hands off approach to vetting Obama during the Democratic Primary?
ReplyDeleteYou are full of it...
ReplyDeleteThey blubber about GOP candidates on a constant basis. They are basically the GOP funded mouthpiece. You know this and are only playing useful idiot. Why are you grasping at Clinton harboring ill-will towards anyone? Are you really this good at trying to invent some new crazy conspiracy story? (like we don't have enough as it is)
Is liking the news on Al-Jazeera that big of a deal? Personally, I have never watched Al-Jazeera. Does it report acurately? Is it have a slant towards Muslims around the world? I wouldn't know...
If conspiracy-minded trailer park hobos get their news from FOX, and "Elitest" liberal hippies get their news from MSNBC, are you making the suggestion that muslims in this country shouldn't have a way to get their news? And Secretary Clinton SHOULDN'T endorse it?
Is this post a thinly veiled attack on media outlets you disagree with? Or the Obama administration?
Also...I'm not sure if you mean "Arab", people who live in the Arabian pennisula, or Muslim, a person of muslim faith. Not all Arabs are muslim, and Arabs only constitute a fraction of muslims.
Fox News does not ignore, at least I have not seen, the vetting process of GOP candidates nor do they get "tingling feelings" about them either. Do they favor Conservative candidates? Yes. No denying that.
ReplyDeleteI have not watched Al Jazeera news either. I have seen a few articles reprinted in the Uk Telegraph or Der Spiegel though.
What does it say about the state of media in the United States that the Obama Administration is calling upon Al Jazeera as real news even more real than the media outlets here. Don't you find that alarming?
Nope...Not even remotely.
ReplyDeleteI read the article on NPR.com and the context I read it in is that she was referring to the reporting Al Jazeera was doing in the middle east, currently.
Truthfully, I can't comment, because I haven't actually seen Al Jazeera reporting. But I think that Clinton was commenting on how Al Jazeera's reporting was very unbiased not given a "dictators" point of view instead of a particular country's "state-run television". I also think she was jabbing at the "Big Three" cable stations for giving ridiculous opinion on things they know nothing about...i.e Glenn Beck.
Thats all Viper. I really don't think she was endorsing anything in particular.
Anonymous - I will though start looking at Al Jazeera to see what they say now that they have a site that is translated into English.
ReplyDeleteIn the past Al Jazeera has been a mouthpiece for Islamic extremist. Will be intriguing going forward if they continue that or become an unbiased reporting unit in the Middle East.
I have been watching Al Jazeera for a little bit now, while it is a new slant on the Middle East there still exists a slant. For Clinton to put it on a higher journalistic plane than the outlets here in the United States is irresponsible. While I agree that journalistic integrity has slipped in recent years, the freedoms each outlet enjoys to report the news is far greater than any other place on the planet.
ReplyDeleteThen again I typically stick to reading the news and not allowing some pundit or want-a-be pundit to spoon feed it to me.
"I am well aware of the alliance that Fox News has with the GOP but one thing you won't see is them blubbering or not vetting all GOP candidates."
ReplyDeleteNo, they just give them unlimited platforms from which to spew their uninformed opinions and masquerade them as facts.
But hey, it appears you don't care about facts anymore.
"In the past Al Jazeera has been a mouthpiece for Islamic extremist."
I love this statement because it's quickly followed by:
"I have not watched Al Jazeera news either."
Talk about uninformed opinion masquerading as fact. You should work for Fox news bud because never let it be said that you let facts get in the way of a good hyperbolic statement.
Truman - Al Jazeera has always been Arabic until recently. My assertion that this group has been a mouthpiece is well documented by ABC, CBS, CNN, BBC and the like. The reports have always been slanted in that manner. Now, perhaps as they reach out to the Western world more their slant will be more moderate then again perhaps not.
ReplyDeleteFox News is no different for the GOP then MSNBC is for the Democrats. Both are guilty of doing the same thing. Doesn't make it right but that is the plain fact.
Truman - I got notification that you posted twice on the blog site but when I got here to respond I do not see them. Did you remove your comments after posting them?
ReplyDelete