I've found my new happy place.
Some people are outright opposed to Al Jazeera America's new spot on televisions within the United States thanks to the large amount of Islamophobia that is currently sweeping our nation.
I'm not one of them.
Rather, I have a very special place in my heart for the well-run Al Jazeera, having gathered quite a bit of my news from them. You see, Al Jazeera isn't known for sensationalism. Of course, the flip side of that is that it may not do very well in this country that is so used to high emotions and shocking images.
So why am I talking about it today?
Because, as most people know by now, they dedicated a very nice amount of screen time to climate change, and didn't bother asked politicians about what they think about it. They didn't give any screen time to the nutjobs on the fringe that constantly claim climate change isn't happening.
They talked to scientists.
To researchers.
To people who actually know what they're talking about.
Holy crap!!! They did that on tv!!!
I didn't know that was possible, anymore...
Indeed, as Media Matters pointed out on Wednesday:
Now, naysayers are making comments about how "the environmental activists" aren't complaining about a climate discussion from a news source that's "funded by big oil". I find that argument horribly revealing:
They have no valid argument against Al Jazeera's environmental programming, so they've resorted to slinging mud.
Sure, I can see people being uncomfortable with climate discussions hosted by a news corporation that's based in Qatar, with a large amount of funding coming from the emir of Qatar.
But then we'd also have to complain about every other news source that receives funding from government entities... including our own.
I think Al Jazeera America is worth watching. Their environmental stories have always made me think. News should do that. One piece of information should have you running off to discover more, and from other sources. That's what Al Jazeera does for me. I look forward to watching in the future.
I want to leave you with a quote made by the Interim Chief Executive officer, back in April:
Some people are outright opposed to Al Jazeera America's new spot on televisions within the United States thanks to the large amount of Islamophobia that is currently sweeping our nation.
I'm not one of them.
Rather, I have a very special place in my heart for the well-run Al Jazeera, having gathered quite a bit of my news from them. You see, Al Jazeera isn't known for sensationalism. Of course, the flip side of that is that it may not do very well in this country that is so used to high emotions and shocking images.
So why am I talking about it today?
Because, as most people know by now, they dedicated a very nice amount of screen time to climate change, and didn't bother asked politicians about what they think about it. They didn't give any screen time to the nutjobs on the fringe that constantly claim climate change isn't happening.
They talked to scientists.
To researchers.
To people who actually know what they're talking about.
Holy crap!!! They did that on tv!!!
I didn't know that was possible, anymore...
Indeed, as Media Matters pointed out on Wednesday:
Nice!!! Coincidentally, Media Matters also linked to the 2:39 minute portion of Inside Story's first broadcast in that same article. The segment centered on climate change, and you could not only feel that the atmosphere was less sensational, but also that the program centered more on fact than other news outlets, who prefer an emotional edge.
Al Jazeera America's 30 minutes of climate coverage (about 24 minutes not including commercial breaks) represented nearly half of what was seen on all network nightly news programs in 2012, and more than what was featured by CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront and Anderson Cooper 360 and Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity combined in the past four and a half months:
Now, naysayers are making comments about how "the environmental activists" aren't complaining about a climate discussion from a news source that's "funded by big oil". I find that argument horribly revealing:
They have no valid argument against Al Jazeera's environmental programming, so they've resorted to slinging mud.
Sure, I can see people being uncomfortable with climate discussions hosted by a news corporation that's based in Qatar, with a large amount of funding coming from the emir of Qatar.
But then we'd also have to complain about every other news source that receives funding from government entities... including our own.
I think Al Jazeera America is worth watching. Their environmental stories have always made me think. News should do that. One piece of information should have you running off to discover more, and from other sources. That's what Al Jazeera does for me. I look forward to watching in the future.
I want to leave you with a quote made by the Interim Chief Executive officer, back in April:
“We’re going to cover the under-covered areas,” Al Shihabi said. “We’re going to be the voice of the voiceless.” (source)As they've shown with their segment on climate change, they've already begun exactly that.
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