Al-Jazeera

[LondonGirl1968]

I was in the office this week and noticed that instead of BBC or Sky News as usual someone had turned on Al Jazeera. I have to say I was taken aback. It felt like a bit of a slap in the face. Felt very pointed in a week where such brutality has taken place.

I've never watched but they are seen as an excellent channel and they have a wider world view I think.

What a strange and disturbing comment.

Al Jazeera is a reputable service. It makes sense that someone might want to check in on it. It does present a different perspective, with a different emphasis, compared to the usual services. The reality is that the BBC management is so scared of the Tories that it's not what it once was and there's no other news resource here that has the resources that the BBC has.

You do get that Hamas is not the same as the Palestinian people and Al Jazeera???

I've watched al jezeera, also the Russia one and American news channels, in aspirin to ours. It interests me to see different perspectives. I come from the view that all news is biased and that I'll have a better grasp, if still incomplete, if i take in a range of sources.

Fucking hell it’s Islamophobia open seasons for some now.

They have excellent viewerships and show a different side on events where otherwise the murdoch/bbc tend to avoid hence why they are very popular. You get two sides and make your decision especially in countries who love the click bait murdoch news.

Ridiculous.

Their reporting has always been excellent.

Fair enough. I don’t really know about them but am very happy to be told I’m unreasonable!

I'm so sorry you went through the trauma of seeing brown people on TV

So your post was based entirely on the name of the (excellent and high quality) TV station?

If you don’t really know about them, why were you taken a back and why did it feel like a slap in the face?

Yes you are being unreasonable. Just because it isn’t a western based news channel doesn’t make it any less credible.

They have a wide viewer base.

Did you watch what it or hear anything they said?

They have excellent reporting. Its one of our main news sites.

The uk press is very uk centric (obviously), and sometimes you get days of rolling news on something like raac. Which was news of course, but you'd miss out on massive important things happening in other countries

How can you feel "slapped in the face" by a news channel you don't appear to know anything about?

It's good to get news from a range of sources.

Fair enough. I don’t really know about them

So what was it that caused you to feel like it was a 'slap in the face'?

Anything with Al-something is BAAAADDDD. Haven't you heard?

I always go to Al-Jazeera for news. As well as everywhere else. If you think the BBC is a neutral source you are deluded.

Does your username suggest you live in the multicultural city of London and are the ripe old age of 55?

Jeez…

On the whole it's a pretty good channel, though it has significant blind spots. When there were the stories going around about bribery to secure the world cup in Qatar and the deaths on construction sites for it, there was a notable absence of reporting.

In its early days it managed to recruit some pretty good journalists from the BBC.

It evoked a wry smile from me that on the death of David Frost, in the tributes to him on the BBC, they hardly ever mentioned that he'd spent his last few years with the Al Jazheera .

If you don't really know about them, why was it a 'slap in the face' that someone in your office had the channel on?

So why were you surprised when you saw this channel if you know nothing about it?

So if you didn't know anything about them, why would you be shocked? Just because it sounds "a bit Muslim"?

It's actually a good and reputable news channel.

I’ve read some really interesting stuff from Al-Jazeera. One article was about migrants crossing on small boats from France and questioning why they were trying to get into the UK. The opinion of the writer was that it was because of the UK’s perceived tolerance of people from different backgrounds. Very interesting to get a Middle Eastern view on the matter when many of those trying to cross are from that area of the World.

What is your issue with the channel precisely?