Reason Writers on the TV: Katherine Mangu-Ward on Al Jazeera

Reason Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward appears in an Al Jazeera story discussing mid-term election strategies and how the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision reshaped the way campaigns were financed.

Airdate: November 5, 2010.

Approximately 6.45 minutes.

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Comments

[Old Mexican]

All those women - their hair uncovered!!!!

Blasphemy!

[Bill O'Reilly]

Reason Senior Editor Katherine Mangu-Ward appears in an Al Jazeera story

Pinhead or patriot?

[PIRS]

I have never actually seen Al Jazeera tv. But if I had to guess it is far more ballanced in its coverage than MSNBC. It is probably also more pro-American than MSNBC.

[Timon19]

Pretty much, though they really, really pound on the "empire" nature of America's influence in the world. Then again, much of that is essentially no different than the arguments Judge Napolitano has used on Freedom Watch, just presented differently.

[PIRS]

The way this message is presented is very important. A while back I was pretty much a "modern conservative" in my views on foreign policy. Back then I heard the message the way some on the left and some with a Middle Eastern point of view presented it and it turned me off. It really did. I was actually more hardened in my own convictions after hearing it presented that way. The same basic message presented the way many paleo-conservatives presented it DID convince me. If I had a suggestion for people in the Middle East who want to convince Americans that we should stop sticking our nose in your affairs it would be this: Study the words of America's founding fathers and quote those in your messages. Appeal to our better natures. Stop with the "holier than thou" rhetoric. That is a real turn off. American Conservatives like to think of their country as having a special place in the world. Rather than try to convince them otherwise it is far easier to say to them "Yes, it does, but your heritage has been stolen from you, the Founders of your country would not approve of what is being done by people fighting under your flag." THAT is the message I would suggest people like those who work for Al Jazzeera try to deliver. It would have been far more effective for me. That is the message that finally did convince me.

[Timon19]

I think I was along the same lines here. I do see AJE getting a lot more traditional paleo-con and libertarian-ish analysts on to make the same sort of arguments, so I see progress there, especially considering how influential they are elsewhere around the world (even in the native Arab-speaking world).

At any rate, I'm a lot more receptive now to the ME point of view on this precisely because of paleo-con and libertarian presentations of it.

[Timon19]

Al Jazeera English is the best news organization in the US (yes, they have a Washington bureau).

Their longer pieces that contain opinion have a decidedly anti-imperial bent to them, and they approach things like the midterm elections first from a more statist European/Asian perspective.

Some of their analysis programs are fantastic (Witness can be excellent). Some are interesting, for lack of better word, like Faultlines (which is primarily how America is fucked up) and Empire (guess). Inside Iraq is very insightful and way deeper than anything on the usual suspects.

The interview shows are often pretty good (Riz Khan One on One, Frost Over the World, featuring David Frost - yes, that one) when they're not softballs tossed to douchebag celebrities and international pols.

There's a lot to like, and more importantly, you get excellent coverage of the Americas, really good coverage of Africa, decent coverage of Europe, and in-depth coverage of Asia and the Middle East. It ain't all agreeable, but it's not the shout-fests and shallow, fast-paced nuggets that we're used to here.

[Timon19]

Forgot to mention Listening Post. Really good show analyzing how the media reports on stuff that happened that week. Incorporates lots of social and user-generated media (which means a bunch of douchebag teens-twentysomethings impressed with their own webcam monologues, but it's a unique feature).

[Preston]

Al-Jazeera is one of the only major news networks that is actively increasing, not decreasing, it's spending on international reporting. They do a great job of representing multiple viewpoints on issues, while also challenging the disgusting nationalist simplistic nature of Fox, MSNBC, and CNN.

It's too bad the channel isn't available in more places in the US. I stick, primarily, to RT, France24, and Al-Jazeera for my TV news. The big boys have too many commercials, too many asinine hosts, and appeal too much to the dumbass lowest common American denominator.

[Timon19]

Also surprisingly good is the English translation of Al Jazeera's mothership channel that you can get for a few minutes on otherwise lefty LinkTV. Of course it's only small bits once per day, and the US producers of the show get to pick what stories they translate.

It's part of Mosaic, which is a half hour recap of Middle Eastern news channels - woefully little for as many news channels they have now in that region.

The normal lineup is a few minutes each of AJ, IBA (Israeli), BBC Arabic, Al Iraqiya, Press TV (Iranian English-language), sometimes Al Arabiya, and some assorted others less frequently.

[Timon19]

Forgot that RT's Arabic service is a regular.

[heller]

Haha, I love the part at the end where Katherine gets get shut down: "That's not what Stewart was saying, he was only saying the guests should voice strong opinions, not the news channels." This has no relation whatsoever to what Stewart said. He's angry that the media "causes divisiveness." Having guests fight it out is just as "divisive" as having media pundits fight it out. Ironically, Al Jazeera shows its bias when it tries to suck Stewart's dick like that.

[KPres]

Al-Jazeera is left-wing, communist trash. And no, Fox News is not as biased as MSNBC.

http://bit.ly/9dGh0b

[Timon19]

Not really. It may be presented by communists (I really do wonder about some of them, particularly when I read their blogs outside of their straight reporting roles), but they rarely show that bias in the news bulletins. It's presented very straight and is more informative than anything CNN or Fox or MSNBC can even dream of.

[Mike E]

What is worse, hearing two sides yell at each other and deciding for ourselves or watching clips of pundits neatly packaged to fit the presenter's narrative without having any idea what question they were actually asked?

[****]

Hear Hear!
Thet Al Jazeera clip was way too packaged and clipped for my tastes. I'd rather see a whole interview CSPAN style or see the questions and answers and arguments Fox News style.

[Jason Mojica]

Indeed, it is packaged and clipped up as all get-out, but that's the house style on the Listening Post-the show this clip is taken from-which is the network's media analysis show. There's plenty o' lengthy Q&As; to be found elsewhere on the network.