News kid in town

Matt Davies on the launch of Al Jazeera America.

And he's right, of course, in that the network is facing an almost impossible set of challenges: Getting past the Islamophobia of the past several decades, and getting past the expectations that a "good" news network is one that reinforces your prejudices, whichever end of the spectrum you inhabit.

And we may be looking at a Betamax moment anyway.

For the youngsters in the audience, back at the dawn of the video revolution, cassettes came in two formats: VHS and Betamax. Most people who tried Betamax liked it better. But VHS did a better job of getting its product into the market, so "most people" never even saw Betamax.

VHS won, not by being better, but by being marketed more effectively. 

And that can be said about all sorts of things: "Real" yoghurt versus gelatinous sugared goop, Leo Tolstoy versus Barbara Cartland, bourbon versus alcopop.

Even removing the snobbery, the facts remain: The 1925 silent version of "Ben-Hur" is, from a critical point of view, a better movie than the 1959 Cinemascope extravaganza. The "snob" part is that few people have seen the 1925 version and a lot of people have seen the 1959 version.

The "facts" part is that people like color and dash and excitement and they don't like having to read subtitles or cards, and Charlton Heston may chew the scenery, but Ramon Navarro requires you to pay more attention. That's just The Way It Works, and, if you want to sell a film, full color Cinemascope and sound are going to beat a black-and-white silent square, regardless of what else goes into it. 

(Note: There are talks about doing a remake of Ben Hur. The good news is, they want to use the guy who directed that film about Lincoln. The bad news is, he didn't direct the one with Daniel Day-Lewis. He did the one with vampires.)

So I've watched some Al Jazeera America since it launched Tuesday afternoon, and was very favorably impressed. They need to upgrade their lighting and cameras in the studio, but the video coming from the field was absolutely excellent, and the content was a welcome change both from the partisan preaching of Fox and MSNBC and from the shameless ratings-chasing of the major networks.

And while the network is new, the ownership is not inexperienced: Al Jazeera has a history of international news coverage, and NPR listeners will appreciate having a TV news network that doesn't chase viral YouTube videos and celebrity missteps. In the past 24 hours, I've seen coverage of the drought in the American Southwest and a cholera outbreak in Haiti in addition to the expected coverage of Bradley Manning's sentencing, the turmoil in Egypt and the NSA revelations.

Funny moment: There was a panel discussion of the Manning trial and one fellow was an unrepentent free press advocate. I thought "Well, they probably shouldn't have such a doctrinaire liberal on the panel," but then I thought, "Yeah, but the other networks bring on Charles Krauthammer, and what does he add?"

The difference -- aside from putting an unalloyed liberal rather than an unalloyed conservative on the air -- being that, in this particular discussion, that doctrinaire fellow seemed out of place, so there was hope that someone in the booth was saying, "Let's not ask him back."

Hoping for that may be stretching things, but the emir of Qatar says that coverage, not ratings, is the goal. If so, this could be a distinct improvement on BBC's various offerings on American cable: Not only is AJA a full-time operation on our cable systems, but it is based here, has bureaus around the country and around the world and edits for an American audience that wants to know what's going on.

Whether or not that audience is terribly numerous. *sigh*

In any case, while Matt is probably right about the numbers, the emir has some deep pockets and seems to be serious about keeping AJA on the air.

So far, he's putting out a pretty good product.

But don't take my word for it: Here's a roundup of other reactions.

And don't take their word for it, either.

Watch.

Unless you are on AT&T's U-verse cable system.

Good old Ma Bell. Time cannot wither her, nor antitrust laws stale her infinite attitude.

 

Comments

[Dann]

Al Jazeera is one of my daily news stops on the web. They have pretty good news coverage there. Less celebrity chasing and more real information.

So I think this is an improvement in the news landscape.

I've heard reports that former reporters from Al Jazeera have complained about being influenced by management. It isn't a big problem, but it is there. Probably on par with the sort of thing that gets tossed around about various US TV news operations.

My only quibble would be that it isn't "Islamophobia" if they really are out to get us. And the Islamists...the sub-set, not the entire religion...really are out to get us.

Regards,
Dann

[Mike Peterson]

It is, of course, sensible to worry about radical Islamists. But as you note, it's a sub-set, and so it's bigotry -- Islamophobia -- to apply that concern to Muslims across the board.

[Phred]

You don't have to put up with the BBC's offerings on US cable if you're willing to try BBC radio. They have this odd idea that radio is there to provide entertainment rather than drivel--comedy, drama, etc. I've gotten hooked on Radio 4 and Radio 4 Extra in the past few years. See http://www.bbc.co.uk. I think they also stream BBC TV, but I've never tried.