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Al Jazeera: World
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On its first newscast, Al Jazeera reported on the re-election of President Joseph Kabila in Congo, the suicide rate among indigenous tribes in Brazil and the increasing traffic congestion in China. The broadcast was seen by 80 million households worldwide, but Americans were limited to a free 15-minute Internet trial.
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January 1, 1999 – Al Jazeera expands from six hours a day to 24 hours a day. Today, it has more than 30 bureaus and an estimated worldwide audience of 50 million viewers.
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Israel Insider notes that ”One of Israel’s two leading television cable providers, Yes, decided earlier this month to drop BBC World in favor of Al-Jazeera English. The move represents a small coup for Al-Jazeera since the majority of its founding staff were trained by the BBC for a special Arab-focused section of the British media giant. BBC World will lose half of its Israeli reach on account of the change.”
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On the otherhand, al-Jazeera frequently interviews rightwing Israeli fanatics like Benjamin Netanyahu, along with many more moderate Israelis. They frequently have interviews with leaders of the extremist Israeli settler movement, for example, and regardless of whether one might agree about the use of the terms “moderate” or “extremist” they are appropriate int he context of how audiences in the Arab world view Netanyahu and the settlers … and how Israelis view “moderate” and “extremist” Israelis.
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Since many of the wingutteria consider Al Jazeera the voice of the enemy, one just might have to laugh at the irony. After all, You Tube is very much an American phenomenon that has captured the world's imagination and interest. And yet the Republican candidates for president were afraid to go to You Tube.
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It will be interesting to see how Al Jazeera progresses with this venture when the notions of free speech and democracy in the Arab world are too often seen in Western eyes as an oxymoron. Here’s how they describe themselves with this new service:
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