Notes on the AJE World

(Poster by Matt Jones on my office wall)

After 7.5 years at Al Jazeera, I’ve decided to move on to explore further opportunities. Having worked at the intersection of media, technology and entrepreneurship, I’m interested in exploiting the structural changes in the media industry…

"Perhaps the most common social media misstep news providers commit involves positioning Twitter,..."

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:53:14 -0500

“Perhaps the most common social media misstep news providers commit involves positioning Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook buttons and the like at the end of a news item, so that clickers must perform several swipes on screen or mouse to reach share functions. Al Jazeera’s English news app commits this error. Some might argue that this policy encourages readers to spend more time on a page and actually consume more of the content. But which is preferable: one user spending more time with Al Jazeera content, or, potentially, a digital socialite sharing the same article with her 15,000 connections? Either way, it doesn’t seem likely that a publication would lose an engaged reader just by placing share buttons atop their page.”

- Justin Martin, writing in CJR.

Al Jazeera changes satellite frequencies to avoid Iran and Syria's signal jamming

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:28:00 -0500

Al Jazeera changes satellite frequencies to avoid Iran and Syria's signal jamming

"P. Diddy and Ryan Seacrest are launching new cable channels soon. It’s hard to imagine we don’t have..."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:27:00 -0500

“P. Diddy and Ryan Seacrest are launching new cable channels soon. It’s hard to imagine we don’t have room for one more. If the U. S. can’t be open to channels that show other perspectives of the world, what does that say about us?”

- Julia Bricklin, writing about AJE on Forbes.com.

Fault Lines showing in NYC yesterday

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:15:10 -0500

@AJEnglish is publicly engaging Americans through events. Showings of programs like Fault Lines are more common in DC, but are usually well-attended and give people a chance to meet staff and learn more about the channel — as well as learn more about the topics at hand.

EARTH-SHAKING FILM. For its first NYC screening, Al Jazeera English presents “Fault Lines:Crisis in the Horn of Africa,” documentary by Al Jazeera correspondent Sebastien Walker and producer Andrea Schmidt that explores the U.S. response to drought and hunger in Somalia, a country ravaged by two decades of conflict with disastrous consequences. Come for the screening of this thought-provoking film and stick around after for what is sure to be a lively post-screening Q&A with Walker and Schmidt. 7 p.m. Free. Santos Party House, 96 Lafayette St. (212) 584-5492. Issue Project Room, 232 3rd St. 718-330-0313.

Richard Gizbert on Al Jazeera's reputation as "bin Laden TV"

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:10:00 -0500

Speaking at the CIPR’s Maggie Nally Memorial Lecture, which was held at the UK Houses of Parliament, Richard Gizbert shared his views on how the negative association of Al Jazeera and Al Qaeda impacted AJE’s efforts. Gizbert is the presenter of AJE’s The Listening Post, a show about the media.

He shared some interesting insights, from the Bush administration’s antagonism, to difficulty securing facilities in London, to being carried in Israel while unpopular in Canada and the United States.

Here are some of his gems:

“One would have thought that there would be an appetite for a new perspective,” said Gizbert, “but we were facing a mass of operational challenges because the leader of the free world, George W. Bush, was calling Al Jazeera, ‘Bin Laden TV’, and saying we were working with terrorists.

“Domald Rumsfield, for example, famously said our (Arabic Speaking) coverage of Fallujah was ‘lies, over and over and over again.’

“It was very difficult environment to start a news channel in, even getting cable access in the United States was a huge problem, and remains one today.”

“Even finding property in London in which to establish a bureau was very difficult. We got down to serious negotiations with four different landlords only for mysterious problems to occur just before we signed leases, like other tenants were worried about security.”

“The thing I could not figure out about that, even if we were ‘Bin Laden TV’ and they were worried about London being bombed, wouldn’t they be safer with us in the building?”

“The English speaking world,” said Gizbert, “were being told by its leaders that we were the bad guys, not through anything we had done - we had not even been on air at that point - but we were suffering from the reputation that had been earned by Al Jazeeera Arabic - which up to 9/11 they US thought was a good idea.

“And what I found funny about that was our relationship with Al-Qeada was not unlike the relationship the IRA had with the BBC. Al-Qeada was using Al Jazeera to get their message out to their target audience in the same way the IRA used the BBC to get its message to the British mainland. And nobody called the BBC ‘IRA TV’.”

“Curiously, the main cable operators in Israel were taking Al Jazeera. So the Israelis were happily watching a channel which the Americans and Canadians were not showing in order to protect Israel.”

“But the Israelis accepted Al Jazeera, they did not like us, but they never banned us. The countries that banned us at one time or other included Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain - but the Israelis put up with us.”

A Chinese version of @AJEnglish

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:54:14 -0500

An oped by Joe Nye in the @nytimes suggests the Chinese government’s 24 hour English language news channel is an AJE knock-off:

In 2009, Beijing announced plans to spend billions of dollars to develop global media giants to compete with Bloomberg, Time Warner and Viacom. China invested $8.9 billion in external publicity work, including a 24-hour Xinhua cable news channel designed to imitate Al Jazeera.

I wonder if it is an emulation and how consciously it will be planned as such. Many Differentiating itself in an increasingly crowded field of English language international broadcasters is important.

You can watch CNC World online to see how it is shaping up (the player may be down. It said it only plays on Explorer and I couldn’t view it via IE. Video clips work however).

Was @AJEnglish doc on Bahrain an exception to the media blackout?

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:31:55 -0500

Badr al-Ibrahim wrote an insightful update on Bahrain for Al Akhbar English. He touched on the Bahraini regime’s success in its information war:

The Bahraini regime succeeded on two important fronts. The first was enforcing a media blackout of what was happening in Bahrain. This was particularly successful due to the absence of reporting on human rights violations in the Gulf-funded media, which adopted the Bahraini government line.

He added that there was one exception.

If it were not for the documentary Shouting in the Dark by Al Jazeera English, many observers would not have known the degree of oppression that the Bahraini people are facing, of which the documentary only revealed a part.

He adds the second front was its efficacy in stoking the flames of sectarianism.

As exceptional as the documentary was, in social movement terms, it came out after the anti-protester clampdown began. It was, in a sense, too late. This was by necessity since filming had to be done in secret. It may prove an important document, as the issues at the heart of Bahrain’s uprisings will be long-term unless fundamental reform is undertaken.

International public opinion on Bahrain may be somewhat different as a result. Whether this can stop the regional interests of the GCC, its ideology of monarchical preservation and sectarian divide, is unlikely… but who knows.

Florida columnist suggests @AJEnglish gaining recognition

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 09:08:41 -0500

Paul Janensch, a former newspaper editor and professor of journalism, wrote a column in a Florida newspaper about changing perceptions of Al Jazeera English in the United States.

Only a few U.S. cable systems carry Al-Jazeera English — none in Florida, as far as I can tell.

But it is available from satellite TV services. And you can see it on its website, aljazeera.com

Some American pundits and politicians have accused Al-Jazeera — which means “the peninsula” in Arabic — of being pro-Arab. Well, it is. Just as American news services are pro-American.

But it also is pro-democracy, which has made it an enemy to authoritarian regimes in North Africa and the Middle East.

In the United States, government officials and TV news operations are watching Al-Jazeera English for its coverage of the turmoil over there.

They think Al-Jazeera is doing a professional job. So did the judges for the DuPont-Columbia Awards.

Al Jazeera English to Premiere Guantanamo Bay Documentary

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:24:59 -0500

Al Jazeera English to Premiere Guantanamo Bay Documentary

futurejournalismproject: Eric Newton, Knight Foundation’s...

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:12:56 -0500

futurejournalismproject:

Eric Newton, Knight Foundation’s Senior Adviser to the President, speaks about the important digital tools that will shape the future of journalism.

To improve print, we must think digital. We need to use the new tools, all of us, even and especially the reporters on the front lines, to better report the news in the world’s newspapers.

Digital tools make print reporters a hundred times more readable and relevant than they were in the last century. The editors at this conference are trying to do powerful things – you really need to use the most powerful tools you can.

We hear a lot about the digital delivery of news. Digital delivery is great: it allows multimedia, saves money, gives you infinite space and instant timing.

But I think digital journalism — the digitization of the news process between the community and the newsroom — is just as important as digitization from the newsroom to the delivery of the news to the community.

Digital journalism engages your newsroom and community to improve the content of journalism.

To continue reading, please visit knightfoundation.org

Taking on cable expensive for tech firms

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:07:00 -0500

Business Insider reports why Microsoft doesn’t want to carry programming that competes with cable. It’s expensive and risky.

It’s easy for existing TV providers like Comcast to renew their contracts with content owners — both sides understand and trust each other, and Comcast is counting those expenses. To replace cable, tech companies would have to take on big new expenses for a very uncertain return.

Recent American journalism grad inspired by @AJEnglish

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:42:00 -0500

Kaitlin Loukides, a recent college graduate, wrote about her excitement over an internship at AJE.

Two weeks ago, I graduated from the University of Missouri with my degree in Broadcast Journalism in one hand, and an unpaid internship in the other.

Just yesterday, I was completely set to head out to Washington, D.C. to begin my internship with Al Jazeera English. Now, this particular news corporation had been the main factor that had ignited my interest in journalism years ago, so gaining access to an internship with Al Jazeera was a dream and a half to a dreamer much like myself.

Is the Arabic channel a liability for AJE in the US?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 06:41:06 -0500

Oren Kessler, Middle East affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, wrote an essay, entitled “The Two Faces of Al Jazeera.”

He overviews the well-known litany of complaints against AJ, from supporting Al Qaeda to its Islamist agenda and anti-Israel bias as evidenced in its special coverage of Samir Kuntar. He suggests this implicates AJE, which he says is a mix of qualified and unqualified, biased and unbiased, journalists. The accuracy of these points aside, he rightfully suggests that AJA is something of a liability for AJE’s distribution efforts in the US.

As Al Jazeera English expands into the United States, it will need to choose one of three options. The first is to continue its present gambit of declaring a common “vision” with its parent channel while hoping the latter’s indiscretions somehow do not reflect poorly on itself. The second is to pressure that same out-of-control kin to pull its act together, lest it once again cast doubt on the character of both. Failing that, Al Jazeera English will have but one alternative: to categorically and unequivocally cut its own cord.

The last option I found strange. How could AJE cut it’s cord? It belongs to the AJ network. It exists within the network, as a property. Also, I am not if this move would be welcome by people in AJE. Many AJE reporters see themselves as continuing a reporting mission began at the Arabic channel. And it would mean privatization, leaving the channel in the same economic dilemma of the news stations they left.

Syrian regime not happy with Al Jazeera

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:34:28 -0500

AJE’s James Bays interviewed Bassam Abu Abdullah, Baath Party member, on “Inside Syria”. He mentioned that Al Jazeera was excluded from Syria, while 136 journalists have been allowed in. Calling the Arab uprisings a “party” for AJ, he goes on to admit that he is not aware of whether AJE’s coverage was also “not objective.”

Do you say that the Syrian government has been fully cooperating with these monitors?

Yes, I think they are fully cooperating, and besides that, we opened for all media now we have more than 136 representatives from different media, except Al Jazeera.

Well, except Al Jazeera. I’m sitting here in the “Inside Syria” studio. I’d like to be reporting from inside Syria, but we’ve not been granted a visa.

Al Jazeera, generally, my friend, Al Jazeera was a party during the past 11 months, I think they are not objective. I don’t know Al Jazeera English, but…I met with your correspondent who was from Beirut and from Doha and I had an interview with them.