Headline, July04, 2013

'''A ROLLING BRILLIANT -NEWSATHON

​- OF 24 HOURS : AL JAZEEZRA''​'

And yet quicker than you can say, ''I mainly get my news online these days''   -the Russian, German, French and Japanese governments were stumping up cash for homegrown rivals to BBC World and CNN. It's about pushing their point of view. Flicking through the top end of Multichannel  will soon be like dodging socialist newspaper sellers in the High Streets of students town.

And yet  -the newest kid on the block is Al Jezeera's English language Channel, Al Jazeera!   The news channel that makes the news! Its Arabic service launched from the kingdom of Qatar in 1996 when modernising Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa AI-Thani hired the staff of the banned BBC Arabic Service, invested $140 million, cried ''havoc'' and let slip the hacks of war. It's been causing sensations and troubles ever since.

Chat shows pitted conservative Muslim clerics against reformists and feminists against traditionalists. Colonel Gaddafi called phone-in-shows on Arab Nationalism. Osama bin Laden sent his tapes there. Most Arab Governments banned it, George Bush wanted to ''Bomb''  it and the entire Middle East seems to be glued to it.

Writes one highly respected journalist : I've spent ten years seeing Al Jazeera as the TV equivalent of Sixties underground zines like Oz or High Times. It was Millwall, hip-hop and Vivienne Westwood  -it upset everyone and it didn't care. The only thing is I don't speak Arabic. So when the English Language service strode onto the screen, I felt like Lawrence of Arabia watching the Touareg sweep over the hill to scatter the enemy. The first independent camera lens trained on the West from the Middle East   -now really, how much fun was that going to be?!!

To be fair -to add to the anticipatory and growing salivating, the good Sheikh didn't stint in the Human Resources Department. He signed Sir David frost   -who in his first hour on the air, persuaded Blair to ''fess up that the war in Iraq was a mess -as well as Rageh Omaar and Darren Jordan from the UK. Elsewhere, he recruited Maryam Nemaazee from Russia Today. Kamahi Santamaria from Sky News Australia and Sami Zeidan from American Channel CNBC. 

Al Jazeera's headquarters are in Doha, it broadcasts from Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC. It boasts corresponents in Israel and the Palestinian Territories, plus feeds from Darfur, Somalia, Harare and Democratic Republic of Congo. In news terms, what's not to like?

But elsewhere in the world, however, this could have been like any other news channel. Pinochet's funeral, the Kremlin seizing Shell's stakes in Sakhalin, Botswana's tribesmen losing their land - all reported with the correct BBC inflection and classic story structure.

Sometimes the interviewees would gaff on screen, but otherwise you could have been watching Sky News, albeit with fewer mistakes and calmer graphics. Between bulletins then, there was Witness, a strange documentary series hosted by Rageh Omaar. Young Film makers provided docs on shamanic medicine and the spread of AIDS in South Africa, then an MTV trained innocent tried to sort out the Middle East conflict. ''Maybe I show you a new angle,'' he began with engaging naivety, before concluding that, ''It seems to me that it's the leaders who are making the war.''

Many a viewer   - and at many a time so,  gnaw their own lips off in fury at its dreary, repetitive banality, and I hope you know what I mean : Same stories, same six stories or so in a slightly different order every hour on the hour............Phew! Phew! 

Be what it may, the fact stands out that Al Jazeera is uniquely placed to report the latest conflicts of the 21st century to a Planet still reeling with every incomprehension. And at that Al Jazeera is at its very brilliant best. But it's coverage of the rest of the world?

Well, why bother? CNN does America better, and the BBC does Europe better.

With respectful dedication to the memories of all those great reporters who laid down their lives in pursuit of the ever elusive : ''The Truth''.

With respectful dedication to all the Students and Professors of Journalism -the world over-  who have yet to help with the ''Content''  on Sam Daily Times : The Voice Of The Voiceless.

See Ya all on !WOW! : the graphics processor of every ingredient of your Eco-System.

Good Night & God Bless!

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless