Television News Al Jazeera In English Debuts World Wide

[amicus]

Just a few brief snippets here and there on this, but the PBS News program gave a more in depth report.

Broadcasting with four anchor locations in English, the Network aired the first day of programming just today.

Although Al Jazeera is available on the internet, US and Canadian viewers will not find it on cable or satellite television as no major carriers have agreed to schedule the programming.

The American Anchor recently retired from ABC's Nightline program indicates that the audience will be mainly those around the world who use English as a second language and will benefit by views other than 'Western' concerning world events.

I could search, but it is late...anyone have anything other information?

amicus...

 

[Liar]

I'll be able to get it in about a week from now from my cable op. I'm thinking of signing up for a while, just to see what the fuss is all about.

 

[amicus]

Great! Hope you will keep us informed as I doubt it will be available in this backwoods anytime soon.

amicus...

 

[TheEarl]

I know that Tony Blair was interviewed on it last night. It made the headlines of my daily paper, as he described the Iraq war as 'disasterous'.

That's our Tony. Looking sad and regretful and totally in touch with the collective spirit of the people, possibly even with tears welling up in his eyes... but he won't actually do anything productive.

The Earl

 

[amicus]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,229557,00.html

Al Jazeera Launches English-Language Version
Wednesday, November 15, 2006



DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — "...Ten years after starting Arabic-language broadcasts that angered leaders in the region and Washington, Al-Jazeera on Wednesday launched an English-language news channel available in more than 80 million homes but lacking major U.S. distribution.

Al-Jazeera English went on the air at 3 p.m. (8 a.m. EST), broadcasting from the station's headquarters in Doha, capital of the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar.

A screen graphic with a clock ticking down the minutes gave way to a photo montage of the biggest news stories of the past decade and an announcer saying the new channel would be "setting the news agenda."
"It's Nov. 15th, a new era in television news," its anchor said.

The channel quickly jumped to live feeds from correspondents in various regions — starting with the Gaza Strip in a spot that reflected the channel's promise to Arab concerns in the Middle East.

The station reported on a rocket attack by Palestinian militants that killed an Israeli woman — then cut to its Gaza correspondent reporting on the aftermath of Israel's shelling of the Gaza town of Beit Hanoun that killed 18 Palestinians earlier this week..."
(Story continues below)

The link will take you to the continuation...


amicus...

 

[amicus]

TheEarl...I understand...a part of the Charlie Rose interview with Milton Friedman referred to Tony Blair as the PM who was a liberal, but spoke and acted as a conservative, (if the terms even apply) and perhaps did as much good as Thatcher when she rescinded British Nationalization of various industries made before her rule.

a crazy mixed up world sometimes, eh?

amicus...

 

[TheEarl]

TheEarl...I understand...a part of the Charlie Rose interview with Milton Friedman referred to Tony Blair as the PM who was a liberal, but spoke and acted as a conservative, (if the terms even apply) and perhaps did as much good as Thatcher when she rescinded British Nationalization of various industries made before her rule.

a crazy mixed up world sometimes, eh?

amicus...

He's an odd one, because a lot of his economic policies are right wing, but then there's the odd big one that goes leftfield. He's pro- Big Government, which isn't good and pro a big Welfare state.

I think overall he's done good in some areas, but he's done near irreparable damage elsewhere.

And I think you are confusing your terms. Liberal isn't the opposite of conservative. The opposite of liberal is an advocate of a controlled state. The opposite of conservative is socialist/left wing. Tony Blair's technically left wing, but he acts like a conservative.

The Earl

 

[amicus]

Ah, earl, thas why I left the caveat...in yank land, liberal is the opposite of conservative, that is to say the modern corrupt vision of 'liberal', they are really the left, the socialists, the democrats, but it is not politically correct for them to identify themselves as such as 'socialism' is still a dirty word in America, although for how much longer, I wouldn't care to predict.


But Blair is leaving soon and I do wonder, without any foundation at all, what the future will hold for aul angland...?

amicus...

 

[TheEarl]

Ah, earl, thas why I left the caveat...in yank land, liberal is the opposite of conservative, that is to say the modern corrupt vision of 'liberal', they are really the left, the socialists, the democrats, but it is not politically correct for them to identify themselves as such as 'socialism' is still a dirty word in America, although for how much longer, I wouldn't care to predict.


But Blair is leaving soon and I do wonder, without any foundation at all, what the future will hold for aul angland...?

amicus...

A better one. The Conservatives will return to power and hopefully will discover their testicles at some point to cut down on the government and stop messing around with Europe.

To be honest, Blair's last few years have been all about trying to 'leave a legacy'. The ego-centric prick wants to be remembered and beloved in the same way that Churchill is. He wants to be in the history books. First it was going to be the Euro, whether the people wanted it or not, then it was going to be making us the leaders of Europe and part of the EU constitution, whether the people wanted it or not, then it was Iraq, whether the people wanted it or not. He's looking for the big publicity stunts now to put his name in the history books and, quite frankly, that's not what I want in a politician.

The Earl

 

[amicus]

Earl...I have 138 characters in 5 different novels banging in my head day and night awake or asleep...I come here for diversion and distraction and as a sop to my former career in broadcasting and have little time to devote to research...my apology aforehand for being dumb about English politics...it seems I did hear a 'conservative' name bandied about, 'Brown?', but I have no clue as to what may happen when Blair leaves and what changes may result...I have a hard enough time keeping up with the saturday night live edition from the white house here, let alone 10 Downing Street...grins...


nice to be talking again and I will try to remember that you are not one of the 'usual suspects.'

amicus...

 

[TheEarl]

Earl...I have 138 characters in 5 different novels banging in my head day and night awake or asleep...I come here for diversion and distraction and as a sop to my former career in broadcasting and have little time to devote to research...my apology aforehand for being dumb about English politics...it seems I did hear a 'conservative' name bandied about, 'Brown?', but I have no clue as to what may happen when Blair leaves and what changes may result...I have a hard enough time keeping up with the saturday night live edition from the white house here, let alone 10 Downing Street...grins...


nice to be talking again and I will try to remember that you are not one of the 'usual suspects.'

amicus...

When Blair leaves, his chosen successor will almost certainly become Prime Minister. That's Gordon Brown, who's been waiting in the wings for a very, very long time and has actually been agitating against Blair on occasions. He is Chancellor of the Exchequer, which means that he controls the economy and tax and fiscal policy, stuff like that. Sound economist, but not, to my mind, leader material. A bit more left wing than Blair, but a bit less likely to compromise his position for public adoration, which is nice.

That will last until the next general election, which I think is 2008ish sometime, maybe 2009. Then it will be Brown of the Labour party (left wing) vs David Cameron of the Conservative party. Cameron's new and he worries me. He appears very much like Tony Blair, someone who tries to be what everyone wants and ends up doing nothing. However, he's shown a couple of nods towards actual policy, so I guess we'll see who comes up with the best manifesto as to whom I'll vote for.

There are other parties, of course, but those two are the ones most likely to be in the government and opposition.

The Earl

 

[amicus]

Thank you, Earl....what is the process by which Blair steps down and Gordon takes over from the same part and without an election? Not sure we have something similar to that here.

amicus...

 

[TheEarl]

Thank you, Earl....what is the process by which Blair steps down and Gordon takes over from the same part and without an election? Not sure we have something similar to that here.

amicus...

Well, the British electoral system doesn't revolve around voting for a head of state, like hte US one. We've already got a head of state (God save the Queen!), so our elections aren't around voting for individuals. We vote for the political party.

So, whilst your last election was a choice between Kerry or Bush, ours was between Labour and Conservative (or Lib Dem, etc). We knew who the leaders were and who was likely to get the positions of power, but they aren't guaranteed the position. It's not a case of Brown finishing out Blair's term of office (much as Blair would love to be President), but of the ruling Labour Party deciding to change their leader.

A party leader can step down in this way, or be ousted by his own party, if it is considered that he/she has lost the confidence of the members. The most common aftermath of this would be a internal party election to choose their new leader, which means that a new Prime Minister can technically be chosen without the electorate at large being involved. However, a new Prime Minister chosen this way can find his job very difficult, as he cannot govern without the will of the people and no party would select a leader not liked by the people.

It's happened before, when Margaret Thatcher stepped down. I believe John Major became the new Prime Minister without the need to ballot the party, although he suffered very turbulent times as leader as he did not have control of all of the factions.

The Earl

 

[ishtat]

Blair has annouced his departure but not the date. He is now a lame duck.Technically the leader resigns or can be sacked by the monarch when his party no longer commands a majority in the House of Commons. That usually occurs when they lose an election but Margaret Thatcher was sacked by her own cabinet through a coup led by the left leaning part of the conservative party.

Blair is in deep trouble over corruption issues which are starting to look interesting.3 of his closest advisors have been arrested by investigating police.

Paul Keating a former Australian (Labor)Prime Minister famously described Blair 10 years ago as "a fart but with less substance" which has turned out to be pretty accurate.