[trooper]

Guys,

I'd like to hear your opinion about Al-Jazeera TV...

[Leatherneck]

I think they are fairly mainstream among Muslims. The problem is that Middle Eastern Islam is WAY more anti-American than most of us ever realized. At all levels of society there is a large faction that simply blindly (or not, depending on your view) hates America's guts. :mad:

TC
TFL Survivor

[agricola]

it reflects the concerns and opinions of the people it broadcasts to; just as the BBC does, like CNN does and like Fox News does.

leatherneck is correct in that a large swathe of opinion in the middle east, and indeed probably throughout most of the rest of the muslim world, hates the United States. the problem is do you care enough to change that viewpoint of theirs?

[seeker_two]

You really need to make this a multiple-vote poll.

I would vote 1, 2, & 4 (is it any more biased than CNN? :scrutiny: )

[cordex]

Much as Agricola said, but with one minor change for clarity.
it reflects the concerns and opinions of SOME OF the people it broadcasts to
They've got female reporters with uncovered faces! Those dirty Qatari infidels!

[Sean Smith]

.

[Sean Smith]

I think it just reflects the fact that most of its viewers hate our guts.

[TheEgg]

I submit that a large part of the reason is the unrelenting lies and biased propaganda spewed by this network and others, including the government OWNED media in most of these countries. The residents of the middle east are bombarded by anti-American hate messages day and night, including calls for Jihad from Islamic clerics, often those employed by the governments at hand.

My point is that it is not public opinion driving the coverage, it is the coverage driving the public opinion.

Herr Goebbles would be proud of the work of Al-Jazeera and most of the media in the Arab world.

[cuchulainn]

I need a fifth option:

[ ] I have no idea because I've never watched Al Jazeera beyond a few clips on other networks.

The problem is do you care enough to change that viewpoint of theirs? I don't know. Do they care enough to change our viewpoint about them? ;)

[Sean Smith]

Well, to elaborate a bit: the tyrannical governments of the Middle East are in a dangerous dance.

To distract public scrutiny from their abject failure to take their countries out of the neolithic age, they blame everything on the U.S. and Israel. Since they controlled the media for decades, this has become "conventional wisdom." On the other hand, in order to extend our influence into the region during the Cold War, we tried to buy them off (as did the Russians), and they like the money. So they are in a no-win situation: Give in to the anti-Americanism they helped create, and go broke. Give in to the Americans too much, and the people hate you.

Now it is at the point of a self-sustaining monster. You've got a couple of generations of brainwashed, America-hating idiots out there now... a mass delusion that keeps them from having to take responsibility for their own lot in life.