Monday, March 27, 2006

This is an article in the New York Times about the new AlJazeera International channel. As usual, you don't learn anything from an article in the New York Times. I learn more from a short article in the Economist than from a very long article in the New York Times. I mean, how much do you learn from a journalist who does not know Arabic to report on Arabic media. Oh, he did learn (from MEMRI) that Wafa Sultan was on AlJazeera. Then he says: " The English-language channel has been filling out its staff with Arab and Muslim journalists." Now, I, of course, have been following AlJazeera very closely. I am supremely interested in what they plan to do. I have spoken with two people involved in it. But what the NYT reporter writes is not accurate. In fact, I have heard complaints that the new channel is avoiding hiring Arab or Muslim (or Muslim American or Arab American) journalists. I know this first hand from people who applied or who attempted to negotiate with the station. I heard that the Washington, DC-bureau hired 100 people, and that only 3 of them are Arab or Muslim American. I am watching, very closely.