Al Jazeera America Expands

Surely Fox News is saying “Al Gore Sells Out to Al Jazeera,’ ands it’s sort of true. Al Jazeera America just bought Mr. Gore’s Current TV network in an effort to expand its presence in the USA. Price: $500 million.

Despite winning acclaim and awards for good journalism, American xenophobia and cable provider cowardice have keep Al Jazeera from reaching many US viewers. The new acquisition deal may not help. Time Warner Cable, which carried Current TV, said it won’t carry AJ America.

Breaking News for Islamophobic Fox News Patriots: Saudi Prince Walid bin Talal is the second-largest Fox shareholder.

More:

“Al Jazeera Seeks a U.S. Voice Where Gore Failed,” Brian Stelter, Washington Post blog

“Al Jazeera Buys Current TV, Predictable Bigotry Ensues,” Taylor Berman, Gawker

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Election Predictions

Every four years, media celebrities participate in America’s World Cup of punditry by predicting the winner of the U.S. presidential election. So how did they do?

Pulitzer Prize for Brenda Starr?

A Pulitzer Prize for reporter Brenda Starr? Hold page one!

Wait — hold everything. The 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary was awarded to Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich, who wrote the Brenda Starr comic from 1985 until the strip’s demise in 2011.

Mary Schmich, a former Nieman Fellow, has reported for the Orlando Sentinel and Chicago Tribune and has written a column for the Trib since 1992. The award cites “her wide range of down-to-earth columns that reflect the character and capture the culture of her famed city.” She says she’s grateful to the people of Chicago, whose stories she tells in her column. Somewhere, Brenda Starr is tearing up.

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What’s Ahead for 2012

It’s 2012. While Baby Boomers and other geezers keep asking for their jetpacks and flying cars, most pundits try to keep their 2012 predictions more down-to-earth:

“2012 predictions worth discussing,” Jon Tarlton, Seattle Times

“NBA Predictions for 2012,” Patrick Buscone, Bleacher Report

“A Quick Look At The Year Ahead,” NPR

“Ten 2012 Predictions,” James Poulos, Daily Caller

“Tech Predictions for 2012,” Meredith Popolo, PCMag.com

“15 faith-based predictions for 2012,” CNN

Best of the ‘Best of 2011′ Lists

Year-end review lists you might have missed:

“The 45 Best Mugshots Of 2011,” Matt Stopera, Buzzfeed

“Top 10 Physics Breakthroughs of 2011,” Hamish Johnston, Physics World

“Best of 2011: 10 Recycled art pieces made using discarded metal,” Dipan Saha, Green Diary

“The 11 Best History Books of 2011,” Maria Popova, brian pickings

“Reeeemix! The 10 Best Hip-Hop Remixes of 2011,” Chris Yuscavage, Vibe

“Top 10 pundit do-overs of 2011,” By Keach Hagey, Politico

“Top 10 sex scandals around the world from 2011,” Hanna Ingber, GlobalPost

“Ward’s Auto announces its 10 best engines for 2011,” Wayne Cunningham, CNET

“Hack List 2011,” Alex Pareene, Salon

The Press Weighs in on Chris Christie

There’s a big, fat political story in America: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s weight. Mr. Christie cuts an impressive figure compared to the lightweights competing for the 2012 Republican presential nomination; despite his protestations, he’s being touted as a contender with heft.

Chris Christie’s career in elective office stretches all the way back to January 19, 2010, a tenure nearly as long as that of former Alaska Temp-Governor Sarah Palin. Mr. Christie wants to put his state’s government on a diet by starving the poor and middle class, he is a former registered lobbyist for big corporations, and his legal background is littered with skeletons and controversy. Despite all this factual fodder, it is the governor’s personal avoirdupois that has media pundits salivating.

The feeding frenzy has only started, but here’s the first course:

All Hurricane, All the Time

The Eastern Seaboard of the United States is currently experiencing the ravages of Hurricane Irene, and local television stations are desperately trying to justify their 21st-century existence by keeping staff meteorologists up ’round the clock and sending hapless reporters to the beach. As far as we’re concerned, reporters assigned to the Delaware Shore when steamed crabs and frozen custard are unavailable deserve hardship pay.

Local TV news coverage of hurricanes chiefly consists of shaky, intermittent video, and lots of wind noise. Live remote broadcasts show reporters invading evacuated coastal resort towns, driving through standing water, walking on the beach, and doing all the things citizens are cautioned against by emergency officials.

AJE on TV in NYC

First Tunisia, then Egypt, and now  … the Big Apple. Al Jazeera English is coming to New York City, subletting the RISE cable channel. AJE has been virtually shut-out of U.S. markets due to post 9/11 xenophobia, but the U.S. media relied on Doha-based Al Ajzeera for coverage of the recent Arab Spring uprisings, so the absurdity of the exclusion has become apparent.

More:

“Al Jazeera English Arrives on N.Y. Cable,” Brian Stelter, New York Times

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Unblinking Witness

“The Kodak has been a sore calamity to us. The most powerful enemy indeed…. The only witness I have encountered in my long experience I couldn’t bribe.”
– Quotation from Mark Twain’s bitter satire “King Leopold’s Soliloquy” (1905) about the Belgian monarch behind unspeakable atrocities in the Congo.

Scott McLemee interviews NYU’s Susie Linfield, author of The Cruel Radiance: Photography and Political Violence in today’s InsideHigherEd.com

 

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The Revolution Was Televised — by Al Jazeera

Political change in Egypt was admirably chronicled – and made possible – by the journalism of Al Jazeera, the TV news operation based in Qatar. Egyptian authorities shut down the network’s Cairo bureau in a futile attempt to forestall the inevitable, but the Arabic-language broadcaster kept delivering detailed news about the popular uprising to people across the Middle East and North Africa, where it really counted.