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

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-aMp

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.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.

A Rough Month for American Music

Rashied Ali

July 1, 1935 – August 12, 2009

Willy DeVille

August 27, 1950 – August 6, 2009

 Jim Dickinson

November 15, 1941 – August 15, 2009

 Ellie Greenwich

October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009

Larry Knechtel

August 4, 1940 — August 20, 2009

Les Paul

June 9, 1915 — August 13, 2009

Billy Lee Riley

October 5, 1933 – August 2, 2009

Mike Seeger

August 15, 1933 – August 7, 2009

 

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.