As I’ve posted previously, there’s been a lot of talk about why Americans should start paying more attention to Al Jazeera English. I’l be adding links here throughout the day.
- Outside The Beltway – Why all the American networks are the same when it comes to news from Egypt
Don’t know I completely buy into this, but James Joyner has an excellent point – that the news from the American networks is more alike than it is different. Fox, CNN, MSNBC… they aren’t all that different. Joyner quotes Steven Taylor:American television news puts “too much focus on talking to pundits and politicos and not enough of an attempt to talk to actual experts.”
There is always a problem of getting a journalist to the scene, getting the channels of communication set up, and getting access to people with knowledge of the situation if the reporter has not been in the country continuously. Sherry Ricchiardi wrote about it in AJR back in 2006. http://www.ajr.org/article.asp?id=4211
I don’t know the overall quality of NBC/MSNBC’s coverage of Egypt, but I’ve always been impressed with the work Richard Engle does. He moved to Egypt right after he graduated from college and lived there several years and learned to speak fluent Arabic. Living in the country, not in a fancy hotel, and learning to speak the language gives reporters a much different kind of view. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5424809/ns/nightly_news-about_us/
Thanks for the link, Chris.