Re:Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau
by phlux on Sunday January 30, 2011 @11:40AM
(#2158373)
Wouldn't it be interesting if someone like Keith Olberman went to Al Jazeera.
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Why? Keith Olberman isn't a journalist by most objective measures, he's a partisan talking head.
My point was more;
"Wouldn't it be interesting if [big, well recognized american media personality] went to Al Jazeera"
It'd be bad because I want the news, I don't care who is giving it to me as long as its accurate and up to date. In fact I think media personalities are bad for the news.
David Frost, while not American, has had a show on Al Jazeera English since 2006:
David Frost, while not American
Every american should know David Frost, if they don't they're not american.
Do true Scotsmen know about David Frost as well?
Like Anderson Cooper: http://twitter.com/andersoncooper/status/31518264634900480
Re:Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau
by stevenbedrick on Sunday January 30, 2011 @12:18PM
(#2158478)
Let's see... he doesn't speak Arabic, so any "regular" journalistic skills he might have would be useless, and AFAIK he's not an expert on Egyptian culture and politics, so he doesn't have any special domain expertise that might be useful even without Arabic language skills. I'd personally rather hear more on CNN, MSNBC, etc. from actual Egyptian journalists.
Re:Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau
by InclinedPlane on Monday January 31, 2011 @02:53AM
(#2160681)
There's an English version of al jazeera, where the anchors and reporters speak English and broadcast to the English speaking world. I doubt speaking Arabic is a necessity to work there.
Re:Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau
by stevenbedrick on Monday January 31, 2011 @12:09PM
(#2162236)
Point taken, but a) they've already got plenty of good anchors, and b) many of the anchors (and all of the reporters that I've seen thus far) seem to speak Arabic as well as English, and can therefore do things like talk to people on the street, understand government broadcasts, etc.
Re:Egypt shuts down Al Jazeera bureau
by electra526 on Sunday January 30, 2011 @01:11PM
(#2158616)
I think that's a fascinating idea - logistical problems (not speaking the language etc) aside. I'm NOT a Keith Olbermann fan. I think in America we have an incredibly luxurious journalistic class. They can whine and berate the powers that be all day every day without risking anything. Put someone like KO in an oppressive country with real stakes and it just might make him more responsible, thoughtful, thorough.