'Al Jazeera America' - Will 'Muricans Be Too Spooked by the Name to Watch?

'Al Jazeera'- the very name probably dredges up fear and loathing in most of the American population who exhibit suspicion about anything remotely Muslim-sounding, especially a news network. And especially since 9/11. The aftermath of the fear and paranoia meme still looms large.

And so it was as we tuned into the first news broadcast last night, wifey sat in her recliner with a certain amount of trepidation. While her knuckles weren't white, she did express reservations: "Why are YOU watching that station? Why can't we just stick with ABC and Diane Sawyer?" Well, uh, because I want to get a different slant and emphasis on the news, not just the corporate brainwashing.

This isn't new! It's also why I often tuned into the Russian news while in Germany. You got a more balanced perspective, and you saw things the American broadcast networks left out. Like the huge anti-fracking demonstrations, protests around the world. But coddled, brainwashed Americans at home probably believed there were hardly any protests at all. They might even believe based on network news broadcasts from ABC, NBC, CBS that most of the world accepts it.

Anyway, as the news came on, Janice might have half expected a raving Muslim madman named Ali Abu Akhbar to pop onto the screen and begin screaming anti-American epithets and propaganda. She held her breath, I didn't hold mine because I knew the network - despite the name-  wasn't as the lamos and numb nuts portrayed it.

And so who appeared on the screen? Was it Ali Abu screaming his head off 'Death to America!'?

Nope. It was John Siegenthaler, former long time NBC and MSNBC  news host and now the anchor for Al Jazeera America.  The lead off segment? A piece on how cheap clothing being made in places like Bangladesh is undermining the welfare of people living in such poor nations. This was followed by a segment on the fires being fought in Idaho and Calif. and then the cut off of military aid to Egypt. Later an in depth piece on force-feeding prisoners in California and the excessive use of solitary confinement.

No screaming propaganda, just more in depth reporting and taking longer for each segment, as opposed to the facile, sound bite 2 minutes allotted on corporate American network news. Which, frankly, I believe contributes to Americans' shrinking attention spans.

Most segments were also followed by more in depth discussion to allow better insight. For example, following the Egypt segment Siegenthaler interviewed a prof from Brooklyn College who stated emphatically aid should be got off because too much was going to "American defense corporations".

Also, the Egyptian military didn't warrant such aid after what it had done, already killing over a thousand Egyptians.

Even better, the irritating advert frequency that drives one to distraction on the regular corporate networks wasn't noticeable at all.  One ad (mainly for 'AJ America' itself) every 20 minutes, as opposed to every 6 minutes. And Lordy! NO prescription DRUG ads! No Cialis! No Viagra! No whatever.....

It was refreshing to say the least. On the next program, 'Considering This' we saw how cholera deaths continue in Haiti, with 8, 000 this year so far. And up to now the UN has not admitted any responsibility, thereby delaying monetary assistance, despite the evidence being overwhelming that Nepalese peace keepers brought it with them - since the disease had never been widespread in the country before. See e.g. http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2010/11/haitian-cholera-outbreak-of-nepalese.html

Then on 'Real Money'   one learned of the problems to be faced by those living in poorer states such as Mississippi (which ranks 50th in obesity control, and 50th in infant morality) when the Affordable Care Act (ACA or 'Obamacare') comes on stream.  The primary problem? Too few doctors! In fact, by 2020 the nation will have 45,000 fewer family primary care physicians with the shortage worst in states like MS.

The only alternative the people living in the Mississippi  Delta have is to rely on medics returning from Iraq, Afghanistan. As one MS official noted, no professional who studied years to get a medical education would want to come to such a state.

As for insurance premiums, they are likely to rise for a majority of Americans since Obamacare actually cuts back on federal support for insurance companies, i.e. in treating less healthy folks, figuring that enough people will sign up to pay for all. But this is doubtful. With all the anti- ACA propaganda out there, it is more likely too many will opt out. Also the penalties for opting out are way too low.

Al Jazeera America deserves a fair chance and hopefully more Americans will check it out. As its broadcast motto goes:

"More viewpoints, more stories, more of what Americans want to know."

Oh, and fewer commercials!

Al Jazeera America bought out Al Gore's 'Current TV' and is now on that channel (358) on Direct TV. Readers will have to check their own cable or Dish TV offerings to locate it.

Another Powerful Liberal Voice Leaves the Scene

It appears that the half-life of a powerful liberal spokesperson decreases ever more as time goes on. Only ten days ago Mike Littwin, longtime liberal columnist for The Denver Post, was unceremoniously given the heave-ho, and has since been replaced by canned syndicated columns (which are much less expensive than having to pay a real time columnist staffer). Littwin, before the Post, was an outspoken liberal voice for The Baltimore Sun, and it was in Baltimore I first became aware of him and began reading his well-thought out columns.

Not long after Littwin arrived in Denver and became a part of the op-ed staff at The Rocky Mountain News (one of the few left voices on that paper) wifey and I arrived in Colorado after a move from Columbia, MD. This was in 2000. By 2009, the "Rocky" went under and all its columnists, staffers were out of jobs with the exception of Right winger Vince Carroll, and Littwin. Now Littwin is gone, and Carroll remains.....bloviating about the usual right wing codswallop like his syndicated mates (e.g. Walter Willliams, David Harsanyi, Thomas Sowell, George Will, Michelle Malkin, etc.)

Now, merely days ago...we learn the powerful voice of Keith Olbermann has been stilled, on Current-TV. 'Countdown' followers became suspicious and began to embrace assorted conspiracy explanations, after Keith's cartoon visage (see right side of graphic), wielding a large pitchfork, appeared on a cover of UTNE Reader some months ago. He had been lumped in with the likes of Gaddafi, Bill O'Reilly, Pope Rat and others as part of the magazine's 'New Extremists' article.

Countdown followers surmised this "extremist" portrayal perhaps convinced Al Gore, Current- TV's owner honcho, but some of us distrusted that Gore could be that lily-livered, never mind he didn't fight with all his might to get all the Florida votes counted back in 2000, when he faced off vs. Bush Jr. for the Presidency. (The Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount, handing the electorial college victory to Bush, though Gore won the popular vote by over 500,000. Later tabulations run by a consortium of newspapers showed Gore actually would have won had he demanded all votes counted in all counties as opposed to a select few.)

I didn't buy the take that Gore would just dump Olbermann because of speaking out too much and too often. My worry was that a small station like Current, reaching barely 50,000 viewers, was simply a poor match for a high-powered perfectionist accustomed to working at a major cable network equipped with the whole spectrum of up-to-date amenities. As it happened, this turned out to be much of what was the case, as Howard Kurtz has recently noted:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/01/keith-olbermann-s-angry-e-mail-trail-traces-breakup-with-current-tv.html

Among the production level problems documented by Kurtz:

- On February 10, the studio lighting failed while Keith was on the air

- This was actually the most recent of a number of other technical failures (the previous night Keith was cut off in mid-sentence)

- On other occasions, toner cartridges ran dry on machines used to make copies . For another show, incorrect settings were provided for DVR machines making it impossible for viewers to record it.

- Olbermann's manager Michael Price sent a list of no fewer than "40 deficiencies" at the network that needed correction

These together left the impression on Olbermann and Price that Current was more a "rinky dink" operation and more apropos to "cable access" TV than Cable. But any ordinary viewer could have told them that and they might have learned it simply by having followed Current-TV before signing on.

Of course, the 'two sides to every story' shtick remains in place and Kurtz in his report doesn't disappoint, so we also learn of ego clashes such an involving Keith's service car, the actual nights he was to have worked (and which nights he didn't have to) as well as Keith refusing to talk head to head to Current execs other than through a third party.

In the end, all of these recede into insignificance beside the reality that a powerful, much needed voice is once again gone from the airwaves. Maybe it was largely Keith's fault and his inability to adapt and adjust to a "Mickey Mouse" level station operation, or maybe it was Gore and Current -TV's for not doing more to accommodate this powerful (but prickly) personality.

In either case, the viewer and what's left of the liberal left are the real losers. We wish Keith well in any case, as we do Mike Littwin!

UTNE Reader's Extremist Problem

Off and on over the years, the UTNE Reader has been informative and been a force for progressive change with its thought-provoking articles. Generally, the quality of the journalism has been solid, well-researched and the writing excellent, much like its sister, 'Mother Jones'. Unfortunately, its latest issue (Nov.-Dec.) appears to have run off the rails.

One of its main articles (p. 48) is 'Fanatics Attack!', by Amos Oz, reprinted from his "How to Cure A Fanatic'. The piece purports to enable readers to recognize certain criteria of fanaticism and extremism, which include the desire to impose one's will (via conformity) on others, a certain shrill "militancy" of approach, a rejection of "live and let live" and....a lack of a sense of humor ("No fanatic I ever observed had a sense of humor") especially of the self-deprecatory style.

While I don't have too many complaints with the overall piece, though the humorless aspect can be questioned as any certifable trait for an extremist (since I've known many fine people who lack a sense of humor but certainly aren't "extremists") my main brief is with the front cover which depicts CURRENT TV'S Keith Olbermann shown amidst the likes of Muammar Gaddafi, Bill O’Reilly, Pope Benedict, Sarah Palin and Iran’s holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I mean, what the hell gives with this?

More difficult to ascertain is whether the author himself agreed to this cover portrayal, or whether it was an editorial board decision. If the latter, then clearly Amos Oz can't be blamed fully, for such a rash move. Nevertheless, I did send off a harsh email response to the editors, which is as follows:

"Hmmm….. an alleged “progressive”magazine, features a cover (Nov.-Dec.) with one of the staunchest speakers of truth to power, Keith Olbermann, portrayed amidst assorted wackos-extremists like Muammar Gaddafi, Bill O’Reilly, Cardinal “Rat” Ratzinger, Palin and Iran’s holocaust-denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Are your editors mad? Or just temporary bonkers from….whatever? To conflate K.O. with absolute actual fanatics and extremists is in my mind an abomination, and one that will now cost you a future subscriber! (Not that a piddling single subscription is likely to matter to you!)

Conflating K.O. with the lunatics on the front cover serves no purpose, doesn’t advance the progressive cause (even via a phony false equivalence, e.g. “we can be as fanatic as them there Wingnuts”) and makes a mockery of all your author (Amos Oz’s) primary criteria and contentions. He doesn’t mention Keith by name, but I’d lay odds he includes him in this rogue’s gallery on account of what he (presumably) believes is “lack of humor”.

The truth is Keith is humorous on almost every occasion on CURRENT TV’s Countdown, but it’s a humor more in the tradition of George Carlin, as opposed to Moe, Larry and Curley… or Soupy Sales. That Oz doesn’t recognize that - or your editors don’t by portraying K.O. on the cover with the real nuts - shows perhaps none of you can tell a true extremist from a person who is merely vehement and passionate.

Sad, but your little ploy has actually only succeeded in further dividing the progressive cause!"

My point in sending this was not a puny threat of a minor loss in their finances, but rather to wake them up to the fact that progressives can't afford any more splintering at this stage of the game. Already the progressive Left appears to be divided over Obama's re-election although this ought to be a no-brainer. Take Obama away, or don't vote, and we get a Romney or god forbid, Rick Perry (see previous blog). There also appear to be a few fissures opening up in the support of the Occupy Wall Street protestors, though there shouldn't be.

So, the last thing we need here is a fierce disagreement over who to name in the category of fanatics and extremists! Further, the very act of remotely suggesting or putting Keith in that category is a slack, cowardly move (suggesting pandering to the corporo-media's false equivalence) that makes me fume! It also clouds the playing field and communications landscape.

Last night, Keith's Special Comment, on the vile beating (by Oakland police) of an Iraq War vet, giving him a fractured skull (he's now in intensive care) and the Mayor that condoned such extreme action, was one for the progressive archives.

It's a pity that UTNE no longer appears to be able to differentiate friend from foe.

But hey, maybe they would place me in their little cover cartoon too!