Taking the Arab shilling

mediaroar loves new things. A new day, a new car, and especially a new TV channel.

For those of you who are familiar with the little known war going on in Iraq, you will recognise the name of the oft-used Arabic news agency Al Jazeera.

Not content with serving the world in Arabic,' A-J 'has spread its wings and, only 17 months slightly late, finally launched its much heralded Al Jazeera English news channel.

The company has, at great expense, poached a veritable cornucopia of talent from, well, all over the place. You may, like mediaroar, have been wondering where some of the more familiar faces of the news channel have gone to. The answer is that they are all in Doha, breaking-in their fancy new studios.

mediaroar loves perspective, and it IS refreshing to have the news reported from a different angle - mediaroar wonders why it is necessary for a new channel to launch for this to happen, and hopefully Al Jazeera will prove a nice balance to the pathetically condescending and wholly inaccurate American favourite Fox 'news'.

mediaroar wishes the fledgling channel well, and I really, really have tried to watch it more than a token once. There are a few things to address:

• It is not so much 24 hour news, as, erm, 8 hours of shows repeated three times over a day - all of which can deeply confuse mediaroar on a bleary-eyed saturday morning. (still better than Anthony Wozza-Tozza, mind.)



• mediaroar warns you that honest reporting, and 'alternative news agendas' can prove depressing. It really is grim in certain parts of the world. It is funny how reports of another brace of Palestinians dead tend to be backgrounded by western news channels, yet this is presented with a stark brutality by Al Jazeera, at the top of every hour. mediaroar acknowledges that this is powerful stuff, and that should be applauded, and perhaps the channels at the Whitehouse should be re-tuned - but is it asking too much to end the bulletins with and 'and finally'? Some glimmer of hope? Something, anything positive? Perhaps that's the point - Don't expect to flick over to X-Factor and forget what you have just watched. Bravo Al Jazeera!



• Talent is a very subjective word. mediaroar's mother would, almost certainly, argue that mediaroar is very talented, though many may take issue. Al Jazeera have poached some premium talent. Tales of talented camera-men, producers and reporters trippling salaries to make the switch have long been heard. But if you have that much money, how can it be that the first face of Al Jazeera that mediaroar saw was this one:

(if evil had a face...)

now before you start going all 'what? She's great!' on me, hold the phone...

Ms Serra may have many friends, and as rumour has it, is well thought of professionally, but mediaroar cannot stand the woman. Her patronising, trans-atlantic drawl, with a smile that makes Kirsty Young look pretty. Still, mediaroar can be bitter, and Barbera Serra can sup her iced tea in tax free UAE, and we all know who's having the last laugh....oh.

To add to the BBC's recent woes, they have had their share of defectors too - among who, the always impressive Darren Jordan featured - here's his head, to steal a phrase:

(Ah butter wouldn't melt, would it Darren?)


mediaroar is sorry that he doesn't have any amusing or pithy final comments, I have perhaps been watching rather too much Al Jazeera, it all seems a bit frivolous now. Still, give it a go, broaden your mind. You can't watch too much, as you'll see programmes repeated - they really need to sort that out. You will also become all too aware of how fucked up so many people's lives are, and how utterly hopeless the situation in the middle east is. It's not without it's own bias, but no more guilty than the other news channels, all of them.

Makes you wonder though, SKY, BBC, Al Jazeera, FOX, CNN, et al. Why can't ALL of you be truly balanced and independent?


grrrr x

media pissing on your chips? Are you a Barbera Serra fan?
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