The Arab broadcaster goes mainstream and ‘big time’ in North America.
The are two major issues in the American television industry today: just how disruptive will the Internet become, and Al Jazeera.
The Qatar-born broadcaster is on a roll, going on a worldwide hiring spree and opening a major US division as it seeks to expand its footprint and influence.
Television news programs aimed at the global English-speaking audience are proliferating in the wake of CNN International’s exploits from Baghdad during Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s.
Regional broadcasters such as France 24, Russia Today, China’s CCTV 9 and even the Iranian Press TV are all busy pitching their programming as global news from a national point of view.
But Al Jazeera, founded 20 years ago, is part of what Norwegian media scholar Tine Ustad Figenschou calls the “third generation” of global news. While much is made of its origin in the Middle East, its mission statement says it aims to tell what could be called the underdog’s story, upending the traditional news industry’s approach to geopolitical coverage.
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The Arab broadcaster goes mainstream and ‘big time’ in North America.
The are two major issues in the American television industry today: just how disruptive will the Internet become, and Al Jazeera.
