Al Jazeera had hoped to break into the U.S. market by now, but nobody's buying it. And the far-right nuts in the U.S. are lobbying to keep the network out of one of the very few places (other than YouTube) Americans can see it; Burlington Vermont. The multi-trillion dollar weapons industry in the U.S. gets upset when AJ shows the victims of America's Blackwater-brats, so naturally Washington, D.C. cult Accuracy in Media is against it (in other words, Al Jazeera does not have any significant U.S. distribution).
You wouldn't think getting Al Jaz into the U.S. would be that hard, but new programming topper Tony Burman appears to be floundering.
"Managing director Tony Burman and military and current affairs correspondent Josh Rushing took questions about the network for 45 minutes Tuesday on Channel 17, CCTV, and they plan to attend tonight's public forum at Champlain College. In May, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss intervened with BurlingtonTelecom to keep Al-Jazeera English on the air. He said it shouldn't be dropped without a public discussion."
Hey Tony!
This is America. You want to get your network played you need good shows. It has nothing to do with being pro-America or anti-America so why, Tony, are you (a Canadian) letting America's Extreme Right frame the debate?
Dave Marash has recently said that he thinks AJ is anti-American. Nonsense. If anything, Al Jaz has been too soft on the U.S. Their reports (including Josh Rushing) from inside the U.S. are about as cutting edge as that show "Modern Farmer" that I used to watch on Saturday mornings before the cartoons came on (back in the '60's).
Recently, I shot a pilot in London for a business show called The Oracle that picks up where the ten films I shot for Al Jaz over the past two years leave off.
Here's a few minutes from the pilot.
If you think it should be picked up by Al Jazeera; sending me to Doha, Qatar email:
tony.burman@aljazeera.net (Managing Director)
scott.ferguson@aljazeera.net (Programming Director)
(and brother of Craig Ferguson, famous late-night TV comic and recovering Scotsman)nigel.parsons@aljazeera.net (Business Development)
Let them know, "I want Max."
Help me -- help them -- get something worth watching for Americans on their network.