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Editorial See other Editorial Articles Title: The New Iron Curtain of Journalism in America: Banning Al Jazeera The New Iron Curtain of Journalism in America: Banning Al Jazeera Submitted by BuzzFlash on Sun, 02/13/2011 - 2:50pm. * Guest Commentary STEPHEN PIZZO FOR BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT I now know what it must have felt like to those folks stuck behind the old Iron Curtain back in the day. They couldn't watch or listen to western TV or radio because those signals were jammed by their own governments. Over the past two weeks, if I wanted to get an unadulterated Middle Eastern take on the unfolding Egyptian revolution, I had to go on the Web and log on to al Jazeera to watch their live Web coverage. Ironically, even as our own government prodded Egyptian officials to be more open, both we Americans and the Egyptian people were prevented from watching al Jazeera's own coverage on TV. The reason neither country's citizens had access to al Jazeera TV is because, in both countries, those in charge of the transmitters were terrified by a news source they could not manipulate, control, limit or intimidate. In Egypt it was the regime itself, terrified that al Jazeera's street cred would blow whatever was left of their own credibility with those on the street. Here, in the U.S., the reason was something even worse - fear - blind, ignorance-fueled, xenophobic, fear. Not one major U.S. cable company offers al Jazeera in their lineups. You can get any number of cooking channels, or channels that show brutal cage fighting (if you tried the same thing with dogs you'd find yourself in jail). You can get any number of shopping channels where you can get over-charged for cheap crap jewelry even Tammy Fey would be ashamed to wear. But no al Jazeera. The reason is as simple as it is depressing: these multi-billion dollar cable companies are terrified of being accused by the loony Right of "giving Islamists a platform in America." They know that within two nano-seconds of puttting al Jazeera in their news lineup, the Glenn Becks out there will be roasting them over an open fire, either accusing them of "selling out America" for a few bucks or "aiding and abetting terrorists." I saw maybe another reason cable companies are afraid to air al Jazeera as well. As I watched al Jazeera's English language coverage I was struck by how much it reminded me of the good old days of early CNN coverage. The news presenters were earnest instead of silly, and they presented straight "this is what happening now" reports rather than hours of non-participants musing on what might be happening or where it all might be headed. And not a single entertainment celebrity was dragged in to offer his or her air-headed views on events. I also learned more about real Egyptians, and real Arabs in general, during those few days watching al Jazeera than I've learned in a decade of watching American cable or broadcast news/talk shows. And what you learn is that they are nothing like the one-dimensional stick figures portrayed by the FOX News types or their misinformed viewers. Once in a while I'd switch on CNN to learn the earth shattering "Breaking News" that sideshow newsman Anderson Cooper had been slapped around by a few angry protesters. Once again American cable news was leveraging history-making events into another marketing opportunity for its celebrity "correspondents." (My wife wondered if maybe Cooper wasn't roughed up by Egyptians at all, but rather by American tourists just taking advantage of an opportunity of a lifetime.) Anyway, here we are again, letting the lowest-common denominator types in America call the tune the rest of us have to dance to. Putting al Jazeera on all cable channels would allow Americans to get "the rest of the story." Right now we only get the Westernized view of Middle Eastern events, and that's not enough - not nearly enough. So, like the hundreds of million stuck behind the Iron Curtain for 70 years, we are forced to turn to clandestine sources of genuine Middle Eastern news coverage. How ironic, how depressing, how humiliating, to be an American living in America being denied full access to the full story, even as our leaders preach democracy and free media to others. Memo to Egyptians: As you try to build a representative democracy, do as we say -- not as we do. You may not be better off, but you'll be better informed.
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