When the ruling party's building was on fire in Cairo, Reuters and CNN were reporting that it was on fire. Fox News and MSNBC, on the other hand, were featuring talking heads, those of professors who haven't been in Egypt in 30 years, discussing how this will affect our relations with Israel.

Al-Jazerra, though was covering the fire. They had a live video feed.

Fox News proclaims that they deliver the news, and allow us to decide. MSNBC says, "Like hell, they do, they deliver false facts," and they deliver opinion based on facts which may not be deliverately incorrect, but which are based on inevitable mischaracterization and analysis based on a warped world view. And CNN's Twitter-centric universe talks about the news, but doesn't deliver the news itself.

But Al-Jazerra offers the unblinking stare of a live camera feed.

They Aren't Perfect

There's been a lot of criticism of Al-Jazerra. The Bush administration seemed to be all but saying that they were a tool of radical Islam. Having spent a good hunk of my career in the news business, I kinda wanted to sign up for Al-Jazerra when I got DirecTV, but I figured it might result in the Department of Homeland Security paying close attention to my postings. I don't have anything to hide, but that doesn't mean I don't want to hide it, if you know what I mean.

And Al-Jazeera has been criticized a lot by the various governments of the mideast. There's no way they could keep everybody happy, and they haven't. In fact, they seem to have gone out of their way to keep everyone unhappy, which is another reason I like them. Honest news coverage is a good way to really piss off The Powers That Be.

But if I was running DirecTV, I'd be feeding Al-Jazerra on The 101, the DirecTV channel used for their own programming. The run concerts on that channel that never make it onto television otherwise, and when critically-acclaimed series with lousy ratings are cancelled, DirecTV ends up funding another year or two of production, allowing the show to go into syndication a year after it's been on The 101. They run a television version of the Dan Patrick (radio) Show. And sometimes, they run a Showtime channel on The 101 along with promos to get you to subscribe to Showtime.

If I Were Running DirecTV

If I were running DirecTV, I'd be running Al-Gazeera on The 101, along with Chyron messages on the bottom of the screen pointing out how you could receive this coverage all the time for $10 a month or less. I think they'd get a lot of subscribers, not only of people who have friends and relatives in the mideast, but also those who would like to get uncensored news.

The demonstrators in Cairo have shown us all what happens when government thinks they can control communications. Any citizen who takes his duty seriously, and any business who depends on the First Amendment, should be promoting the watching of Al-Gazeera. Leaving American democracy in the hands of Comcast, of Disney, and of an Australian megalomaniac just isn't safe.

Other Bloggers On Related Topics:
Al-Gazeera - Cairo - CNN - demonstrations - DirecTV - Fox News - MSNBC - The 101