Al-Jazeera better news coverage than US media?

[Charles]

I agree with the title of this topic, and others are finding out for themselves just how good a news station Al-Jazeera has become.

I had a chance to watch it for a considerable amount of time recently and was very impressed at just how good it is. Along the lines and right up there with BBC News I'd say.

In fact, I'd agree that it puts our broadcast news media to shame.

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Clinton media criticism buoys Al-Jazeera
By David Bauder, AP Television Writer – Sat Mar 5, 2011

NEW YORK – A decade ago the U.S. government attacked Al-Jazeera as a propagator of anti-American propaganda. Now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is citing the network for fine news coverage — and tweaking the U.S. media in the process.

The Arab broadcaster says it's ready to take advantage of what it considers a major boost in its acceptance in the United States.

Clinton, on the week many U.S. television outlets were preoccupied by the spectacle of actor Charlie Sheen, suggested during testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that American networks were falling behind in the competition for information.

Al-Jazeera has been a leader in changing people's minds and attitudes, Clinton told lawmakers Wednesday.

"Like it or hate it, it is really effective," Clinton said. "In fact, viewership of Al-Jazeera is going up in the United States because it is real news."

"You may not agree with it, but you feel like you're getting real news around the clock instead of a million commercials and, you know, arguments between talking heads and the kind of stuff that we do on our news that is not providing information to us, let alone foreigners."

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