Québec could have access to Al Jazeera

Vincent_2002

Electoral Member
Mar 27, 2002
181
0
16
Montréal, Quebec
Canadian cable company applies to CRTC to carry Al-Jazeera channel
TORONTO (CP) - Videotron, the Montreal-based cable company, has applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to have Al-Jazeera, the controversial Arab news channel, added to the list of international signals eligible for carriage in Canada.

"Yes, we have applied to get that (channel)," confirms Lise Gagne, a Videotron spokeswoman. "It's really in the hands of the CRTC." Gagne added that the application was submitted based on research conducted by Al-Jazeera representatives that concluded there was customer demand.

A CRTC spokesperson would not officially confirm the February application nor say how long any decision would take but added that there would have to be a public notice posted first. If approved, Al-Jazeera would then be available to all other carriers in Canada, cable or DTH satellite.

One Canadian TV network news director says the Arab-Canadian community is heavily into the satellite black market because the only way to get Al-Jazeera is via DirecTV, the American service not authorized in this country.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera is known as the Arabic CNN and boasts it is providing balanced coverage of the war in Iraq. It has also been criticized by the Bush administration for carrying graphic news video of slain and captured U.S. soldiers.

Ron MacInnes, communications director for the Bell ExpressVu DTH service, says it might consider carrying Al-Jazeera if the channel is approved by the CRTC, but that there has not been noticeable demand from customers to date.

"We're a market-driven organization, so clearly if there's a demand for it we'd take a serious look at it," MacInnes says. "But Al-Jazeera hasn't come up."

Taanta Gupta, communications vice-president for Rogers Cable, adds that there has not been a huge demand for the Arab channel there, either.

With more than one million customers, Quebecor-owned Videotron is Quebec's largest cable company.



© The Canadian Press, 2003
 

Stretch

House Member
Feb 16, 2003
3,924
19
38
Australia
At least then we may get two sides to this war rather than the very biased one we get now.


Thursday March 27, 3:06 AM
Al Jazeera TV wins award for battling censorship

LONDON (Reuters) - Al Jazeera television, which beams into 35 million Arab homes, received an award on Wednesday for its resistance of censorship.
The accolade from the British-based Index on Censorship was given for Al Jazeera's "apparent independence in a region where much of the media is state-run."

The Index on Censorship said the channel, which came to worldwide prominence after broadcasting video tapes of Osama bin Laden, has won a reputation for credible news.

"That same quality has enraged Arab governments and the United States," the Index, a group of leading media figures, writers and people concerned with freedom of speech, said in a statement.

The Golden Raspberry award for services to censorship was given to Zimbabwe's information minister Jonathan Moyo.

Al Jazeera went on air in 1996 with a $137 million budget from Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and has since captivated Arab viewers with talk shows on subjects considered taboo by other mostly state-run stations.

Its professional, Western-network-style bulletins and scoops on major stories have earned it the respect of its audiences but brought criticism from their conservative governments.

The station's popularity soared during the first weeks of the U.S.-led war on Afghanistan as it was the only network allowed to operate by the Taliban, who then controlled the country.

The United States has accused the channel of inflaming anti-American sentiment in the Middle East by carrying the speeches of bin Laden, whom it blames for masterminding the September 11 attacks.

It complained to the Qatari government about Al Jazeera's coverage, which also raised eyebrows among other international broadcasters.

Qatar, where the channel is based, has described the station as a "perpetual headache", although the government insists it will not close it down.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/030326/3/umdg.html
 
Al-Jazeera possibility in Western Canada

If any of you are from Western Canada (a.k.a. a Shaw serviced area), please check out my new petition to try to get Shaw to broadcast English Al-Jazeera. English Al-Jazeera is much different than the original Al-Jazeera.
www.petitiononline.com/shawcabl/petition.html
Check out Al-Jazeera news, this is what they show! english.aljazeera.net/HomePage

Thanks!
 
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Sassylassie

House Member
Jan 31, 2006
2,976
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38
No thanks I have no desire to watch a TV station that airs the "Be headings" and slaughter of innocents, it doesn't air the news it airs Islamic propaganda at is worst.
 

the caracal kid

the clan of the claw
Nov 28, 2005
1,947
2
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www.kdm.ca
It would be good to have channels from other locales, such as Al Jazeera.

Don't worry sassy. If you can discern the slant from the facts in western media you can learn to do the same with other media outlets.
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
7,933
53
48
Do you judge al Jazeera for yourselves or rely on others to judge for you?

Its impossible to judge al Jazeera without ever visiting the front page.

http://english.aljazeera.net/News

Al Jazeera's spin is far less than Fox or CNN, but about equal to the CBC and BBC. The spin is just in the opposite direction. Most of al Jazeera's seasoned journalists come from the BBC. The younger generation come from around the world including many Americans.

Here is a recent article by an American journalism professor working at the University of Cairo on media bias:

Rewriting the rules of journalism
By Lawrence Pintak


There is a revolution under way in the Arab world. It is a revolution that is fundamentally changing the prism through which Arabs see events around the world and in their own back yard.





A revolution that is reshaping the way ordinary people view their leaders and the way their leaders interact with them.

This is, at heart, a media revolution and no one is being more affected than journalists themselves. The question of the role of journalism is today at the top of the agenda in the Arab world.

With the levers of media control, and the power to shape perceptions, slowly, very slowly, beginning to shift away from governments, Arab journalists are being buffeted by an array of competing forces as they attempt to redefine themselves and their profession.

Profession. That word alone epitomises the sea-change under way in a region where reporters have too often served as apologists for dictators and autocrats or sold their souls for an envelope of cash.

Most Arab journalists remain subject to pressures that range from subtle political "guidance" to threats of imprisonment and death, as the assassinations and attempted assassinations of journalists in Lebanon so vividly demonstrate.

Yet as I travel the Arab world these days, I am struck by the new-found sense of professional purpose among Arab journalists

Exciting mission

I am part of a generation of American reporters who flocked to journalism schools in the early 1970s. Vietnam and Watergate inspired us to believe that we could change the world.

That same sense of excitement can be found today among aspiring young Arab journalists.

One of my students at The American University in Cairo, explaining why she wanted to report for the Arab satellite channels, wrote: "I can't criticise from within my country, but journalism allows me to criticise from outside and begin to make things different."....

the rest here at al Jazeera:
http://english.aljazeera.net/News/Archive/Archive?ArchiveID=38299
 
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Sassylassie

House Member
Jan 31, 2006
2,976
7
38
Yeah Sassy, give beheadings a chance! Jeeeez:rolleyes:

I've watched this Channel and frankly it's run by loons and nut cases, it's not news it's propaganda against the west. Sorry thomaska, but I can't watch innocents die on TV, I know you are kidding thou.
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
7,933
53
48
I've watched this Channel and frankly it's run by loons and nut cases, it's not news it's propaganda against the west. Sorry thomaska, but I can't watch innocents die on TV, I know you are kidding thou.
Al Jazeera is more than decapitations, just like NBC is more than Jerry Springer. I suspect all you know about al Jazeera is just some 30 second youtube clips. Todays al Jazeera headlines feature no decaptitaions. Neither did yesterdays or the day before that, or the day before that....
 

earth_as_one

Time Out
Jan 5, 2006
7,933
53
48
Here's todays headlines and it features zero decapitations:
UPDATED ON:
MONDAY, DECEMBER 04, 2006
5:45 MECCA TIME, 2:45 WATCH NOWFRONT PAGEAFRICAAMERICASCENTRAL/S. ASIAASIA-PACIFICEUROPEMIDDLE EASTBUSINESSSPORTPROGRAMMESWEATHERYOUR VIEWSSEARCHABOUT USARABIC
Chavez leads Venezuela vote
Counting is under way in Venezuela after a largely peaceful presidential poll.
Annan: Iraq worse than under SaddamMass graves for typhoon victimsSpy probe to spread across EuropeSaddam's lawyers lodge appealFiji troops 'surround police unit'
Fears of a coup grow after troops arrive at a police unit headquarters.

Man killed in Beirut clashes
A man dies in clashes between rival groups in Beirut, as protests continue.

AROUND THE WORLD NOWAFRICA
Mauritania votes in second round
US urges end to Somalia arms banAMERICAS
US travel data system criticised
Colombian militia men moved to jailCENTRAL/S. ASIA
Arrest made in Sri Lanka blast case
Limited boost for Nato Afghan forceASIA-PACIFIC
Report: N Korea in uranium deal
China courts crack down on dissentEUROPE
Hunger strike delays Seselj trial
Ukrainian ministers firedMIDDLE EAST
Haniya accuses Abbas over deadlock
Dozens killed in Baghdad blastsSPORTHammers honeymoon overPROGRAMMESCongo: Africa's broken heartWitnessALSO IN THE NEWSUS Iraq raid kills child and women</IMG>Palestinian killed in West Bank Helicopter missing in Afghanistan</IMG>Pinochet suffers heart attack Turkey and Iran discuss Iraq </IMG>Egyptians evicted to unearth tombsPOLLWill Hugo Chavez be re-elected as president of Venezuela?YesNoI don't know IN PICTURES Cuba military parade</IMG>Most emailed stories•Al Jazeera English goes liveGaddafi: Oil behind Darfur crisisWhy the West needs AhmadinejadRacial tensions on rise in Malaysia
 

DurkaDurka

Internet Lawyer
Mar 15, 2006
10,385
129
63
Toronto
The CRTC placed heavy restriction on Brodcasters wishing to carry Aljazeera, more or less preventing it from being broadcast. I doubt these restriction will change anytime soon.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/burman/letters/2006/11/aljazeera_should_be_available.html

In 2004, the CRTC, Canada’s broadcast regulatory body, placed key conditions on the Arabic service of Al-Jazeera that have effectively prevented it from being available in Canada.


It allowed the service to be shown in Canada but only if cable operators monitored the channel for anything deemed “abusive” under Canada’s hate laws and then deleted it. No cable operator could reasonably be expected to risk or afford that, and – surprise! – no one has.
 
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