Media News - Monday, May 19, 2008

Al Jazeera English tries to extend its reach

The English-language offshoot of Al Jazeera, the Arabic television news network, is pushing for a ‘breakthrough’ that would make the channel available to American TV viewers and help it move beyond a turbulent start-up phase, according to its new managing director, Tony Burman. The hiring of Mr. Burman, a former editor in chief of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian public broadcaster, was announced last week. Al Jazeera English’s first year and a half has been marked by intense scrutiny of its coverage and by the recent defection of several high-profile Western journalists who had been recruited to lend credibility to the channel. Al Jazeera English, which is part of the Al Jazeera Network, based in Qatar, also announced distribution agreements last week in markets as far-flung as Portugal, Ukraine and Vietnam, increasing its potential audience to 110 million homes. Conspicuously absent, however, was the United States, where Al Jazeera is still largely unavailable on television. Viewers can watch it on the Web through a deal with YouTube, the online video service. In the United States, a market of 300 million people and hundreds of pay-television services, the reputation of its Arabic sibling as the preferred outlet for videos from Osama bin Laden has made the English-language version too hot to handle for some cable operators. A lack of space on crowded cable systems has also made it difficult for operators to offer Al Jazeera English. In an effort to make Al Jazeera English more appealing to American operators and audiences, Mr. Burman said he planned to increase coverage of American news, particularly as the presidential election approaches. (New York Times)

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