Al Jazeera: Breaking into the U.S. news market

Before Al Jazeera English there was Al Jazeera Arabic which began broadcasting in 1996 from Qatar. Owned by the government of Qatar it was viewed as a enabling Al Qaida by the Bush administran because they would broadcast audio and video statements mad by Osama Bin Landin. Twice U.S. forces attacked Al Jazeera's office's in Baghdad and Kabul. Al Jazeera has bought out American cable channel Current TV at a reported $500mn. The aim: to crack the media market in the US. The hurdle: the stigma still attached to the Al Jazeera brand in the US. Cable operators are key middlemen in the American media business and the major ones have refused Al Jazeera’s attempts to get its signal out. And that is just the first hurdle. Our newsrooms are abuzz with all sorts of questions. What kind of journalism can this new channel offer? Will this be the voice of the South – in the North? What kind of added value can it offer on the US market? How can it compete with other news channels? And are Americans even interested? Those are the elements we will be exploring in this week’s News Divide with some interesting contributors, well versed in the history, politics and economics of this ever expanding news operation.