Al Jazeera

[MikeMusic]

Scrolling through Tivo a programme on Iran / USA took my attention by sheer chance on Al Jazeera

I previously assumed they were a mouthpiece for all things Arab and that view point. Not a bit of it.
They seem, from my perspective to be very even handed

Watching it I had more than a few open mouth moments

It was like politics for grown ups
The Bush administration came in for plenty of criticism, but for a lot of things I had never been aware of before

I've since watched a few more programmes and will be watching more.
Hell of a viewpoint if nothing else.

I've also seen a couple of interesting programmes on RT, Russian Television
Look out western media

[The Grand Wazoo]

I've watched their news a few times, sometimes abroad, where it was all that was on offer but also at home occasionally. You're right it is interesting and my view is that it is always educational to get a different perspective on things ever now and then.

[synsei]

Al Jazeera is an excellent channel as is RT. If you want a reasonably accurate perspective on a particular story watch a report on an event on a selection of western news channels and then again on these two and you will be just about there. This often reveals the extent to which western media spins reports on world events and it can be very illuminating, especially regarding political and military reports.

[anthonyTD]

+1 :)
Al Jazeera is an excellent channel as is RT. If you want a reasonably accurate perspective on a particular story watch a report on an event on a selection of western news channels and then again on these two and you will be just about there. This often reveals the extent to which western media spins reports on world events and it can be very illuminating, especially regarding political and military reports.

[DaveK]

We should not forget that Al Jazeera may well be as guilty as our media of 'spinning' their reports to suit their paymasters. I am not saying that they should be ignored, just that that fact should be borne in mind when considering anything they put out, just like we should with our media. I agree that it is never a bad thing to hear 'the other side' of things - perhaps taking the middle path will bring us nearer to the real facts.
Dave.

[MikeMusic]

Did a quick comparison

Serious stuff on Aljezeera

BBC news channel - lightweight puff. celebrities and shopping news.
Ok just one quick comparison and hardly detailed data gathering but I wonder what us Westerners are being fed

[MikeMusic]

We should not forget that Al Jazeera may well be as guilty as our media of 'spinning' their reports to suit their paymasters. I am not saying that they should be ignored, just that that fact should be borne in mind when considering anything they put out, just like we should with our media. I agree that it is never a bad thing to hear 'the other side' of things - perhaps taking the middle path will bring us nearer to the real facts.
Dave.
Programmes I've seen on Iran/America and a couple on Syria (an even bigger mess than I thought) they lay into everyone on all sides.
I started off sceptical and I will keep my scepticism to hand