| I want Al-Jazeera English |
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| Written by Mariam Jukaku | |
| Monday, 02 March 2009 | |
 Al-Jazeera English has launched a new web campaign to broaden their reach in the North American market. The web site I Want Al Jazeera English (www.iwantaje.com) tells users how to gain access to the English-language 24-hour global news network or encourages them to demand the station from their cable or satellite networks.During their worldwide launch in November 2006, AJE reached between 30 and 40 million households, but the North American audience was largely left out. No major cable or direct broadcast satellite carriers had signed agreements with Al-Jazeera English. More than two years later, the station is only available through special satellite packages and a few scattered local cable stations. The “Hits and Myths” page of the site highlights misperceptions the station says is “not evident in the rest of the world.” One of the most widely spread is that Al-Jazeera regularly broadcasts beheadings on its Arabic sister station. I interviewed Riz Khan, senior anchor for AJE, by telephone about two years for a paper I wrote in graduate school on the launch of the new network. At the time, Khan said he kept a newspaper clipping from the Nov. 30, 2005 issue of the Guardian in his wallet. It is a small item printed in the Guardian’s “Corrections and Clarification column” that reads: “Contrary to what we said in the leader below about al-Jazeera, the channel has not shown videos of ‘masked terrorists beheading western hostages’. No actual beheading has been shown on al-Jazeera.” He said he carries the correction as proof the network is misunderstood and misrepresented.
The new site asks visitors to disregard the myths and watch Al-Jazeera English for themselves. |
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